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Summary: Death by Darjeeling
Review: Death by Darjeeling caught my eye because of the Charleston locale, but it was only a matter of pages before I was swept up by the imaginative plot, quirky characters and loads of tea lore. If you haven't had the good fortune to tromp the cobblestone pathways that wind through Charleston's historic district, this book will transport you - and deliver a terrific mystery at the same time!
Rating: 
Summary: Nicely done cozy
Review: Death By Darjeeling is a charming new mystery series set in the Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston. This cozy mystery features tea shop owner Theodosia Browning. Theodesia becomes a suspect when her tea is used to poison the developer who has designs on her shop. As a tea drinker I particularly enjoyed the setting and the information about tea. Theodosia is a warm and intelligent amateur sleuth and I look forward to the next novel, Gunpowder Green.
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Summary: The Indigo Tea Shop
Review: Death by Darjeeling is a crisp read that will make you feel like a regular visitor to romantic Charleston, South Carolina. I feel I could make my way around this historic city like a native and I would not be in the least bit surprized to find myself savoring a cup of tea in the Indigo Tea Shop presided over by Theodosia Browning, the heroine of this novel. Theodosia has left the pressure cooker world of marketing to set up a cozy haven that attracts people of all sorts, Drayton, the expert in all tea matters, young women in need of a safe harbor, the loyal dog Earl Grey and even a few would be suitors. Each one of them gets involved in Theodosia's misdaventures when a prominent guest is poisoned at a tea social. Theodosia must solve the crime to save her reputation and the little world built upon it. The author, Laura childs, has created a sympathtic cast of characters that I came to know and care about; I look forward to seeing them in the promised second book of tea-house mysteries. Until then, I will enjoy a cup of freshly brewed tea made according to the receipe tucked away in the back of this excellent book. It is a really good read.
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Summary: Just my cup of murder
Review: Death by Darjeeling is a delight from begining to end, The protagonist and her co-workers are people you would like to know and the discriptions of Charleston tempt the reader into making a trip. It has an added benefit in that for a change I wasn't able to guess the murderer a third of the way through the book like I usually do. I feel as though Theo Browning is a friend, and I eagerly await her next outing. If you like a good cozy mystery this is the book for you.
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Summary: A tantalizing blend of tea and mystery
Review: Death by Darjeeling is a terrific cozy. Quirky characters, lots of mysterious goings-ons, and plenty of tea lore. Charleston locales are lovingly described and the shops and homes in the historic district sound truly spectacular. I stumbled upon this in the bookstore, was drawn in by the cover, and became firmly engaged in the mystery. It's well-written and had just enough red herrings to keep me guessing.
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Summary: Great atmosphere
Review: Death by Darjeeling was an okay quickie read. The plot earned only three of the four stars that I gave it. The basic premise -- Charlestonian blueblood, who owns a quaint little tea shop in the historic district, caters a tea party at which a greedy developer dies while sipping a cuppa -- was interesting. However, I don't feel that the author gave any depth to the plot. Instead of a novel, this was more like a television script. Characters were given only enough of an introduction to make them suspects.The fourth star was given for the local color and atmosphere that Laura Childs managed to capture. I know Charleston fairly well, and I really enjoyed the little touches she threw into the book. Descriptions of the gardens and alleyways between the homes, the church bells, the islands and seagrass baskets bring back terrific memories. And if you're a food lover, you'll flip over the descriptions of the teas and sweets. I'll continue to read the series, but I do hope there is more depth to the next book than there was to this one.
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Summary: Very distracting writing style
Review: First of all this book is set in Charleston, SC. The author takes great care to overpopulate this book with references to geographic locations in and around Charleston. There are many needless references to street names, suburbs, etc. which to me (as a non-Charlestonian) are just items to blip over. This was done to excess and distracted me from a lot of the story, which I ended up basically skimming through. The second thing that distracted me was the constant barrage of product placement (although I don't know if authors are actually paid for this kind of stuff the way movie producers are). (Janet Evanovich is guilty of this, too.) The character Drayton uses a Mont Blanc pen. Theodosia drives a Jeep Cherokee, has a Scooby Doo cookie jar, wears Tod loafers (although it's misspelled in the book as Todd), and so forth. None of this is germane to the story line. This therefore is a bit glaring. Lastly, the author is quite intent on explaining things to her readers. It is highly possible (and perfectly acceptable) that many tea-related things are explained in detail to the reader, since tea is the main focus of the book. I know a lot about tea, but there were still some explanations that I needed. Some on the other hand were a bit tedious. Where the writing really grates, though, is where the author introduces a concept and then proceeds to explain it all to us. Here is an example. Theodosia and Drayton are making spaghetti carbonara, which is a rich creamy-sauced spaghetti. Drayton is worried about the cholesterol content, and Theodosia explains that the wine will help counteract that. "'You mean like the French paradox,' said Drayton. He was making reference to the staple diet in France that consists of bread, rich cheeses, eggs, cream and lots of chocolate desserts. Yet, because of their almost daily consumption of wine, the French have an extremely low incidence of heart disease." Everything in the quote marks is totally dispensable and adds nothing to the story. I suggest that most readers would be able to understand the wine/cream sauce reference without a whole paragraph devoted to explaining it. There are lots of these throughout the book. Distracting and irritating. That's why I only gave it two stars. The story is entertaining in a typical murder mystery way, and the characters are developed enough that you don't see a clear "bad guy" or "good guy" for most of it - although the characters aren't really people I ended up caring about (perhaps because I skimmed so much). Still, I bought three in this series at once, so I will probably end up reading all three. Perhaps Childs has dropped some of these annoyances in subsequent books.
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Summary: Death by Darjeeling
Review: I also purchased the entire series before checking any reviews...a mistake. I thought the book was quaint and the historical setting quite cozy, but the characters lacked personality and substance and the storyline was weak. I wanted to like this book (as I have three more to read) so I kept at it, hoping it would get better. Much to my disappointment, it was a struggle to finish.
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Summary: Read the Tea Leaves
Review: I found this a most entrancing book. I couldn't put it down,waiting to see who-dun-it. I learned more about tea in this book than all the cups I've drunk in my life time. The characters were light and funny and realistic. I want to go to Charleston and go shopping and shop a lot. Then I want to go have a nice cuppa and some scones!!!! Truly a wonderful read. I hope Laura Childs continues with these wonderful characters.
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Summary: A great comfy cozy
Review: I love mysteries that are cozy, and light hearted. This book fits the bill. The main charactor needs to be intelligent and together, and liberal minded ...and Theo is! I highly recommend this book as a diversion between "heavy" reads. Furthermore, having read it, I really would love to open a tea shop! Can't wait to enter the tea shop again in the near future!
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