Showing results by author "Laura Childs" in All Categories

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air-balloon rally. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out. As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them. An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers.

Normally Theodosia wouldn't attend a black tie affair for all the tea in China. But she can hardly say no to her hunky, handsome boyfriend Max, who directs public relations for the Gibbes Museum in Charleston. Max has organized an amazing gala opening for an exhibit of a genuine 18th century Chinese teahouse, and the crème de la crème of Charleston society is invited.

Theodosia and Drayton were expecting a mellow break from the bustle at the Indigo Tea Shop while catering a film, until the director ropes Theodosia into a role as a fortune teller. At the haunted Brittleback Manor, Theodosia's character will read tea leaves and give a bitter prediction. But when it's time for her close-up, the lights flash and the movie director spasms on the floor until he is dead. Amid the conflicts on set and the spooky legend of Brittleback Manor, where the film is set, Theodosia must investigate all the suspects—living or dead--to find the culprit.

A snowmobile crash leads Suzanne to find the town's most hated banker beheaded behind the Cackleberry Club Cafè, and now it's up to her to sift through the suspects.

When Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is invited by Doreen Briggs, one of Charleston's most prominent hostesses, to a "Rat Tea", she is understandably intrigued. As servers dressed in rodent costumes and wearing white gloves offer elegant finger sandwiches and fine teas, Theo learns these parties date back to early 20th-century Charleston. But this party goes from odd to chaotic when a fire starts at one of the tables and Doreen's entrepreneur husband suddenly drops dead.

When the creepy ex-prison warden is found dead in someone else's freshly dug grave, the Cackleberry Club must unscramble the clues and find the true culprit.

Getting her hair colored at Root 66, Suzanne is stunned to witness the County Services office next door suddenly go up in flames. Sadly, the fire claims the life of longtime civil-service worker - and friend to the Cackleberry Club - Hannah Venable. When it’s discovered that an accelerant was used to fan the flames, Suzanne, Petra, and Toni vow to smoke out the culprit.

Carmela Bertrand knows that Halloween in New Orleans means a week of rabble-rousing, costumed craziness - and she can't wait to get the party started. But when a local antiques dealer turns up dead, Carmela suddenly finds herself in a real-life danse macabre.

Suzanne, Toni, and Petra lost their husbands but found independence - and, in each other, a life raft of support, inspiration, fresh baked goods, and their own business. But when the Cackleberry Club cafe opened its doors in the town of Kindred, who'd have guessed that the three women would be working a double shift as amateur sleuths?

Getting ready for Halloween, the ladies at the Cackleberry Club Café are busy carving jack-o'-lanterns, stocking up on candy, and baking pumpkin bread. But someone's jumped the gun on the tricks. As mayoral candidate Chuck Peebler leaves the café, he gets struck with a crossbow arrow and is killed instantly.

Laura Childs' New York Times best-selling Tea Shop and Scrapbooking mysteries have earned her a devoted readership. Set amidst the hustle and bustle of Mardi Gras, this much-anticipated 10th novel in the series follows scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand as she investigates the grisly death of TV reporter Kimber Breeze. It's not long before Carmela starts receiving spooky postcards - signed by Kimber herself - and realizes the case entails much more than she bargained for.

While strolling through the Winter Market with her best friend, Ava, scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand comes upon a dying man stabbed by a serving fork. The victim is loathed restaurant critic Martin Lash, who posted his scathing reviews on the Glutton for Punishment website. And the prime suspect is New Orleans restauranteur Quigg Brevard - who was seen giving the critic a tongue-lashing minutes before someone stuck a fork in him.

It was a dark and stormy night, but that was the least of Theodosia Browning's troubles. As she approaches St. Philips Graveyard, Theodosia sees two figures locked in a strange embrace. Wiping rain from her eyes, Theodosia realizes she has just witnessed a brutal murder and sees a dark-hooded figure slip away into the fog. In the throes of alerting police, Theodosia recognizes the victim—it is the daughter of her friend, Lois, who owns the Antiquarian Bookshop next door to her own Indigo Tea Shop.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Laura Childs’ Tea Shop mysteries deliver delicious tales steeped in intrigue. In this 13th series entry, Theodosia Browning is happily catering the opening of Charleston’s Neptune Museum when she discovers the drowned body of ex-boyfriend Parker Scully. The police don’t buy her theory that Parker was murdered, forcing Theodosia to undertake her own investigation to discover the truth.

Tea shop entrepreneur Theodosia Browning has been tapped to host a fancy Limón Tea in a genuine lemon orchard as a rousing kickoff to Charleston Fashion Week. But as fairy lights twinkle and the scent of lemon wafts among the tea tables, the deadly murder of a fashion designer puts the squeeze on things. As the lemon curd begins to sour, the murdered woman’s daughter begs Theodosia to help find the killer.

Maintaining good personal relationships with their suppliers is one of the secrets of the Cackleberry Club Café’s success, so Suzanne doesn’t mind going out to Mike Mullen’s dairy farm to pick up some wheels of cheese. She’s looking forward to a nice visit with the mild-mannered farmer before heading back to the café’s hectic kitchen. But when she arrives, Mike’s nowhere to be found. The moaning of his cows leads her to look in the barn, where she discovers a bloodcurdling sight - the farmer’s dead body.

It is the week before Halloween and Theodosia Browning, proprietor of the Indigo Tea Shop, and her tea sommelier, Drayton, are ghosting through the dusk of a cool Charleston evening on their way to the old Bouchard Mansion. An author's body is suddenly tossed from a third-floor tower room and left to dangle at the end of a rope. Police come screaming in and tea maven Theodosia's boyfriend, Detective Pete Riley, is sent to the victim's apartment to investigate. But minutes later, he is shot and wounded by a shadowy intruder.

After losing their husbands, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra find independence when they open the Cackleberry Club. When a lawyer is murdered with a secret on his lips and egg on his face, their cozy cafe becomes the scene of a crime. In order to save their cafe, the trio will need to investigate the connections between a religious cult and Suzanne's past. But will putting their noses where they don't belong put Suzanne's life on the line?

During the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Opera on the grounds of the old Pendleton Grist Mill, Harlan Sadler, husband of Cricket Sadler, the chairwoman, is killed. He’s been hit in the head with a croquet mallet, and his body hung on the chains and paddles of the grist mill.

Theodosia's Honey Bee Tea was an elegant affair set in Charleston's new Petigru Park amid newly planted native grasses and a community beekeeping project. But when a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party erupts in chaos. Worse yet, a shot rings out and Osgood Claxton III, candidate for state legislature, falls to the ground—dead.