Source: Publisher
Description: Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier, Drayton Conneley, are catering a Victorian Christmas party at a swanky mansion in downtown Charleston. Drucilla Heyward, the hostess, is one of the wealthiest women in town.
As the champagne flows and the tea steeps, Drucilla is so pleased with the reception by her partygoers that she reveals her secret plan to Theodosia. The Grande Dame has brought the cream of Charleston society together to reveal that she is planning to give her wealth away to various charitable organizations. However, before she can make the announcement, Theodosia finds her crumpled unconscious in the hallway. It looks like the excitement has gotten to the elderly woman--except that there is a syringe sticking out of her neck.
Genre: Mystery - Cozy
Why I Picked This Book: I usually enjoy this series and I could not resist the cover.
My Impression: There's a lot I love about this series. I really enjoy the Charleston setting and I love all the talk about the tea and treats. Drayton and Haley are entertaining characters and I always like spending page time with them. The mystery is intriguing and I love the art theft angle.
Theodosia tends to get on my nerves. She's a bit too perfect and a bit too know it all. As well, she gets super offended and indignant when told not to investigate on her own because it could jeopardize the investigate. I read a lot of cozy mysteries which always feature an amateur detective but normally when the amateur detective is involved with a member of law enforcement they usually share their findings while Theodosia typically plays things very close to the vest. While this has always annoyed be a bit I usually enjoyed the book enough that it didn't bother me too much. Unfortunately, in this book I didn't find the pacing to be fast enough to suck me in and get me past my eye rolling at Theodosia.
Despite the gorgeous cover and the interesting premise I didn't feel like the execution on this particular book was solid enough to have the pros outweigh the cons for me. Since I was also not a fan of the previous book I think I'll be giving the series a rest.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? I will probably read more of this author and I might go back and read earlier books in the series but I don't think I'll be picking up future books.
Would I Recommend this Book? I would probably recommend the earlier books in this series - especially if you love tea and Charleston - but I would probably pass on the later.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
Would I Recommend this Book? I would probably recommend the earlier books in this series - especially if you love tea and Charleston - but I would probably pass on the later.
* I received this book in exchange for an honest review. As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *
What a shame! I am sorry that this one had the issues that it did. I think that I would have been annoyed as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry this one didn't work for you. I usually enjoy this series, but I've only read a few and I'm a bit behind on them. I usually enjoy everything this author writes, but I guess they can't all be winners. Eventually I will get to this one.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Theodosia got to you.But agree the cover is yummy and good idea to try a few of the previous books you haven't read.
ReplyDelete