Agony of the Leaves: Tea Shop Mystery #13

by Laura Childs

Pop in a CD of harpsichord music and hark back to teatime with the bard. Shakespearean sonnets printed on 11-by-14-inch paper make great place mats; books piled in the middle of the table with candles in pewter holderscomplete the picture. Serve elegant British butter shortbread cookies, a traditional English tea such as Earl Grey or English breakfast, and cream scones with plenty of black currant jam or ginger preserves. Need something moresubstantial? Think ham and honey mustard tea sandwiches on soda bread, or wonderful creamy Welsh rarebit.

  White Tea

  For an elegant white tea, ask your guests to wear their favoriteall-white outfits. Then drape your table with apristine white linen tablecloth and use white napkins, white china, a white floral centerpiece, and white tea light candles. Serve a silver needle white tea with buttermilk scones and herb butter. Egg salad with dill is also a great savory. Sweets might include white cake, white chocolate scones, andcinnamon cream cheese on date nut bread.

  Sewing Tea

  If your friends are into needlecraft, surprise them with a sewing tea. Arrange spools of thread, patterns, pincushions, and fresh flowers in a fun tablescape, then toss in a fewfashion magazines. Serve cheese quiche and tea sandwiches of lobster salad or turkey pesto. For dessert, consider lemon bars with meringue, brownie bites, and chocolate truffles. And why not serve a Ceylon tea, the tea that was favored by Coco Chanel, the ultimate seamstress and couturier?

  Travel Tea

  This is your chance to decorate your table with all your travel-themed bric-a-brac—perhaps an Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, or world globe? Then spread out maps as place mats. You could even make blue passport-themed invitations and ticket-themed place cards. For your tea menu, serve food with an international flavor such as British shortbread, French tea, and Italian biscotti. Heartier fare might include a French croissant with chicken salad, Mediterranean salad, or Italian caprese sandwiches.

  Picnic Table Tea

  Place your picnic table under a tree that’s been strung with colored lights or festooned with ribbons. Use a summery tablecloth (with a floral or toile pattern) and create atablescape using fresh-cut flowers and felt or furrybutterflies and bees from the craft store. Summer tea options might include mint tea or oolong. Pile your scones in a wicker basket and serve savories such as chicken salad tea sandwiches or thin-sliced cucumbers with watercress. If the weather’s very warm, serve sweet tea in tall, frosted glasses.

  Apple Orchard Tea

  When fall nips the air and the apple harvest is in full swing, create your own apple orchard theme. For table décor, go autumnal with ared-and-white-checked tablecloth, baskets piled high with apples, red pillar candles, and bouquets of autumn leaves. Serve cheddar cheese scones and teasandwiches made with Brie cheese and tart apple slices. For a sweet note, think apple crumb cake, apple fritters, or apple crisp. Source some lovely black tea with cinnamon, clove, and bits of apple. Include honey sticks for sweetening your tea!

  TEA RESOURCES

  TEA PUBLICATIONS

  Tea: A Magazine—Quarterly magazine about tea as a beverage and its cultural significance in the arts and society. (www.­teamag.­com)

  Tea Poetry—book compiled and published by Pearl Dexter, editor of Tea: A Magazine. (www.­teamag.­com)

  Tea Time—Luscious magazine profiling tea and tea lore. Filled with glossy photos and wonderful recipes. (www.­teatimemagazine.­com)

  Southern Lady—From the publishers of Tea Time with a focus on people and places in the South as well as wonderful tea time recipes. (www.­southernladymagazine.­com)

  Tea House Times—Dozens of links to tea shops, purveyors of tea, gift shops, and tea events. (www.­teahousetimes.­com)

  Victoria—Articles and pictorials on homes, home design, gardens, and tea. (www.­victoriamag.­com)

  The Gilded Lily—Publication from the Ladies Tea Guild. (www.­glily.­com)

  Tea in Texas—Highlighting Texas tea rooms and tea events. (www.­teaintexas.­com)

  Fresh Cup Magazine—For tea and coffee professionals. (www.­freshcup.­com)

  Tea & Coffee—Trade journal for the tea and coffee industry. (www.­teaandcoffee.­net)

  ElmwoodInn—Tea expert Bruce Richardson has written several definitive books on tea. (www.­elmwoodinn.­com/­books)

  JanePettigrew—This author has written 13 books on the varied aspects of tea and its history and culture. (janepettigrew.­com/­books)

  A Tea Reader by Katrina Avila Munichiello—anthology of tea stories and reflections.

