Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN #: 97800425191293
Berkley Publishing
288 Pages
$6.99 Amazon
August 5, 2003
⭐⭐⭐
It is a truly exhilarating experience for Theo -- helping Charleston's Sea Turtle Protection League shepherd hundreds of tiny green loggerheads safely into the sea. But just as she's about to celebrate all her hard work with some hearty Lung Ching tea and spicy gumbo, she spots a dead body bobbing in the waves. It turns out to be local art dealer Harper Fisk -- a man with an eye for fine antiques. Could his death have anything to do with the sunken treasure and gold bullion rumored to be somewhere near Halliehurst Beach? Deep in her heart, Theo knows that murder is indeed brewing in Charleston -- and it's up to her to get to the bottom of it before the culprit's greed stirs him to kill again...
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Theodosia Browning owns the Indigo Tea Shop, where she has a café that serves tea and also offers tea and tea-related items for sale. Her two employees are Haley, her baker, and Drayton, her master tea blender. One night she's on the beach at night helping the Charleston Sea Turtle Protection League as they watch little green loggerhead turtles hatch and head to sea, keeping them safe. Drayton shows up in the nick of time with a huge pot of gumbo for the volunteers; but when he and Theo notice something large in the water, Theo swims out and discovers it's a body. So she calls her friend Detective Tidwell, and when it's towed to shore, Drayton recognizes it as a friend of his, Harper Fisk.
When his boat is found, it's ruled an accident; but Theo thinks otherwise, and so does Drayton. So she starts quietly asking questions of the remainder of the English Breakfast Club, as Fisk and his friends were known (including Drayton) and it leaves her with more questions than answers.
But Theo has other problems: her friend Delaine has roped her into helping with a charity event, and between all her other obligations, it's going to be tight. But once she agrees, there's no way out of it. Theo also has a suspect in Fisk's partner, Summer, who seems to be taking his death hard, but that can be faked. Theo is up to her ears in suspects, with very little clues, and she needs to find out who killed the old man before someone else is another victim...
While I wanted to enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first three, I found it odd that a woman who owns a tea shop doesn't know the difference between high tea and afternoon tea. High tea consists of cooked food such as meat pies. It also had hearty food such as meat sandwiches, cheese, crackers, etc. because this is considered an evening meal. Afternoon tea has sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, pastries, cakes, etc., and can also be called a cream tea. (Although Theo would definitely get more business if she did offer high tea, as it would be a dinner meal).
Anyway, the mystery was fine, but it kept getting disrupted by Delaine and her antics. While she's always been a decent character, she was over-the-top pushy in this book and so demanding that it was as if she didn't care if others had things to do, that her wants and needs took priority, and that's just extremely rude in itself (and she calls Tidwell rude!).
Other than that, look for clues with Theo and watching the action around her made the book somewhat interesting. When the murderer is discovered, there weren't really and clues leading to that person, so I was a bit disappointed. But, since I enjoyed the first three books, I will continue to read this series. There are also quite a few recipes in the back of the book, which sound delicious.
More on Laura Childs's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/laura-childs/
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