Cute story...was going to read the series and started with book one. I accidentally picked up a book further along in the series and decided they were too similar. I tend to think that each book will be same story, different murder victim. Personally, I don't think I can take any more social tea settings and food descriptions. I like the characters, but the constant mention of "Theodosia" started driving me crazy! ( )

I've read other books in this series and am going back to read ones I missed along the way. I was surprised to find out teaberry contains mint (among other things). I kind of wished the author would have made more of an effort to tie Teaberry into the story rather than just making it a scent that Theodosia thought she smelled in the alley, a candle scent, and a tea that Drayton orders only after Theodosia mentions it. They don't even serve the tea to anyone at the tea shop as best I can tell.

The tea sniffers sound interesting. I think I would like to hear Drayton talk about teas and recommend a tea or two.

I'm over the Jory Davis/Theodosia Browning love interest. I hope Childs lets them move on from it. I sort of agree with another reviewer that the ancillary characters didn't seem as well developed as they were in some other books and there were some plot points that didn't really contribute to the overall story/mystery. ( )

The return of Jory's ex and a burgeoning romance for Haley added some colour to an otherwise standard cup of tea from Laura Childs ( )

I enjoy reading facts about different teas and tea related items in this series. The amateur sleuth is the owner of a tea shop. She employs a master tea blender and a young culinary wizard. When her friend and fellow shop keeper is killed, Theodosia negotiates the twists and turns of the case to try to solve the murder. ( )

Theodosia is happy that the evening's "back-alley crawl" is over and is heading down the alley to visit with her friend, Daria, and see how her new antiquarian map business fared in the crawl. Instead she comes across someone strangling Daria. Before she can even react the strangler drops Daria's body and flees the scene.

Theo spends the rest of the book trying to determine who wanted Daria dead, and why. Is it the boyfriend or the employee? How about the perfumery owners who seem very interested in attaining Daria's building space. Someone else?

I do like Theo and her therapy dog, Earl Grey. This was a very good entry in the series and I was totally surprised by the killer, and the motive. I'm still behind on this series and will keep working toward catching up. ( )