  AMERICAN TEA PLANTATIONS

  Charleston TeaPlantation—The oldest and largest tea plantation in the United States. Order their fine black tea or schedule a visit. (www.­bigelowtea.­com)

  Fairhope TeaPlantation—Tea produced in Fairhope, Alabama, can be purchased though the Church Mouse gift shop. (www.­thechurchmouse.­com)

  Sakuma BrothersFarm—This tea garden just outside Burlington, Washington, has been growing white and green tea for more than ten years. (www.­sakumamarket.­com)

  Big IslandTea—Organic artisan tea from Hawaii. (www.­bigislandtea.­com)

  TEA WEBSITES AND INTERESTING BLOGS

  Teamap.­com—Directory of hundreds of tea shops in the United States and Canada.

  GreatTearoomsofAmerica.­com—Excellent tea shop guide.

  Tealoversroom.­com—Guide to tea rooms in Northern California

  Cookingwithideas.­typepad.­com—Recipes and book reviews for the bibliochef.

  Cuppatea4sheri.­blogspot.­com—Amazing recipes.

  Seedrack.­com—Order Camellia sinensis seeds and grow your own tea!

  Friendshiptea.­blogspot.­com—Tea shop reviews, recipes, and more.

  Theladiestea.­com—Networking platform for women.

  Jennybakes.­com—Fabulous recipes from a real make-it-from-scratch baker.

  Teanmystery.­com—Tea shop, books, gifts, and gift baskets.

  Allteapots.­com—Teapots from around the world.

  Fireflyvodka.­com—South Carolina purveyors of Sweet Tea Vodka, Raspberry Tea Vodka, Peach Tea Vodka, and more. Just visiting this website is a trip in itself!

  Teasquared.­blogspot.­com—Fun, well-written blog about tea, tea shops, and tea musings.

  Bernideensteatimeblog.­blogspot.­com—Tea, baking, decorations, and gardening.

  Teapages.­blogspot.­com—All things tea.

  Baking.­about.­com—Carroll Pellegrinelli writes a terrific baking blog complete with recipes and photo instructions.

  Lverose.­com—La Vie en Rose offers book gift baskets paired with the perfect tea and CD.

  Teawithfriends.­blogspot.­com—Lovely blog on tea, friendship, and tea accoutrements.

  Sharonsgardenofbookreviews.­blogspot.­com—Terrific book reviews by an entertainment journalist.

  Teaescapade.­wordpress.­com—Enjoyable tea blog.

  Lattesandlife.­com—Witty musings on life.

  Napkinfoldingguide.­com—Photo illustrations oftwenty-seven different (and sometimes elaborate) napkin folds.

  Worldteaexpo.­com—World Tea Expo, the premier business-to-business trade show, features more than three hundred tea suppliers, vendors, and tea innovators.

  Sweetgrassbaskets.­net—One of several websites where you can buy sweetgrass baskets direct from the artists.

  PURVEYORS OF FINE TEA

  Adagio.­com

  Harney.­com

  Stashtea.­com

  Republicoftea.­com

  Gracetea.­com

  Bigelowtea.­com

  Teasource.­com

  Celestialseasonings.­com

  Goldenmoontea.­com

  Uptontea.­com

  Teavana.­com

  Davidsontea.­com

  Svtea.­com

  Serendipitea.­com

  VISITING CHARLESTON

  Charleston.­com—Travel and hotel guide.

  Charlestoncvb.­com—The official Charleston convention and visitor bureau.

  Charlestontour.­wordpress.­com—Priva
te tours of homes and gardens, some including lunch or tea.

  Charlestonplace.­com—Charleston Place Hotel serves an excellent afternoon tea, Thursday through Saturday, 1 to 3.

  Culinarytoursofcharleston.­com—Sample specialties from Charleston’s local eateries, markets, and bakeries.

  TURN THE PAGE FOR A PREVIEW OF LAURA CHILDS’S NEXT SCRAPBOOKING

  MYSTERY…

  Postcards from the Dead

  COMING OCTOBER 2012 IN HARDCOVER FROM

  BERKLEY PRIME CRIME!

  A dazzling night filled with gigantic floats, silver beads, dizzying lights, fire-twirling flambeaus, and a crowd that was fueled by too much Dixie Beer and Southern Comfort. This Wednesday evening, the Loomis Krewe’s parade was rolling through New Orleans’s historic French Quarter, pumping out all the brazenness and utter abandon they could muster. And the city of New Orleans fairly sizzled, caught as it was in the throes of another fantastical Mardi Gras celebration, beginning with the Epiphany and ending with thatcrazy-costumed, over-the-top super finale known as Fat Tuesday.

