Interview with Laura Childs

I could not be more thrilled to introduce today's author interview. Many of you are very familiar with this author already, but I suspect you will learn a few new things today.

Laura Childs is an extremely prolific writer, having recently published the tenth book in her Tea Shop Mysteries series. In addition she has written six books in the Scrapbook Mysteries series and has recently launched a new series, the Cackleberry Club. We are thrilled to announce that "Oolong Dead" was listed in the NYT Best Sellers list for the week of March 13. (You can find my review of the book here.) Tea Pages is extraordinarily grateful to Ms. Childs for participating in this interview.

As I did with our interview with Laura Schaefer, I also want to point you to some other excellent interviews that are already online with Ms. Childs. Each takes a slightly different approach and provides great information. Visit Mystery Lovers Corner, In the Library Reviews, and Cooking with Ideas for the interviews.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURA CHILDS

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TEA: Hi, Laura. Thanks for agreeing to do an interview for the Tea Pages blog. We have become big fans of your work so, I must admit, we're a little giddy about the opportunity.

We’d love to learn a little more about you – just a basic bio, if you please.

Childs: I grew up in the Midwest and still live there, although I’m a closet Southerner (love the food, architecture, and weather!) After I graduated from the University of Minnesota, I went into advertising as a writer/producer, then eventually launched my own firm, Mission Critical Marketing. I’m married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese and Japanese art history and have two Chinese Shar-Pei, Asia and Moosha.


TEA: What lessons from your advertising and marketing career have you brought to your writing career?

Childs: The first big lesson is deadlines. In advertising everything revolves around a deadline – and it’s the same thing in publishing. Each piece has to fall exactly into place for the end product (my book) to hit the shelves. The other big lesson is promotion. If you don’t market to book sellers, readers, and libraries, you’re always going to be limping along at mid-list. With my most recent book, "Oolong Dead", I pulled out all the stops and spent six solid weeks on marketing alone. And, of course, it paid off. "Oolong Dead" squeaked onto the New York Times Bestseller List!


TEA: You mentioned that your publisher suggested the idea of developing a mystery about “a snoopy woman who owns a tea shop.” Did Theodosia’s character emerge for you right away or did you have other concepts first?

Childs: Strangely enough, I found my “voice” for her within the first few lines I wrote. I could even picture Theodosia sitting in her quaint little tea shop with balmy breezes wafting in off the Cooper River. From there it was easy to weave in Drayton and Haley and set them on course for a murder mystery.


TEA: To what extent are the characters in the Tea Shop Mysteries based on people in your life? Is there any Laura Childs in Theodosia?

Childs: The characters come out of life experiences, but none are based on actual people except for Drayton. He’s a slightly more posh version of an art director I once worked with. And Laura Childs and Theodosia share a love of animals and volunteerism for service dog organizations.


TEA: Do you feel that readers of your Tea Shop Mystery series have an interest in “cozy” mysteries or are more struck by the novelty of a book about tea?

Childs: Both. I get readers who simply adore tea, recipes, and the ambiance of the Indigo Tea Shop. Other readers just like “classic” Agatha Christie type mysteries. Whatever the case, cozies have really come into their own in the last decade. A few weeks ago, I asked a book shop owner what genre was his biggest seller – full expecting it would be thrillers. Know what he said? Cozies!


TEA: Tea lovers definitely appreciate your detailed description of teas, often voiced in the books by Drayton. How did you develop your interest in tea?

Childs: I’ve always been a tea drinker. Then, when I started traveling to China, Japan, and Indonesia, I began to do tea tasting in a serious way.


TEA: You have expressed a love of Japanese green teas. Any particular favorite? What has been your most special tea experience or tea memory?

Childs: My favorite Japanese green tea is Bancha, which has a silky, toasty flavor. My most special tea memory is traveling on the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto one Christmas Day. I was deep into a book, when my husband told me to look up. There, out the window, was a spectacular, terraced tea garden with Mt. Fuji in the background!


TEA: I read that you are a collector of Yixing teapots. I noticed a number of references to them in your latest book, "Oolong Dead". What is your favorite teapot in your collection?

Childs: I have a round, very organic-looking Yixing teapot – maybe two hundred years old – that has a tiny rat perched on the lid. My second favorite is a miniature that is maybe an inch high.


TEA: The Tea Shop Mysteries are not your only series. You also have a long-running series of Scrapbook Mysteries and now a new series of Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Please tell us a bit about what is going on in these two series. And kindly allay our fears - does the Cackleberry Club project mean we’ll be saying goodbye to Theodosia and Drayton soon? If not, what is on the horizon for the Indigo Tea Shop gang?

Childs: The Scrapbook Mysteries (most recent book is "Death Swatch") are slightly edgier books that take place in New Orleans. My main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is always getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns a voodoo shop.

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries ("Eggs in Purgatory") is a Midwest tale of three forty-plus women who have all lost their husbands and open a café called the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and they also have a Book Nook and Knitting Nest. There’s lots of humor and a dash of spirituality.

The Tea Shop Mysteries are my first love and will never go away. How could they when I have such great titles coming up as "The Teaberry Strangler", "Rosehips Revenge", and "Agony of the Leaves!"