Product Details

• Published on: 2004-08
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 375 pages

Customer Reviews

It had so much promise!
The story: Emerald O'Brien, a divorced mother of two, opens a tea and china shop in the small town of Chiqetaw, WA. Emerald comes from a family with a long history of paranormal experience, and uses her tarot-reading skills in the tea shop.

On the night Susan Mitchell dies, Emerald is startled but not frightened to see Susan standing at the foot of her bed. The unhappy spirit writes Emerald a note: "I was murdered by my husband, but nobody knows. Help me."

I was disappointed in this book; I thought that Emerald's paranormal abilities and Susan's ghost might have been amusing plot twists if Emerald had then gone on to investigate the murder using more conventional detection methods. The woo-woo stuff takes over, however, and dominates the book. When Emerald's son Kip is possessed by a malevolent spirit, and Emerald and her daughter are threatened by the same entity, it turns into Poltergeist-in-print. Emerald spends about half the book trying to evict the nasty spook, who has nothing to do with the murder.

I don't want to be a spoiler, but the explanation for the wording of Susan's "help me" note is ridiculous.

There is already a second book out, "The Legend of the Jade Dragon", but I don't think I'll read it. I thought this would be just the kind of mystery I like, but I was disappointed!

My wife and I loved this book!
My wife brought this home and, after hearing her laugh her way through it and sit up half the night reading it, I decided I'd give it a try. Well, I couldn't put it down either. The characters are fun and very real, the plot was different--not the usual mystery, and the book felt modern, not stuck in the mud. I liked it a lot, and we'll be buying two copies of the next one so we don't have to fight over it.

Loved it!
This book has friendship, romance, spirits, magic, deception, betrayal and a sizzling love scene. All with a cup of tea! The story takes place in a cozy little town in the Northwest and had everything I need to keep reading. The story has so many twists and turns. Im excited to learn more about the characters and cant wait to read the next book in the series!