  Smack-dab in the middle of it all, Kimber Breeze, the perky, Botoxed, blond reporter from KBEZ-TV, stood on a delicatewrought-iron balcony outside the Hotel Tremain. Three floors above Royal Street, she chirped happily into her microphone and smiled broadly at the cameras as she interviewed various French Quarter denizens and broadcast parts of the parade spectacle live.

  Inside, in the Bonaparte Suite, fifty costumed revelers sang and danced and whooped it up. Most were there for the free booze; only a few had been invited for actual interviews.

  Carmela Bertrand, owner of the Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter, was one of those waiting her turn on the balcony. Carmela wasn’t a big fan of Kimber Breeze, but she knew a photo op when she saw one. And her business, still not fully recovered from that enormous hiccup known as Hurricane Katrina, could always use a punch of publicity.

  “This is taking forever,” Carmela drawled to her best friend Ava, who had come along to keep her company. Having taught a morning class on stencils, then spent the afternoon unpacking boxes filled with new mulberry and banana leaf papers, Carmela wasn’t in the mood for the zydeco music and thefever-pitch energy that pulsed through the room. Carmela would have preferred to be tucked snugly into her little French Quarter apartment, watching Wheel of Fortune and enjoying a calm, relaxing evening with her two dogs, Boo and Poobah.

  “C’mon, cher, enjoy the party!” urged Ava. Ava was a party girl and former Southern beauty queen, while Carmela was clearly thelaid-back cocooner. “Loosen up and live a little!”

  Carmela smiled tolerantly and smoothed back a strand of honeyed blond hair from her short, choppy bob. Not quite thirty, Carmela was lithe and youthful-looking, with eyes the same flat blue-gray as the Gulf of Mexico, and lush lashes that tipped up slightly at the ends. Though her peaches-and-cream complexion rarely saw the need for makeup, she did enjoy the natural hydration properties of Louisiana’s industrial-strength humidity. Carmela was also the one who favored more classic (okay, conservative) clothing in colors of navy and camel, while Ava, always willing to push the envelope as far as humanly possible, loved to dress in black leather pants and tight, low-cut tops.

  “Tonight’s a school night,” Carmela joked. She knew that tomorrow morning, come nine o’clock, she had to be primed and ready for the onslaught of customers that would pour into her shop. Most would be frantic to grab reams of paper, rubber stamps, and rolls of purple and green ribbon. All the better to create Mardi Gras menus, party place settings, and scrapbook pages.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Ava suddenly screeched, “I don’t believe it! There’s Sugar Joe!”

  Carmela stood on tiptoe and tried to peer over the heads of the costumed crazies. “Where?” Sugar Joe Panola was the best friend of her ex-husband, Shamus Meechum. But where Shamus was a rat fink of the first magnitude, Sugar Joe was actually a pretty nice guy.

  “On the monitor, on the monitor!” cried Ava, pointing.

  Carmela swiveled her head to where Raleigh, one of KBEZ-TV’s camera guys, sat at a portable console. “Let’s watch,” she said. “See how it goes for him.” Maybe see what’s in store for me.

  Over the years, Carmela hadn’t enjoyed a particularly warm relationship with Kimber Breeze. Truth be told, whenever they’d had dealings with each other, Kimber had pretty much tried to sandbag her. But Carmela didn’t hold with harboring old hurts and grudges. After all, what good did it do to hang on to them? Nothing, really. Unless, of course, it was a grudge over an ex-husband. Then it was perfectly legitimate.

  Threading their way through the rambunctious crowd, Carmela and Ava eased up to Raleigh and his equipment. Raleigh, who wasmiddle-aged and favored khakis and T-shirts, seemed to have a perpetual hunch from lugging around battery packs, cables, and camera gear. And trailing after Kimber. And listening to her shrill, domineering voice.

  “How come you’re not out there with Kimber?” Carmela asked him.

  “No room,” said Raleigh, as his fingers worked the dials. “That balcony is a tight squeeze even for two people. So I’ve got one camera locked on Kimber, another one on the parade below, and one running in here.” He waved a hand. “Which means besides being cameraman, I get to play floor director tonight.”

  “What does that mean exactly?” asked Carmela.

  Raleigh shrugged. “Switching between camera A, camera B, and camera C.”

  “And all this feeds directly back to the station?” asked Carmela, indicating the monitors. She found this technical part fascinating, akin to assembling a video scrapbook.

