It's the grand opening of the Charleston, SC, Neptune Aquarium, and everyone who's anyone has turned out for the big event. Theodosia ("Theo") Browning is the owner of Indigo Tea Shop, and she's there as a caterer, providing tea, scones, and assorted sandwiches. The entire event is going well, and everyone is enjoying the refreshments. Theo steps away to get a minute to herself, when she discovers a man drowned in one of the aquarium tanks, snarled in a net. To her complete shock, the man turns out to be her ex-boyfriend Parker Scully.

The EMTs who arrive to take the body away do a cursory investigation and determine that the drowning was an accident. However, based on what Theo knew of Parker and what she sees, she doesn't think that the drowning could be anything but a murder. She wants to know who had a reason to kill him, but the local police aren't eager to hear her theories, especially since she's his most recent ex and she could stand to profit from his death.

Theo decides to start her own investigation, although she's pretty busy with a high-tech scavenger hunt for charity. She's also catering various events around the area, trying to make sure no one poaches her employees, and securing supplies from local vendors. All of that while her current boyfriend is out of town and unable to be as supportive as either of them would like. Oh, and one of her suspects is trying to harm her.

AGONY OF THE LEAVES was a fun and fast-paced cozy. I truly enjoyed both the mystery and the educational tidbits about tea that were seamlessly woven into the story. While AGONY OF THE LEAVES isn't the first book in the Tea Shop Mystery series, AGONY OF THE LEAVES was the first book in the series that I had read, and I appreciated that it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book at all. I was able to readily pick up on who all of the characters were and their relationships to each other. I also loved that the culprit was a complete surprise to me, but simultaneously made sense. In other words, there had been enough clues throughout the story for me to figure out, but there had also been just enough other suspects to keep me guessing.

I absolutely will go back to find other books in the highly enjoyable Tea Shop Mystery series, as well as continue to look for future books in the series.

Book Summary

In the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Scones and Bones, Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning finds herself in hot water when a body surfaces at the grand opening of Charleston's Neptune Aquarium... The opening of the aquarium is a major Charleston event, and Theodosia has been hired to cater tea, scones, and sandwiches for the private party to honor dignitaries and big buck donors. Things are going swimmingly, until Theodosia escapes the party for a momentary rest, only to discover the body of a man entangled in a net, drowned in one of the aquarium's state-of-the-art tanks. To make matters worse, the victim is Theodosia's former boyfriend Parker Scully. The EMTs on the scene think Parker's drowning was an accident, but when Theodosia notices what look like defense wounds on his hands, she realizes that someone wanted Parker dead. The local police aren't keen on hearing her theory-especially because of her ties to the victim-so Theodosia knows that if she wants Parker's killer brought to justice, she'll have to jump into the deep end and start her own investigation... INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!