Review - Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs

Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Really excellent start to a cozy mystery series and just the mental break I needed from my recent reading list. I greatly enjoyed the world Childs describes by following amateur sleuth Theodosia through downtown Charleston and its surrounding area. She does a wonderful job evoking the class and culture of modern day tea consumption and beautifully describes Charleston. While I've never visited, I certainly want to go now!

I particularly appreciated that Childs didn't make Theodosia into a character more knowledgeable than she should be. Theo, an upper-middle class tea room owner and former marketing guru, mostly uses her social connections and bravado to push her way into finding out what has happened to the murder victim, rather than any surprisingly-applicable training or skill. Childs did a marvelous job setting up for a longer series by introducing any number of colorful secondary characters and giving the lead room to grow. My only quibbles with this book were the slightly overdone descriptions of the local scenes (just my preference; they were evocative) and the abrupt transitions, often from Theodosia's POV to a suspect's and back again, with no real purpose or physical break in the narrative.

Definitely a book for those who like their mysteries long on character and short on gruesome. Just be warned that the food & tea descriptions are likely to make you long for fattening baked goods and a perfectly brewed cup! Looking forward to continuing with this series in Gunpowder Green.

Review - Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn: A Social History of the Tea Room Craze in America

Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn: A Social History of the Tea Room Craze in America by Jan Whitaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book wasn't quite what I expected in a few ways, but Whitaker's obviously meticulous research does shine throughout. While the title makes the book out to be a history of tea rooms in America, the focus was clearly on tea rooms in urban areas, with a short foray into roadside tea rooms. Whitaker does a good job of showing how tea rooms, a predominately women-owned business which catered to female clientele, influenced the male-dominated restaurant business and reflected the changing role of women in America during this time period. She also does a wonderful job of removing the "authorial voice" from commenting on a time period when so few were equal citizens, stating these inequalities as fact but not dwelling on them.

The book was a little hard to read in places. The constant name-dropping of so many tea rooms was dizzying, especially with no context to understand their significance. Also, Whitaker is prone to making statements without providing any verifying context. However, Whitaker's history does give a good basis for understanding the extreme variety in establishments that refer to themselves as tea rooms today. The photographs of historical tea rooms and their menus and advertisements were a big bonus. I wish this book had been a bit more national in scope, referenced a longer time frame, and backed up its claims in a more transparent way; but my expectations may have set me up for disappointment. Nonetheless, definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in tea-related history or social history in America.