  “That’s right,” said Raleigh. His brows beetled and he was suddenly on alert. “Oh hey, here we go.”

  Carmela and Ava watched the monitor as Kimber interviewed Sugar Joe. Which, for the preening Kimber, pretty much turned into a flirt fest.

  “Maybe she’ll flirt with you,” Ava said to Carmela, then giggled wickedly.

  “Maybe she’ll turn tail and walk away,” said Carmela. She wasn’t sure what Kimber’s reaction would be. Stamp her foot and refuse to do the interview? Could happen.

  In the monitor, Kimber gave Sugar Joe a warm hug, and then a few seconds later, Sugar Joe came bounding in from the balcony. Sugar Joe was tall with buzz-cut blond hair and a broad, open face. When he saw Carmela and Ava he broke into a grin.

  “Carmela!” Sugar Joe cried out. “And Ava!” He spread his arms wide open, the better to hug them. “You ladies look ravishing!” Sugar Joe told every woman within a two-mile radius that she looked ravishing. And he greeted each and every woman with “Hello, beautiful!” Carmela decided Sugar Joe’s boundless enthusiasm for the fairer sex wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

  “You looked mighty handsome on camera, Sugar Joe,” cooed Ava. Ava had a way with the opposite sex as well.

  But Carmela was more interested in the broadcast. Raleigh had switched to the parade feed now, capturing an enor-mous pirate ship that was gliding by, illuminating the night with thousands of white twinkle lights.

  “Now this feed’s going to the station?” she asked Raleigh.

  “It’s going there, but not live,” he told her. “It’s being automatically archived for later.”

  “But a portion of this broadcast will be live?”

  Raleigh glanced at his watch and seemed to tense up. “Oh yeah. In about eight seconds.” He slouched forward and spoke into his microphone, “Okay, Kimber, time to cut in for station ID.” He paused while he twiddled a dial on his console. “Kimber?” he said again. “Better be on your toes, girl, because I’m coming to you live in five.” Raleigh stole another quick glance at his watch, then began his countdown, “Five, four, three, two…”

  But when Kimber’s monitor came on, no one was there.

  “Crap!” whooped Raleigh. He frantically keyed her microphone. “Kimber,” he hissed, “you’re on!”

  A blank screen. Still no Kimber.

  Suddenly a blur of motion flashed across the screen
, then Kimber’s face was pressed tightly against the camera’s lens in a grotesque grimace.

  “What?” cried Raleigh. He jerked back. “Oh man, now the lights went out! Jeez Louise, I gotta switch my feed!” His fingers quickly pushed buttons, cutting over to the parade that was lumbering by below them.

  Was Kimber just goofing off? Carmela wondered. Was she being a pill and trying to rattle poor Raleigh?

  But something didn’t sit right with Carmela. From her perspective, Kimber had looked…terrified. “No, put the balcony feed up on the other monitor!” she cried to Raleigh. “Something’s wrong!”

  He shook his head. “Can’t. The klieg’s down. No light out there.”

  Carmela stood motionless for one more second, knowing it wasn’t her place to interfere. Then she quickly reconsidered and pushed her way through the impervious, partying crowd and out onto the balcony.

  Arriving, slightly breathless on the littlehalf-circle balcony that hung out over the street, Carmela stopped dead in her tracks. Bizarrely, Kimber was nowhere to be found.

  Huh? Where on earth did she disappear to?

  Carmela blinked and glanced around again.

  Kidnapped by aliens?

  She saw only two cameras, locked in place, their dark lenses andall-seeing red eyes staring directly at her.

  As Carmela fought to figure out what strange trick had just been played, shrill screams echoed from the street below. Startled now, she turned and glanced down. An enormous pink-and-gold dragon float was rolling by, the dragon’sten-foot-wide gaping mouth spewing smoke and shooting sparks, while an enormous tail wagged back and forth across the entire width of the street. Perched high atop the dragon’s spiky back were at least fortywhite-robed Krewe members tossing strands of silver beads to the screaming, deliriously happy crowd.

  But still the screams persisted. And now the crowd wasn’t just crying out for beads! Now, horrified faces were upturned.

  Looking at me?

  Puzzled, Carmela glanced down and saw a fat black cord snaked tightly over the balcony railing.

  Leading to… ?

  Her heart did a slow-motionflip-flop. Then, with a feeling of dread and a swirl of vertigo, Carmela leaned farther out over the narrow wrought iron balcony and gazed straight down.