What is the title of your latest release?
PEACH TEA SMASH is the 28th book in my New York Times bestselling Tea Shop Mystery series. Though each book is written as a stand-alone, they all feature the same cast of characters.
What’s the elevator pitch for your new book?
Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston, gets pulled into a grisly murder at the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a black-tie fundraiser for the Opera Society. When the police seem content to question only the board members, Theodosia’s fierce curiosity and sense of justice prompts her to launch her own shadow investigation.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Since Theodosia owns a tea shop, it only stands to reason the mystery should take place in Charleston, SC, home of a 200-year-old tea garden. Also, Charleston is a highly atmospheric old city perched on a peninsula with haunted graveyards, hidden lanes, and old families with skeletons in the closet.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely! Theodosia is a girl after my own heart. She’s feisty, inquisitive, rides horses, loves sports cars, and doesn’t mind a bit of high fashion. She’s an entrepreneur in her own right and, like me, serves on the board of a service dog organization.
What are the three words that describe your protagonist?
Smart, daring, and kind.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I had to do a fair amount of research into how turn-of-the century grist mills operated (that’s where the murder takes place) as well as learning about questionable banking practices and what kind of menu would be served at a Regency-era tea.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I don’t really do drafts. I start with an idea, then noodle it into a couple of pages. Once it sparks for me, I write about an eighty-page outline. Then I go back and write the book straight through, with some editing done at the end of each chapter.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love sushi and prefer the stranger offerings such as uni (sea urchin). I once had a whole sea urchin stuffed with fresh shrimp and it was heaven.
Describe your writing space/office.
My office is in the lower level of my home with a desk, table, and a few bookshelves. It also has a window that looks out onto my two acres of woods and I often have deer wander up and gaze in at me.
Who is an author that you admire?
I really like John Sandford. His Lucas Davenport thrillers are just tremendous – smart, well plotted, and written in a kind of “cop conversational” tone.
Is there a book that changed your life?
When I was 12 years old, I snuck a copy of Catcher in the Rye off my parent’s bookshelf. That one really opened my eyes about writing – I learned there could be different types of style and voice – as well as almost freestyle thinking on the author’s part.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (When you found out your book was going to be published.)
I’d just submitted 3 chapters on Death by Darjeeling, my very first Tea Shop Mystery. At that same time, I was also thinking about selling my portion of my advertising agency to my partner. When “the call” came I asked for a 3-book deal, went ahead and sold the agency, and never looked back. Since then, I’ve written 58 books!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love thrillers. Although lately I’ve been reading a fair amount of domestic thrillers. Some of them are so deliciously creepy!
What’s your favorite movie?
I can’t resist watching the very futuristic (and strangely romantic) Blade Runner.
What is your favorite season?
I love Autumn when the leaves turn red and gold and the ducks and geese are migrating south.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I don’t.
What’s a recent show/movie/book you highly recommend?
I just started reading Eruption, a James Patterson novel based on Michael Crichton’s notes. Pretty darn good!
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Japanese.
What do you do when you have free time?
Travel, watch movies, read books, hang out with my husband (Dr. Bob) and my dog (Lotus).
What can readers expect from you next?
HIGH TEA AND MISDEMEANORS will be out in March of 2025. And right now, I’m working on DEATH AT A FIREFLY TEA as well as a domestic thriller. I’ve hit the halfway mark on both and (knock on wood) they feel pretty good.
Tea Shop Mystery #28
Murder at an Alice in Wonderland–themed event threatens to send Theodosia Browning through the looking glass in the latest entry in this New York Times bestselling series.
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. Nobody can figure out why since Harlan was much beloved by everyone. It’s only after Cricket and Delaine beg Theodosia to investigate that she realizes the killer might have mistaken Harlan for his crazy son, Duke. After all, Duke is a slum landlord and recently injured a woman in a boating accident.
INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Culinary | Mystery Amateur Sleuth [Berkley, On Sale: August 6, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593201015 / eISBN: 9780593201022]
Halfway between a cozy
and a thriller – a thrillzy!
Laura Childs is the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Most have been on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller lists. Recently, Book Riot named her mysteries to their list of “25 of the All Time Best Cozy Mystery Series.” In her previous life Laura was CEO of her own marketing firm, authored several screenplays, and produced a reality TV show. She is married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese art history, and has a Chinese Shar-Pei named Lotus.
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