The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) [Hardcover]

Laura Childs (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Tea Shop Mystery | Publication Date: March 2, 2010

The bestselling author of Oolong Dead serves up an Old-World treat, spiced with a Sherlock Holmes-style murder mystery.

It was the Dickensian evening Theodosia Browning had been hoping for. Charleston shop-owners dressed in cloaks of yore threw open their back doors to visitors, who took advantage of bargains and Theodosia's delicious teas.

But later, the alleys clear except for one body- which a horrified Theodosia discovers. It's Daria, the map store's owner. Locals have shown interest in buying her shop-but enough to kill? Plus there's been a customer hell-bent on acquiring a not-for­sale map. Most alarming of all theories, however, is Detective Tidwell's: the killer mistook Daria for Theodosia. And if that theory holds, the killer's work isn't done.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Charleston, S.C., Childs's tepid 11th tea-themed puzzler (after 2009's Oolong Dead) offers an elegant heroine in her 30s who some readers may feel too often acts like an old lady. One rainy March evening, while walking along a cobblestone alley, Theodosia Browning, the proprietor of the Indigo Tea Shop, spots Daria Shand, her good friend and owner of a neighboring shop, in a nasty struggle with an unknown assailant. The attacker flees at Theodosia's approach, leaving Daria dead in the alley. A minty fragrance Theodosia detects at the crime scene may provide a useful clue in her informal murder investigation. Childs supplies plenty of touristy asides as well as savory details about teas and gourmet goodies, if at the expense of the action. The continuing animosity between police detective Burt Tidwell and Theodosia adds some tension, but the mystery never quite catches fire as it simmers to a close. (Mar.)
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About the Author

Laura Childs is also the author of the Scrapbook mystery series and the Cackleberry Club mystery series. In her past life she was a Clio Award-winning advertising writer and CEO of her own marketing firm.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042523245X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425232453
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fund raising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries - set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She's also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn't rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries - a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans' spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries - set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe's undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings..., March 29, 2010

By 

Rick (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) (Hardcover)

I've read all the books in this series, and I read for one reason alone -- atmosphere. Childs is VERY good at this. I can't tell you how many cozies I've read that have a fabulous setting in a wonderful era or at the perfect time of year, and other than being told once or twice, "It was October in Vermont..." the book could just as easily have been set in February in Flint, Michigan, circa 1979. Not so with Childs. Some (many) would even say she overdoes the atmosphere, but that's fine with me. I object, by the way, to the fashionista aspects of the story -- antiques are fine, "Coco Chanel" blouses are a bit grating. Characters? Eh, okay, I guess. Theo and Haley are cool, Drayton and Tidwell are better. So, for atmosphere, this book gets five stars; character development gets 3.5 or even 4 stars. But... Here's where it gets bad. Plotting. As noted by others, Childs' plotting is almost unimaginably bad, juvenille on a scale that my vocabulary finds difficult to detail. She uncovers zero clues, zero clues are presented to us, and the grand climaxes are so far out of left field as to simply not be believed. Felonious motives and solutions to the crimes are flat out invented in the last two pages. And sometimes, Childs simply loses her mind. In the last of her tea shop books (not this one), Theo restrains the killer by (I am NOT making this up) squirting a tube of glue into said killer's hair after said killer has been knocked to the ground. The glue firmly secures the bad guy/girl to the ground until the cops show up. What more can be said?

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very hesitant 4-star rating, March 18, 2010

By 

Holly Kincaid "Book addict" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) (Hardcover)

"The Teaberry Strangler" is the eleventh installment in Laura Child's Tea Shop Mystery series. I have read each and every one and have largely enjoyed the series. The novels are set in Charleston, South Carolina and truly meet the definition of "cozy" - a beautiful sense of place, interesting characters and a little intrigue thrown in.

Unfortunately, I think this is one of the weaker books in the series. The wonderful descriptions of Charleston (and its society gatherings) are included but the mystery itself is insubstantial. The murder takes place, Theodosia (our main character) lines up a cast of suspects with flimsy motives and then the reader is left hanging since there are no clues as to who actually did it. The murderer is revealed in the final pages and it is totally "sprung" on the reader since new information is given. The mystery definitely feels like an afterthought in this book. I also thought the character development was fairly non-existent as well. Not much has changed in any of the character's lives and Drayton and Hayley continue to exist in order to give Theodosia someone to talk to. To add freshness to a long series, I would love to see a future mystery written focused more on one of those two characters, particularly Drayton (lots of unrealized potential here).

To sum it up - if I were picking up the book as a first time reader, it would rate a 3-star. Since I have come to love the books as a whole and there is some halo effect going on, I would rate it a 4-star for me. Settled on 4 stars with some reservations .....

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love the series, but is it losing steam?, May 3, 2011

By 

S. Collier - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Teaberry Strangler (A Tea Shop Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been reading the Laura Childs Tea Shop Mysteries since she began writing them more than 10 years ago, and while this remains one of my favorite series, I got the feeling with this book that Laura Childs is starting to get bored of Theodosia and her friends in Charleston. The first chapter, the plot becomes a bit thin when Theodosia, walking in a dark alley at night witnesses a murder, and it all seems a bit surreal and not completely believable. The dialog between Drayton and Haley this time around is a bit strained, the wacky women who are owners of the perfumerie just aren't well developed, and there are a lot of lose ends surrounding the characters that hang out in the map shop. Also, the whole situation with the archeological dig in the backyard of Theodosia's new home seems but a mere distraction, and doesn't really tie in well at all with the murder. I felt with this book that the end is near unless Childs can breath some new and compelling life into these stories. I'm sad to see the series take this turn, but other authors I read have gone through the same thing, and perhaps its time to focus on other stories. Childs' Cackleberry Club mysteries are hilarious and I look forward to reading more about Suzanne, Petra and Toni in the future. Maybe Childs is just spreading herself too thin across all these series?