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Review: Egg Shooter By Laura Childs
Egg Shooter
Laura Childs
Cackleberry Club Series, Book 9
A murder in the local hospital is raising everyone’s temperature in the latest book in the New York Times bestselling Cackleberry Club series.
Suzanne Dietz, co-owner of the Cackleberry Club Caf�, is visiting her fianc�, Dr. Sam Hazelet, when a masked gunman bursts into the emergency room. He shoots two people and would probably have done more damage had Suzanne not brained him with a thermos full of chili. Still, the gunman manages to escape.
Now the ladies of the Cackleberry Club are determined to find the killer before he finds them.
3.5 Stars
The Crackleberry Club will crack you up.
Suzanne was just being sweet, delivering some Chili to her fiancé at the hospital. When her thoughtful gesture turns into a chili throwing, gun shooting, robbery that ends with someone dying. Suzanne gets herself tangled into a crazy pickle in Egg Shooters.
Egg Shooters is the ninth book of the Crackleberry Club series. Suzanne, Toni and Petra are well developed characters with distinctive personalities and a bunch of history to go with their friendship. Seems like these women can talk themselves into just about anything. Putting themselves into some compromising situations and at times not realizing the danger that they are putting themselves into. There were quite a few moments that I wanted to take Suzanne and Toni by the shoulders and shake them just a bit. Petra’s culinary creations are described in such a delectable way that you will want to go and sit, have some tea and enjoy the things that she is cooking. Truck high jacks and pharmacy robberies are happening around their town and somehow these three women have managed to get themselves caught up into. The mystery unfolds as somehow these women keep themselves out of jail. Lol.
Laura Child gives a good mystery with lots of laughs to go with. The characters are solid and extremely entertaining. To some of the links that they will go to make you just shake your head but if they didn’t then we wouldn’t have a great story. Egg Shooters is a funny, laugh out loud mystery.
Review: Lavender Blue Murder by Laura Childs
Lavender Blue Murder
Laura Childs
A Tea Shop Mystery, Book 21
Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier Drayton Conneley are guests at a bird hunt styled in the precise manner of an English shooting party. Which means elevenses (sloe gin fizzes), gun loaders, the drawing of pegs, fine looking bird dogs, and shooting costumes of tweed, herringbone, and suede.
But as gunshots explode like a riff of Black Cat firecrackers, another shot sounds too close for comfort to Theodosia and Drayton. Intrigued but worried, Theodosia wanders into the neighbor’s lavender field where she discovers their host, Reginald Doyle, bleeding to death.
His wife, Meredith, is beside herself with grief and begs Theodosia and Drayton to stay the night. But Theodosia awakens at 2:00A.M. to find smoke in her room and the house on fire. As the fire department screams in and the investigating sheriff returns, Meredith again pleads with Theodosia for help.
As Theodosia investigates, fingers are pointed, secrets are uncovered, Reginald’s daughter-in-law goes missing presumed drowned, and Meredith is determined to find answers via a séance. All the while Theodosia worries if she’s made a mistake in inviting a prime suspect to her upscale Lavender Lady Tea.
4 Stars
Theodosia was an interesting character that is thoroughly enjoyable. She has personality for days and is easily able to capture the reader’s attention. She has heart and spunk. She has a keen eye and has learned how to ask the right questions. Theodosia is not your average southern lady. And I truly love that about her. She has charm and elegance yet isn’t afraid to jump in and get dirty when she has to.
Lavender Blue Murder was a fun and entertaining mystery. From the opening pages of the shooting party, to two crazy tragedies happening within hours, to the formalities followed when serving tea, to the lavish tea parties themselves and A tea shop owner solving a murder mystery. Laura Childs has something amazing going on with this series. From the British traditions of hunting and shooting and the tea services, to the lavish descriptions of Charleston, one could easily feel like they are visiting a very different place and not reading the pages of a book.
As with any long running series a reader can expect to see bonds between characters. I loved Theodosia, Drayton and Haley. You can tell by their interactions that they go way beyond employee and boss. The friendship they Cher is a highlight of the book. They are fun characters thus making fun times. I Love that I came in at book number 21 in the series and didn’t feel like I missed anything didn’t get a recap of 20 other books in the process.
Lavender Blue Murder is my first adventure into Laura Child’s Tea Shop mysteries and will not be my last. With more than a helping of Southern charm, a well plotted mystery and a cast of characters that keep everything interesting.
Coffee Books Life 