by Laura Childs
Part of Tea Shop Mystery, book 1
First published 2001
Theo owns a tea shop in Charleston where she takes pride in her perfectly brewed blends. When a customer sips her Darjeeling and drops dead from poison, the police point fingers directly at her. Theo knows she never touched that tea with anything deadly, but the authorities see her as their prime suspect. The real killer walks free while her business crumbles and neighbors whisper accusations. Each new customer might be the murderer returning to watch the chaos unfold. Theo serves every cup wondering if it could be fatal. She must track down the true culprit before another death occurs and before the scandal destroys everything she built. The investigation demands the same precision she uses when measuring tea leaves and steeping times.
Genres: mystery, crime, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: cozy, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, small-town
Setting: Darjeeling
256 pages · ebook · Berkley