Book 46, 2026

[chez_jae]

The Ghost in the Teacup: A Brambleberry Witches Mystery by Clara V. Pendelton

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


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Polished off another ebook last night--The Ghost in the Teacup by Clara V Pendleton. It’s from the “Brambleberry Witches” series, I guess. The main character is Eliza...most of the time. Read on, MacDuff!

The premise of the story is that our intrepid heroine, Eliza/Clara (who may be a witch) has come into possession of a haunted teacup. The ghost in the cup, who may or may not be Beatrice, asks for help, and Eliza obliges. The first two chapters were delightful. We met Eliza, got to visit her cozy tea room, and experience the haunting. She then enlists the local Coven’s help, and they were eager to visit Beatrice’s garden in search of a key. Intriguing! But! The plot derailed from there.


Chp 3 featured Eliza going to the antique shop where she purchased the cup. Um, that’s odd. In Chp 1, she’d bought it at an open-air market. Also, the cup that had swallows on it now was decorated with violets or vines or both. Huh? There was no mention of her meeting the Coven nor searching the garden. In Chp 6, our main character is now inexplicably named Clara, and she goes to search the town archives for information regarding Beatrice. After this chapter, the mc was Eliza again for the rest of the book. However, her last name kept changing. In the beginning, she was Eliza Thorne. At various times throughout the book she was Eliza Whitcombe, Eliza Harrow, and Eliza Finch. I hope poor Eliza never tried to get her Real ID. Beatrice’s last name changed over the course of the book, too: Beatrice Whitcombe, Beatrice Holloway, Beatrice Hawthorne, and Beatrice Willowmere. On top of that, at various points she died three days ago, three years ago, seven years ago, simply vanished (never to be seen again), or was driven out of town by the villagers a century ago. Good grief. In Chp 10, Mr Finch (the creepy antique shopkeep) confronts Eliza in Beatrice’s garden, admits he poisoned her, and demands the cup. In Chp 11, Eliza goes to Finch’s shop with the cup, which he eyes with avarice, because he’d never laid eyes on it before. Um, what? Are we just ignoring their confrontation last night? Chp 11 (or 12, who knows?), Eliza and the Coven lay a trap for old Finch. However, the three Coven members are all different than the ones we met in Chp 2. Pardon me while I scream into a pillow. Eventually, justice prevails. Thank goodness.

Reading this should have been aggravating, but I am actually far more disappointed. The first two chapters had such promise! I was dismayed that the plot wandered off after that and never got back on track.

Favorite line: Eliza had gone looking for dried mint. She had returned with six antique teacups. It happened.

I’m convinced this was AI generated; no human author could have effed up so badly. What started out as (at least) a solid four rating has dropped to a two. I’m giving it more than one, because I really did like some of it.