Mysterious puns
Jan. 21st, 2008 01:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
debgeislerWriter Laura Childs (a pen name for Gerry Schmitt) offers readers a set of easy mysteries about an ex-ad exec who has left the high-tension wires of marketing commnication and opened a tea shop in Charleston, South Carolina's historic district. (Schmitt herself left high-level marketing to write.)
The books are very pleasant, and the protagonist is charming, strong, and forthright. (Although the reader will, of course, want to strike the protagonist with a blunt object for ignoring the clues that tell us who the murderer is by not later than page 100.)
Still, they make a nice break, and the books are quite informative.
Informative? Yes...the amount of knowledge about the world of tea is really impressive. I've learned about the Charleston Tea Plantation (North America's only true tea-growing facility), about Indian and Chinese and Indian and other teas, about how to brew (and not brew) different varieties, and what kinds of food recipes can use (or just be appreciated with) tea. Some of the latter are in the books, too.
These types of mysteries are usually called "cozies." But this set, as Mike noted, are "tea cosies." :-)
The books are very pleasant, and the protagonist is charming, strong, and forthright. (Although the reader will, of course, want to strike the protagonist with a blunt object for ignoring the clues that tell us who the murderer is by not later than page 100.)
Still, they make a nice break, and the books are quite informative.
Informative? Yes...the amount of knowledge about the world of tea is really impressive. I've learned about the Charleston Tea Plantation (North America's only true tea-growing facility), about Indian and Chinese and Indian and other teas, about how to brew (and not brew) different varieties, and what kinds of food recipes can use (or just be appreciated with) tea. Some of the latter are in the books, too.
These types of mysteries are usually called "cozies." But this set, as Mike noted, are "tea cosies." :-)