Blog Tour and Giveaway: Honey Drop Dead (Tea Shop Mystery #26) by Laura Childs

Honey Drop Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery)
by Laura Childs

About Honey Drop Dead

Honey Drop Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
25th in Series
Setting – South Carolina
Berkley (August 8, 2023)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593200950
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593200957
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BLTT3TCN

Synopsis:

The murder of a political bigwig at a Honey Bee Tea sends Theodosia Browning buzzing for answers in this latest installment
of the New York Times bestselling series.

Theodosia’s Honey Bee Tea was an elegant affair set in Charleston’s new Petigru Park amid newly planted native grasses and a community beekeeping project. But when a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party erupts in chaos. Worse yet, a shot rings out and Osgood Claxton III, candidate for state legislature, falls to the ground—dead.

Holly Burns, the gallery owner who asked Theodosia to cater the tea, is understandably heartbroken. A man is dead, her guests are angry and injured, and the paintings that were on display are left in tatters. When the police don’t seem to have a clue, when old-line politicos don’t want questions asked, Holly begs Theodosia to run a shadow investigation and help restore her gallery’s good name.

Between hosting a Wind in the Willows Tea and a Glam Girl Tea, Theodosia questions everyone that had a bone to pick with Claxton. This includes Booker, an angry outsider artist; Lamar Lucket, Claxton’s political opponent; and Mignon Merriweather, the dead man’s soon-to-be ex-wife. But the investigation becomes a political hot potato following a second murder, the revelation of a messy affair, a chase through a swamp, and a vandalized shop.

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

My review:

Laura Childs, where have your books been all my life?! This is the first of the Tea Shop Mysteries that I’ve read (nothing like jumping in on number 26, right?), and it definitely will not be the last.

Theodosia Browning (love that name!) hosts special event teas as part of her business. The book opens with a Honey Bee Tea she’s hosting for a local art gallery, hoping to help them get their name out there and grow. But the tea is brutally disrupted when a fake beekeeper douses the guests with who knows what chemicals and a local politician is shot dead. The police are investigating, of course, but it seems to be going nowhere fast. Knowing the powers that be may not want certain pots stirred, Holly, the gallery owner, asks Theodosia to do her own digging into the matter.

I love Laura Childs’ characters! The names are wonderful: Theodosia. Drayton. Osgood Claxton III (doesn’t that one just ooze “smarmy politician”?). Their personalities are just what I’d expect. Theodosia is smart, headstrong, and a shrewd businesswoman. Drayton, a tea sommelier (I didn’t even know there was such a thing), is very good at what he does, and he’s a good friend who’ll go with Theodosia into sticky situations even when it’s against his better judgment.

Turns out there are a lot of people who might have rejoiced to see Osgood Claxton III dead. Lamar Lucket, his political opponent? Mignon Merriweather, his soon-to-be-ex-wife? Ginny Bell, the supposed “other woman”? Booker, an artist who lost out on grant money because of Claxton? Childs tosses out a lot of possibilities and leads the reader on a merry chase after each one.

With a plot that moves along briskly, an intriguing mystery, and recipes at the end of the book (my favorite!), this is a sweet cozy mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it, stayed up past my bedtime reading it, and can’t wait to go back to the start and read the entire series.

Keep scrolling to enter the GIVEAWAY!

About Laura Childs

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Laura’s Links: Website – Facebook

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – PenguinRandomHouse –

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