Tasty, thirst quenching reading. ( )

This is a well plotted "whodunnit" mystery. The identity of the killer came as a surprize to me. It's easy to pick up and put down this book and not lose track of the plot and characters. There's some overly flowery/gushing language, mostly in the characters' dialogue that is slightly annoying, but it is mostly at the beginning of the book. The role of Detective Tidwell in the story is a strange one, he plays no part in the story other than to feed information to Theo.

This is the first of the series that I have read and I have a few others at hand to read and hope that they are as good or better than this one. The tea information is interesting and the tea shop makes a good hook for the story. ( )

Another book in the series of the Tea Shop Mysteries. This one was pretty good, full of info on teas and recipes without being a hindrance to the plot. However, I gave this 4 1/2 stars because the actual perpentrator was completely unexpected, and didn't have enough clues in the book to actually lead to this person, at least, not without being able to do some serious investigating here, which the main character doesn't really do. In all, a very good light reading on days when there's nothing on T.V. ( )

Theodosia Browning runs a tea shop in Charleston, SC., offering exotic teas and delicious pastries, and also caters. There is a good deal of lore about types of teas and tea-drinking, which I found fascinating. Theodosia also becomes involved in a lot of Charleston events, from boat races to saving hatching turtles. I have read some controversy about the accuracy of her portrayal of Charleston. As a tourist, I found it very evocative, but I leave more definitive discussions to people who know what they are talking about.

The mysteries are generally competent and enjoyable. I stopped reading them because my tolerance for Upper Upper Class people is obviously much less than Laura Childs. I also found the adoration of Browning by her employees a bit cloying. It's gret to be happy at one's job, but at this rate Theodosia will be walking on water. ( )