Agony of the Leaves - Laura Childs

Agony of the Leaves

by Laura Childs

If Murder’s Your Cup of Tea . . .

The opening of Charleston’s Neptune Aquarium is a major event, and Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston, SC, has been hired to cater tea, scones, and finger foods for the private party of big buck donors.  But when Theodosia slips away to view the Ocean Wall exhibit, she discovers the body of a man, tangled in a net, drowned in this state-of-the-art tank.

To make matters worse, the victim is Theodosia’s former boyfriend Parker Scully.  The EMTs on the scene say he drowned, but Theodosia spots defensive wounds on his hands and realizes someone wanted him dead.  Even though the police aren’t keen on her theory, Theodosia chases down a raft of suspects that include a shady lawyer, an extravagant lady restaurateur, and an aquarium board member.  Complications ensue when Theodosia is also tapped to compete in a charity scavenger event, cater a tea luncheon at her Aunt Libby’s plantation, and host a Chado ceremony at the Heritage Society.

This clever amateur sleuth’s investigation leads her from high tea into high drama and a surprise cemetery shocker at the end!  So cozy up for a smart good read, then enjoy the recipes for Charleston Pecan Brownie Bars, Honey Bee Scones, and Sweet Potato Butter.

BIOGRAPHY

Laura Childs is the author of  14 Tea Shop Mysteries, 10 Scrapbook Mysteries, and 3 Cackleberry Club Mysteries.  Her books have been named to the USA Today and The New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club.  She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

WEBSITE
http://www.laurachilds.com

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtCSYWUiS98

PURCHASE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

PUBLISHER
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 978-0-425-24553-8

Skeleton Letters - Laura Childs

Skeleton Letters

by Laura Childs

Is nothing sacred?

The last thing scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand expected to bear witness to in St. Tristan’s Church was a crime.  But now a beloved member of her scrapbooking circle is lying lifeless next to a smashed statue of St. Sebastian – and a mysterious hooded figure had absconded with an antique silver-and-gold crucifix.

With the church, a popular New Orleans tourist site, pretty much open to the public, it looks like the police don’t have a prayer of finding the killer.  Good thing amateur sleuth Carmela and her wacky voodoo shop-owning friend Ava are hot on the trail.  With suspects that range from a deliveryman, to the strange Brother Paul, to the cult group The Seekers, Carmela and Ava comb New Orleans for clues.  And end up in a bayou at midnight, stalked by an enraged killer!

A cross between a cozy and a thriller – a thrillzy! – Skeleton Letters delivers great characters, action, humor, spooky cemeteries, scrapbooking tips, and New Orleans recipes.  This is the Halloween read you’ve been waiting for!

BIOGRAPHY

Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries.  Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club.  She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

WEBSITE
http://www.laurachilds.com

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/R0WRgk3qCy0

PURCHASE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

PUBLISHER
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 978-0-425-24389-3

Scones and Bones - Laura Childs

Scones & Bones
by Laura Childs
Scones & Bones, the newest Tea Shop Mystery, offers a heady brew of pirates and plunder.

Scones & Bones is the 12th in the New York Times bestselling Tea Shop Mystery series that readers continue to crave. In this tasty offering, Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is lured into attending the Heritage Society’s Pirates and Plunder show. Amidst jolly roger flags and sparkling doubloons, an antique skull cup set with a huge diamond steals the show and then gets plundered by someone who murders a history intern in the process. As Theodosia unlocks secrets about the dastardly pirate Blackbeard, she unravels mysterious ciphers, rambles through an ancient cemetery, and contends with a bizarre gallery owner. As if she isn’t busy enough, Theodosia and her tea shop gang kick off Charleston’s Food and Wine Festival and introduce the hottest new culinary trend, tea and cheese. But with a raft of suspects and a bungled investigation, something smells funny. And it’s not just the Gorgonzola!

Combining the genteel art of tea with a breakneck-paced mystery, Scones & Bones delivers big time! There are lovingly crafted characters, soothing descriptions of tea parties and settings in historic Charleston. And when the action concludes with murderers brought to justice, there are always plenty of tea tips and recipes.

Literary pick of the week: Laura Childs
St. Paul Pioneer Press

High body count . . . uniquely warm characters.
Booklist

Magnificent . . . Laura Childs is a master chef at writing culinary mysteries.Night Owl Romance

A roller coaster ride of adventure.
Chattooga Press (TN)

Thrilling excitement . . . characters who are familiar and endearing as beloved family members.Wichita Falls Times Record News (TX)

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs is the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning advertising writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing. She is currently co-executive producer of two reality television shows.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK SIGNINGS
Once Upon a Crime - Saturday, March 5, 2011
Laura Childs publication party featuring tea, scones, and tea sandwiches from noon to 2:00.
The bookstore is located at 604 West 26th St., Mpls., MN 55405

Avalon Tea Room - Saturday, March 12, 2011
Scones & Bones mystery tea and book signing at the Avalon Tea Room.
Three-course teas beginning at 11:00 and 1:30, reservations required.
Located at 2179 4th St., White Bear Lake, MN 55110

Once Upon a Crime
Write of Spring
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Laura Childs will participate in this annual Minnesota mystery author’s festival of books from noon to 4:00 at Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore.
The store is located at 604 West 26th St., Mpls., MN 55405

Lady Elegant’s Tea Room - Saturday, April 9, 2011
Scones & Bones mystery tea and book signing at Lady Elegant’s. Formal teas at 11:00 and 2:30, reservations required. Tea room located at 2230 Carter Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108

Bedeviled Eggs - Laura Childs

Bedeviled Eggs

by New York Times
Bestselling Author Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 970-0-425-23155-5
$7.99 Paperback

Cozy up with the latest “thillzy”
in this Minnesota-based
Cackleberry Club Mystery series.

