Plum Tea Crazy: Tea Shop Mystery #19

At the start of Childs’s savory 19th Tea Shop mystery (after 2017’s Pekoe Most Poison), Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston, S.C., and her debonair friend and tea sommelier, Drayton Conneley, witness the fatal fall of banker Carson Lanier from the widow’s walk of a stately mansion on the night of the annual Gaslight and Galleons Parade. Theodosia is the first to arrive on the scene, where she discovers that Lanier has been shot with a bolt from a crossbow. Suspects start springing up like mushrooms after a rain shower, among them a soon-to-be ex-wife, lovers, business partners, and a cranky handyman. Of course, of equal importance to finding out who killed the banker is matching blackcurrant scones with steaming cups of custom-blended plum-flavored Ceylonese tea. Rounding out the volume are recipes, teatime tips, and a list of tea resources, including tea websites and blogs. Childs serves dedicated cup-of-tea-and-a-cozy readers exactly what they long for. Agent: Sam Pinkus, Keystone Literary Agency. (Mar.)