Dragonwell Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery)
by Laura Childs
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laura ChildsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-04
ISBN: 0425220451
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Berkley
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780425220450
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Dragonwell Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Book Review: Is there an editor in the house?
Summary: 3 Stars
I've picked up a couple of Laura Child's teashop mysteries in the past and enjoyed them--they're cheerfully undemananding bedtime reading and I like the characters, so even if I can figure out whodunnit in about ten minutes, who cares? The recipes and tea suggestions are a real plus if you entertain a lot.
I really couldn't focus on this one, though, because it was so badly in need of editing. I usually try to overlook errors and concentrate on the story, but there were so many issues that I was constantly distracted.
It's unforgivable for a publishing house not to know the difference between compliment and complement. Childs (or a rotten editor) uses compliment wrongly at least three times.
There are lots of strange, bloated phrases, like "perplexed yet slightly bemused"--what?--or the description of Delaine raising "one quivering eyebrow". The only things I can do with my eyebrows are raise them, waggle them, or overpluck them; I've never yet seen one quivering. Delightful thought, but did Childs really want her readers stopping dead, trying to quiver their own eyebrows and deciding that someone involved in this book is either a total freak or on a lot of hard drugs?
Then there are oddities in the excessively flimsy plot. Drayton and Theo get shot at in a canoe and plunge over a waterfall, but that's never explained, not even in the traditional full confession of the murderer while he's trying to set Theo on fire. Theo hadn't been on his track at the time and, as he bragged, he'd set the trail on someone else. If this, um, harrowing experience was explained, I totally missed it. And what's with the encounter with Jory's cousin? It seemed completely irrelevant.
Worse, one mention of lavender-infused egg salad and I zoomed to the back of the book to check out the recipe--sounded intriguing, and I had just been talking to someone about using lavender in food. The recipe's there, alright, but there's not a mention of lavender except in the title. I read it about fourteen times on the principle that lavender had to be there SOMEWHERE. Nope.
The overwhelming impression I got was that Childs had set herself a daily wordcount, or was under deadline pressure, or is maybe flat out of ideas, and was trying to meet her goals regardless.
You don't expect a masterpiece with this kind of book, but I truly think that an author and her publisher owe the people who fork over the dosh a little more respect than this.
Summary of Dragonwell Dead (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Although Theodosia Browning barely knows a Phalinopsis from a Bog Rose, she still enjoys Charleston's Spring Plantation Ramble, especially since she can promote her Indigo Tea Shop and her latest concoction, Dragonwell Sweet Tea. But the party's over when Mark Congdon wins a bid for a rare orchid-and promptly dies. It looks like a simple heart attack, but Theo suspects that someone purposely turned his green thumb blue.
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