Laura Childs has filled Bedeviled Eggs, the third book in her bestselling Cackleberry Club Mystery series, with a raft of small-town Minnesota characters that make you yearn for simpler times. At the top of the list are Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, the wise-cracking (and egg cracking) entrepreneurial ladies of the Cackleberry Club café. Mornings they whip up Egg Strata and Slumbering Volcanoes, then work a double shift as amateur sleuths. Because in this go round, a “read dating” event ends badly when a mayoral candidate is lobotomized with a crossbow!

Two days later, a sheriff’s deputy is found murdered on the historical society’s Quilt Trail. Now Suzanne, the Cackleberry Club’s founder, along with Sheriff Doogie, must struggle to unravel clues even as they contend with rescued fighting dogs, a prison break, and some very dirty politics.

Spirituality abounds, too, along with pulse-pounding action and tasty recipes for breakfast egg pizza, crabby omelets, pumpkin pancakes, and hazelnut scones. And for readers on the lookout for stocking stuffers this holiday, there’s a $7.99 mass market price.

“A delicious platter of thrilling whodunit, with a side of friendship and humor for dessert.”Las Vegas Review-Journal

"Childs excels at creating comforting settings in which to place her characters and the Cackleberry Club is a place you’d like to visit."St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Rich details . . . another great series by the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries and Scrapbook Mysteries.”Romantic Times Book Reviews

“Another Grade A, fresh and yummy installment to this fantastic series.”Richmond Times-Dispatch

BIOGRAPHYLaura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning advertising writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing. She is currently co-executive producer of two reality television shows.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK SIGNINGOnce Upon a Crime – Saturday, December 11, 2010

A Bedeviled Eggs publication party and holiday cookie party will be held on Saturday, December 11, from Noon to 2:00 at Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore. The store is located at 604 West 26th St., Mpls., MN 55405, phone is 612-870-3785.

Fiber & Brimstone - Laura Childs

Fiber & Brimstone

by Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime

Building a Halloween tale around the #1 craft in America today, author Laura Childs sets the stage with scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava creating giant puppets for the French Quarter’s Monsters and Mayhem parade. But as blood-curdling screams pierce the night, they soon discover that the captain of the float den has been stabbed by the razor-sharp horns of a giant Minotaur head!

Police quickly cast blame on Carmela’s float-building friend, Jekyl, even though she’s convinced of his innocence and vows to find the real killer. But this is Halloween in New Orleans, an ethereal bewitched city where ghostly intruders are at work. Carmela soon finds herself pursued by a swamp monster, encounters a second gruesome murder at the Ballet Dracula, rubs shoulders with the mysterious Mr. Bones, and ends up an unwitting prisoner in a parade of hearses!

Fiber & Brimstone blends crafting, the vibrancy of New Orleans, spooky cemeteries, vampire crawls, scrapbook tips, and delicious Southern recipes into this 8th book in the bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series.

With the book set in New Orleans, Childs is keenly aware of the BP oil spill and its destructive effect on wildlife. So she is donating a portion of the proceeds from each book sold at Twin Cities area bookstores during October to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help in the rescue and rehabilitation of loggerhead, hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK LAUNCH

Saturday, October 9, 2010
A Fiber & Brimstone publication party and tea party
Noon to 2:00 pm
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore604 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785

Laura Childs - Eggs Benedict Arnold

Eggs Benedict Arnold

by Laura Childs

Berkley Prime Crime

ISBN 978-0-425-23155-5

The Cackleberry Club?
Dan Brown it’s not!

Why Eggs Benedict Arnold, by Laura Childs, local author and New York Times bestselling author, may turn out to be the little book that could this holiday season.

When times are tough and money’s tight, a surprising number of readers turn to good old-fashioned cozy mysteries. The paper kind you can curl up with instead of a hard, impersonal e-book. The kind that costs just $7.99.

Laura Childs has filled Eggs Benedict Arnold, the second book in the Cackleberry Club Mystery series, with a raft of small-town Minnesota characters that make you yearn for simpler times. At the top of the list are Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, the wise-cracking (and egg cracking) entrepreneurial ladies of the Cackleberry Club café, who whip up Egg Strata and Slumbering Volcanoes in the morning, then work a double shift as amateur sleuths.

In between two murders, a car chase, and tromping through a deserted cemetery, they manage to hold a Knit-in for charity, serve afternoon tea, and stage a cake decorating contest. Author Laura Childs is betting that women (and a few men) will make this second book in the series a #1 bestseller just like the first one was. “We all crave a little comfort right now,” said Childs. “We want to return to basics like homemade breakfast, cake and cookie recipes, and neighbors who are quirky but pull together when they have to.”

Spirituality abounds, too, along with a surprising amount of pulse-pounding action. And for readers on a budget, there’s that mass market price.

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs (the pseudonym of Gerry Schmitt) is the author of three different mystery series, including the Tea Shop Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries, and the Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have made trips to the New York Times, USA Today and Independent Mystery Booksellers bestseller lists. She is the former founder and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITE
www.laurachilds.com

BOOK SIGNINGOnce Upon a Crime - Saturday, December 5, 2009
An Eggs Benedict Arnold publication party with book signing and refreshments will be held Saturday, Dec. 5, from noon to 2:00pm at Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore. The store is located at 604 West 26th St., Mpls., MN 55405, phone 612-870-3785.

Borders Books in Minnetonka – Saturday, December 12, 2009
A book signing and recipe giveaway will be held on Saturday, December 12, from noon to 2:00pm at Borders Books in Minnetonka. The store is located at 1501 Plymouth Road, Minnetonka, MN 55305 (adjacent to Ridgedale), phone is 952-595-0977.