Oolong Dead (A Teashop Mystery)

Oolong Dead is the 10th in the Teashop Mysteries written by Laura Childs. The protagonist/detective in this series is Theodosia Browning, the owner of the Indigo Tea Shop in the fictional historic district of Charleston. Not having the full background of this series didn’t hamper me from getting through this book and I’ll say why -

Theodosia is catering as well as participating in the annual Charleston races and things begin to go downhill when she discovers the body of her arch nemesis Abby Davis. The recent public spat between Abby and Theodosia puts Theodosia in the spotlight not to mention brings her into contact with her Ex. As Theodosia reluctantly digs deeper into the murder mystery, she uncovers  a lot of skeletons in Abby’s closet that may point the identity of the murderer closer to home than she thought.

Whats great about the book is definitely the recipes provided for some of the snacks and tea brews mentioned in the story. Then the vivid description of the tea shop, the historic building of Charleston are worth reading over. And then there is the lovely cover page, a perfect bait with the lovely flower vases, snacks and maybe a teapot or two.

Having not read the rest of the mysteries, I can’t make a comparison but on the whole this book was a disappointing read. The plot was fine, the suspense was great but the motive was weak. Having read better mysteries than this, the ending can be at best described as under brewed oolong tea which is all watery and no flavor. The other con was connecting the title and the story was difficult, unless this was purely naming tactics. The question is do I read the rest or not?

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