When Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is invited by Doreen Briggs, one of Charleston’s most prominent hostesses, to a “Rat Tea,” she is understandably intrigued.  As servers dressed in rodent costumes and wearing white gloves offer elegant finger sandwiches and fine teas, Theo learns these parties date back to early twentieth-century Charleston, where the cream of society would sponsor so-called rat teas to promote city rodent control and better public health.

But this party goes from odd to chaotic when a fire starts at one of the tables and Doreen’s entrepreneur husband suddenly goes into convulsions and drops dead. Has his favorite orange pekoe tea been poisoned? Theo smells a rat.

The distraught Doreen soon engages Theo to pursue a discreet inquiry into who might have murdered her husband. As Theo and her tea sommelier review the guest list for suspects, they soon find themselves drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse…

INCLUDES RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS

Thanks for the opportunity to visit Bibliophile Reviews. I am eager to tell you all about the eighteenth book in the Tea Shop Mysteries series, Pekoe Most Poison.

Fans of Theodosia Browning owner of the Indigo Tea Shop, her tea sommelier Drayton and her chef and chief baker Haley, will be thrilled to see them again in a mystery that begins with rats and leads to a dead husband in very short order.

Theodosia and Drayton attend a high society “rat tea,” a tribute to the old-fashioned rat teas that were all the rage in Charleston back in the 1930s when the teas were staged to draw attention to Charleston’s vermin problem. On this breezy Charleston afternoon, hostess Doreen “Dolly” Briggs has decided it would be great fun to bring the concept back for an afternoon tea party.

While Theodosia finds it disconcerting to have the servers dressed in Edwardian style livery topped with white velvet rat heads, the decorations are tasteful and the Darjeeling and Assam teas being served are top quality. The cinnamon and lemon poppy seed scones and other pastries are quite delicious, but Theodosia particularly enjoys the crab quiche.

But when a rat-faced server dressed in pink tries to set a pot of Orange Pekoe tea on a warmer at the main table and knocks over a candle, which in turn sets a centerpiece on fire, the room turns to chaos. Never one to hesitate, Theodosia picks up a pot of tea and drenches the flames. Dolly’s husband, Beau, tries to settle everyone down but he suddenly begins to choke and falls to the floor. He is dead in minutes.

Dolly Briggs uses her financial support of the Heritage Society, a project dear to Drayton’s heart, to push him to persuade Theodosia to sharpen her inquisitive nature and find out who murdered Beau. Of course the newly arrived Detective Pete Riley may have other ideas. We’ll just have to see how he and Theodosia get along.

The plot moves at a thriller pace, with twists, turns and suspects galore making Pekoe Most Poison a suspenseful guilty pleasure I know you will enjoy.

I wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Much love,

Laura Childs