She stole the words right out of my mouth. Not literally, there’s just no better description for the stories of today’s author other than to call them, THE FULL MONTY! When you pick the latest release by Laura Childs you will get a grade A mystery, a world you want to escape to, you will learn cultural aspects of tea parties and tasting, experience the charm of southern living, and you will make friends with her characters who you will want to keep for life! On top of that, her mysteries are always 300 plus pages - thank you! Plus she’s just a wonderful person to sit down and talk to, so get cozy with a glass of tea and enjoy.
Kym: Welcome to The Cozy Corner on Fresh Fiction, Laura!
Laura: Delighted to be here!
Kym: March 10th marks the day of your 30th Tea Shop Mystery release with DEATH AT A FIREFLY TEA. That is an amazing feat and you continue to write 300 plus pages of well-written mysteries that deliver every single time. What keeps the series fresh for you as a writer?
Laura: This might sound a little quirky and irreverent, but I believe it’s because there are so many delicious ways to kill someone! My chapter one’s have kicked off with bombings, hangings, stabbings, drownings, poisonings, crashing cars, shootings . . . well, you get the idea. The thing is, once I launch with a shocker of a murder – and hopefully capture my reader’s attention – the book is pretty much on its way. Then it’s easy to lay out a plot, sprinkle in suspects, and add more mishaps, red herrings, and bad guys. Of course, as my murder mystery plays out, my amateur sleuth, Theodosia, is also running her Indigo Tea Shop and hosting Book Teas, Victorian Teas, and even Breakfast at Tiffany’s Teas. So highlighting these events also adds newness and excitement.
Kym: In DEATH AT A FIREFLY TEA your lovely heroine, Theodosia Browning, is faced with poison, murder, kidnapping, teas, masked strangers, and a black tie affair that adds so much to the richness of this story. What part of the story was the biggest challenge for you to write?
Laura: I always struggle with the ending. After writing a book for months on end, there’s always a yearning to bring it to a fairly speedy conclusion. But you can never rush that all-important ending. Readers want to savor the final chapters where a crazy-mad chase, denouement, alarming twist, or final reveal takes place. You want to stretch it out, make it delicious, and super unexpected. It’s also where any loose ends get wrapped up nice and neat and readers have the satisfaction of seeing the bad guy (or girl) finally brought to justice.
Kym: As a writer how do you keep track of all the characters you’ve killed or do you let the murders come, dare I say, naturally?
Laura: Oh dear, I really don’t keep track. I kind of let things happen spontaneously. I haven’t repeated too many types of murder, but I occasionally and mistakenly burp out the name of a character from a previous book. That’s when my clever editors step in and suggest I make a change.
Kym: Yay for great editors! Many authors have gone to a shorter format cozy mystery, which have some appeal, but can feel a bit underwhelming at times. Do you plan to continue to deliver the full-length story to your readers?
Laura: My books will always remain 300 or more pages. For one thing, I’m in hardcover, so if my readers are going to shell out good money for a hardcover book, I’m for sure going to give them the Full Monty. To me that means a unique, whiz-bang story with as much craziness, cleverness, and surprises that I can stuff into it. Besides, Drayton Conneley, my tea sommelier, needs room to pontificate a bit on history, antiques, and his own proprietary blends.
Kym: Thank you, us mystery lovers adore you for that! You always deliver the South Carolina charm and hospitality in your Tea Shop Mysteries. What advice would you give to authors about making their world as authentic and appealing as Theodosia’s various teas when developing their brand for a series?
Laura: One of the most important aspects of writing is creating a “sense of place.” As you read about Theodosia investigating strange goings-on in Charleston, SC, I want you to breathe the humid night air, smell the hint of jasmine, and hear the mournful toot of a tugboat in Charleston Harbor. And when you’re in Theodosia’s Indigo Tea Shop, you need to feel the mingled aromas of teas, cardamom, cinnamon, and baked scones. When you appeal to all the reader’s senses, you create a certain authenticity to your books – and I think (hope!) that’s what keeps readers coming back.
Kym: Ummm, I’m experiencing them right now, thank you! You are an incredible educator, yet you’re not in the actual tea industry. The tea blends you introduce in your books are just fabulous, and always make me want to go try more. What is your personal tea budget or is it a guilty pleasure you refuse to put a monetary value on and how big a role does tea plan in your actual writing?
