MURDER IN THE TEA LEAVES by Laura Childs

Grab a seat and a pot of Earl Grey as Theodosia and the gang take readers on another thrilling tea adventure complete with a cursed movie production, a haunted house, a dead director, and all the tea you can drink in Laura Child’s twenty-seventh Tea Shop mystery, MURDER IN THE TEA LEAVES.

Theodosia is providing the refreshment table on the set of the movie “Dark Fortunes," which is being filmed at Charleston’s haunted Brittlebank Manor. Theo gets roped into playing a minor character, but as she’s reading the tea leaves, there’s a metal chair electrocution, causing the director to convulse and die. Theo knows this is no accident and someone with electrical or wiring skills rigged the contraption. Could it have been the reluctant leading actress, the unappreciated scriptwriter, a clueless fiancé, a local love interest, a strange personal assistant, the replacement director, or the film’s investor? Theo and Drayton have plenty of suspects to investigate, and their activities lead them into precarious situations, all ending with a motorcycle chase through the cobblestone streets and narrow alleys of Charleston, SC.

MURDER IN THE TEA LEAVES proves that Laura Childs is not slowing down in providing fun, flat-out good mysteries with ambiance and atmosphere. The Indigo Tea Shop is the center of the action, with Theodosia, Drayton, and Hayley leading the charge. From Poetry Teas to Breakfast at Tiffany Teas, Theodosia exudes the entrepreneurial spirit as she invents more ways to make her customers happy and keep the tea shop thriving. The mystery is solid and starts with a literal spark and the suspect list is large containing locals and out-of-town movie personnel. Of course, there is more than meets the eye with this mystery. As Theo’s escapades include secret passages, marine artifacts, sliding down roofs, squeezing through fences, and riding a motorcycle to evade the bad guys, we get a front-row seat to the adventurous mystery-solving fun of this Charleston Tea Shop maven. MURDER IN THE TEA LEAVES is another great addition to this New York Times best-selling series. Recipes and Tea Time Tips are included!

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SUMMARY

It’s Lights, Action, Murder as tea maven Theodosia Browning scrambles for clues in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

When Theodosia Browning reads the tea leaves on the set of the movie, Dark Fortunes, things go from spooky to worse. Lights are dimmed, the camera rolls, and red hot sparks fly as the film’s director is murdered in a tricky electrical accident.

Or was it an accident? Though the cast and crew are stunned beyond belief, nobody admits to seeing a thing. And when Theodosia’s friend, Delaine, becomes the prime suspect, Theodosia begins her own shadow investigation. But who among this Hollywood cast and crew had murder on their mind? The screenwriter is a self-centered pot head, the leading actress is trying to wiggle out of her contract, the brand new director seems indifferent, and nobody trusts the slippery-when-dry Hollywood agent.

Between hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany’s Tea, a Poetry Tea, and trying to launch her own chocolate line, Theodosia doggedly hunts down clues and explores the seemingly haunted Brittlebank Manor where the murder took place. And just when she’s ready to pounce, a Charleston Film Board member is also murdered, throwing everything into total disarray. But this clever killer will go to any lengths to hide his misdeeds as Theodosia soon finds out when she and her tea sommelier, Drayton, get caught up in a dangerous stakeout.

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

EXCERPT

BOOK SERIES

Tea Shop Mysteries