Guest Post and Blog Tour for Peach Tea Smash by Laura Childs

Peach Tea Smash (A Tea Shop Mystery)
by Laura Childs

About Peach Tea Smash

Peach Tea Smash (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
28th in Series
Setting – South Carolina
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (August 6, 2024)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593201019
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593201015
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CLKSY4GV
Audiobook ASIN B0CVLG7ZGL

Murder at an Alice in Wonderland–themed event threatens to send Theodosia Browning through the looking glass in the latest entry in this New York Times bestselling series.

During the Mad Hatter Masquerade, a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Opera on the grounds of the old Pendleton Grist Mill, Harlan Sadler, husband of Cricket Sadler, the chairwoman, is killed. He’s been hit in the head with a croquet mallet, and his body hung on the chains and paddles of the grist mill. Nobody can figure out why since Harlan was much beloved by everyone. It’s only after Cricket and Delaine beg Theodosia to investigate that she realizes the killer might have mistaken Harlan for his crazy son, Duke. After all, Duke is a slum landlord and recently injured a woman in a boating accident.

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

GUEST POST

Inspiring Quotes from Favorite Authors

by Laura Childs, New York Times

bestselling author of Peach Tea Smash.

Sometimes, the most difficult part about writing is getting started. Whether you’re writing mystery, romance, a thriller, or even a short story, that blank computer screen can be awfully daunting. In order to light a fire under myself – and inspire you if you’re a would-be author – I’ve compiled a few quotes from favorite authors that give insight into how they got themselves juiced up and motivated.

William Faulkner says “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” And Jack London says “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” I totally get what theses guy are saying. Sometimes, when I sit down to write a new Tea Shop Mystery I have an idea, but I don’t know where I’m going with it. So I try to think of an exciting opening – a robbery, stabbing, poisoning, fire, or body being tossed from a building – then kind of build from there. Once I’ve developed a few exciting paragraphs, they begin to grab my imagination and help springboard me on to a few more pages – and then to a completed chapter.

Okay, now I need to turn those first few pages into an actual story complete with plotlines, additional characters, twists, and maybe even another murder. How does a writer go about doing exactly that? Ray Bradbury says “First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow it.” Which makes total sense to me. If you send your hero/protagonist on a quest and make it damn hard for them, they’ll stumble, make mistakes, and uncover clues along the way.

And then, of course, you keep writing. Terry Pratchett says “There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.” And E.L. Doctorow says “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” As the author of 57 mysteries, I don’t believe in writer’s block either. There’s so much out there – spooky, trippy new ideas or ripped-from-the-headlines craziness – that there’s plenty to go around. Find your idea, grab it, gnaw on it, exploit it, and write it!

Along the way, try not to lose your sense of humor. In the words of Robert Benchley “It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” And Isaac Asimov says “If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” And Margaret Atwood says “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” Ah, these authors certainly had the right attitude and a healthy dose of tenacity.

What about editing a book you might ask? Well, John Irving says “Half my life is an act of revision.” And the very prolific Stephen King says “When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.” And Jodi Picoult says “You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

Of course, as a writer of fiction it’s critical that you absolutely believe in yourself. Somerset Maugham says “If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.” And Erica Jong says “I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.”

Perhaps the author quotes I enjoy most are ones that are upbeat and see light at the end of the tunnel. Octavia E. Butler says “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.” And J.K. Rowling says “Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.”

Really, truer words were never spoken.

Love to you and good luck with your writing!

Laura Childs

About Laura Childs

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that takes place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.