Laura: My tea budget is negligible, because readers keep giving me teas. Even some tea companies send me teas! Obviously, this is a serendipitous and wonderful thing. So whenever I sit down to write, I can pretty much sample a brand new blend of tea (lucky me!) and then include the description in my book. The other thing I love to do is give readers a number of tea party ideas that include sample menus, table décor, and which teas to serve.
Kym: Your tea party ideas are wonderful! My daughter is a bigger tea connoisseur than I am, she can spend days in a tea shop smelling and talking about every tea blend available. She also has so much tea paraphernalia that it dominates her kitchen cabinets. Do you go all out with your tea service at home, and do you create Theodosia’s teas during your writing process? (I want to go to one of her teas, minus the murders of course!)
Laura: My husband, Dr. Bob, was a professor of Japanese and Chinese Art History for many years. And he amassed a collection of over one hundred Chinese Yi-Shing teapots. Plus, we have over a dozen teapots made by famed potter Warren MacKenzie. Needless to say, my at-home tea service is always unique and different. And, yes, I always bake my own scones – chocolate chip being my specialty. So, in a sense, my own kitchen is kind of a test kitchen for my books.
Kym: Now everybody wants to come for tea! What is your favorite tea, or is it ever changing?
Laura: Right now, I’m in kind of a Japanese green tea state of mind. I love the earthy, vegetal taste. Interestingly enough, when I was a kid, my folks took me to the World’s Fair in New York where we visited the Japan Pavilion. There, we enjoyed a Japanese tea ceremony with kimono clad ladies whisking the actual matcha powder into hot water – then serving it to us. I think that got me permanently hooked on tea!
Kym: That’s a fabulous memory. Do you have a favorite cozy corner you like to curl up and read in, and what type of book is your guilty pleasure? Any recommendations to our readers?
Laura: I’m fortunate in that my home sits in the middle of two wooded acres plus a pond, so when I curl up on my favorite leather sofa to read, I can also view a continual parade of deer, rabbits, opossum, and owls. My guilty pleasure books include thrillers by John Sandford and Robert Crais, as well as domestic thrillers by Shari Lapena. I also read a lot of business books. I have a marketing background, so I’m interested in consumer trends as well as the importance of building and maintaining an audience and evolving with your customer.
Kym: What is your favorite go-to social media platform that our readers can find you on most days?
Laura: Find me on my website and on Facebook.
Kym: Thank you for joining us on the Cozy Corner!
Laura: Thank you for having me, I loved your questions!
For our readers who have a taste for mysteries on the darker side, pick up a copy of A LIE FOR A LIE by Ren DeStefano also releasing on 3/10/26.
Until next month, cozy up with a great mystery!
Tea Shop Mystery #30
A brazen killer sparks Theodosia Browning’s sense of justice in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.
As fireflies dazzle like tiny glowing lanterns, tea maven Theodosia hosts an elegant evening tea on the patio of the Tangled Rose B and B. But in this gentle darkness an intruder has made their way in and slipped deadly drugs into the baked Alaska of Mrs. Van Courtland, one of Charleston’s local grande dames. Shocked by this brazen act, urged on by Mrs. V’s grieving son, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. Soon, she finds herself at odds with a greedy developer, the questionable residents of Honey Badger House, a vengeful ex-daughter-in-law, ne’er do well relatives, and a housekeeper who knows all the secrets. As Theodosia hosts a Moulin Rouge Tea and a Queen Victoria Tea, her tea sommelier Drayton is assaulted by a masked stranger and the fiancé of Mrs. V’s son is kidnapped. It’s only at the Starry Starry Night black tie ball that Theodosia stumbles upon the killer and gets pulled into a dramatic life and death chase.
Mystery Cozy [ Berkley, On Sale: March 10, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593815472 / eISBN: 9780593815489 ]
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. All 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 All Time Best Cozy Mystery Series.” In her previous life Laura was CEO of her own marketing firm and authored three screenplays.
Kym Roberts writes by day and is a pro-surfer in her dreams by night. Her humor is often raunchy, her jokes are often bad, but her hunger for a story keeps the adventures coming fast. Experience the thrill & catch the wave of passion, mystery and suspense with her on her website, on Facebook, and her favorite social media site, Instagram.
Her third Scandalous Sisters, THE WANTON WIDOW under the pseudonym Helene Matheson released in January, 2026. Watch for her next release, THE WICKED BARONESS coming soon.
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