Chamomile Mourning (Tea Shop Mystery #6)

by Laura Childs

Overview

Charleston, South Carolina, is alive with music, dancing, and the arts as the Spoleto festival gets underway. But Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning feels far from festive when the inaugural Poet’s Tea is forced into one of the Heritage Society’s austere halls by rain. And when it rains, it pours—as proven when a respected auction house owner plummets from the balcony, landing dead on Theodosia’s specially-prepared cake. Worse yet, it looks like someone helped him over the edge. With a full kettle of suspects, Theodosia pursues an investigation into the murky swamps of the Low Country, where she uncovers a thriving criminal enterprise of art forgery, fraud—and murder…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425206188
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/07/2006
Series:	Tea Shop Series , #6
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	57,546
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.65(h) x 0.85(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Cackleberry Club, Tea Shop, and Scrapbooking mysteries. In her past life she was a Clio Award–winning advertising writer and CEO of her own marketing firm. She lives in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
In her interview with Ransom Notes in 2004, Laura Childs promised readers that "there's lots more tea and trouble brewing in Charleston!" True to her word, in her sixth Tea Shop Mystery, Chamomile Mourning, she delivers another complex and captivating brew of foul play well steeped in southern culture and the gentle art of tea.

Any hostess dreads last-minute changes of plan…and no one more so than a caterer. When a sudden storm forces Theodosia Browning to shift the Heritage Society's Poet's Tea from its gracious garden setting to an indoor venue on just a few minutes' notice, it's more than just a minor inconvenience. But when a dead body falls from the balcony and lands on Theodosia's recently rescued, elegant, flower-garnished sweet almond cake, it's really the final straw. Not that well-mannered auction house owner Roger Crispin would ever have interrupted so rudely on his own account; but it appears someone has committed the ultimate social sin of shooting Roger dead.

Drayton, Theodosia's tea master and Roger's friend, soon steps in to revive the shattered plans for the Society's much-needed fund-raising auction. But it's Theodosia's talent for judging what people want -- and putting together seemingly disparate elements to create a satisfying whole -- that gets her personally involved in the trouble brewing all around her friends. As Theodosia samples the delights of an elegant new hat shop, visits galleries, and ventures into the lairs of antiquarians, she uncovers the surprising truth behind a deadly enigma.

The tantalizing tale of Chamomile Mourning is garnished with more than a dozen delicious recipes and a delightful selection of tea-time entertaining ideas and custom hat tricks. Sue Stone

bn.com

When the body of antiques dealer Roger Crispin hurtles over a balcony into a six-layer almond cake, Theodosia Browning, the proprietress of Charleston's Indigo Tea Shop, is, to say the least, surprised in Laura Childs's Chamomile Mourning: Tea Shop Mystery #6, the strongest installment yet in this cozy series (The Jasmine Moon Murder, etc.). Childs is a master of Southern local color, and, of course, every chapter offers delectable descriptions of aromatic teas and scrumptious quiches and cakes, with recipes. Agent, Sam Pinkus. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Circumstances seem to work against teashop owner Theodosia Browning's (The Jasmine Moon Murder) enterprising spirit once again. Unexpected rain during outdoor activities at the Spoleto Festival forces her business indoors, where an auction house owner falls to his death from an inside balcony, ruining Theodosia's special cake. A solid addition to a popular cozy series. Childs, author of the popular "Scrapbooking Mystery" series, lives in Minnesota. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

What could be more dramatic than Charleston's Spoleto festival? A body that interrupts the Poet's Tea at the Heritage Society by landing on the "Almond Cake to Die For."Embarrassed baker Theodosia Browning and her Indigo Tea Shop crew, master tea blender Drayton Conneley and pastry chef Haley Parker, are drawn into investigating the mystery of who shot auction house owner Roger Crispin. The main suspect is their friend Gracie Venable, owner of the new millinery shop Beau Geste, who'd been having an affair with Crispin. While Crispin's wife Simone is using her influence to point the police toward Gracie, Theodosia considers a wide cast of local eccentrics-Simone herself, Roger's partner, the flamboyant boutique owner Delanie Dish, antique dealer Jester Moody and art dealer Maribo Pratt-none with an obvious motive. Theodosia is blindsided when her boyfriend, lawyer Jory Davis, asks her to marry him and move to New York, then dumps her when she refuses to give up the hunt for the killer. Her unquenchable curiosity keeps her nosing around from Charleston to Savannah and almost gets her killed when she stumbles on the truth. Not much mystery until the last few chapters, but this homage to the Low Country and all things tea-related will whet your appetite for the ambrosial recipes Childs (The Jasmine Moon Murder, 2004, etc.) has included for afternoon refreshment.

Kirkus Reviews