Laura Childs Books In Order

Publication Order of Tea Shop Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Scrapbooking Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Cackleberry Club Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Afton Tangler Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Author Laura Childs is a New York Times bestselling author known for penning down the famous mystery series’ including the Cackleberry Club Mysteries, the Scrapbook Mysteries and the Tea Shop Mysteries. The name Laura Childs is actually a pseudonym used by author Gerry Schmitt for writing her novels. She likes to write all her novels in the Literature & Fiction, Mystery and Thriller genres. Laura is widely acclaimed for the success of her novel series, the Tea Shop Mysteries, in particular. All the three mystery series’ written by her have featured in the New York Times bestseller list. This has helped her to establish herself as a prominent author. Author Laura Childs says that before becoming a writer, she was the CEO and the Creative Director of a marketing firm owned by her as well as she used to authorize several screenplays. After becoming a successful author, she has mastered herself in writing cozy mystery series’, as seen in all her three novel series’. Laura went on to marry a professor of the Chinese art history. She enjoys her life along with her family and her two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs. Other than writing, Laura loves to travel a lot. When she is not busy in writing something, she likes to ride horses and raising funds for a number of non-profit organizations. Laura is known to characterize few central characters in her novel series’, which play an important role in the overall setting of the series’. The first series written by her, the “Tea Shop Mysteries” is set in the district of Charleston, which has a historical background. The series is based on the life of the main character Theodosia Browning, who is the owner of a tea shop named Indigo Tea Shop.

Laura has described Theodosia as a savvy businesswoman and the care taker of her dog Earl Gray. She is also an amateur sleuth and likes to solve several crimes based on her intelligence without relying on the insufficient police work or coincidences. The series goes on to show various historical and mysterious aspects of the district of Charleston in a highly atmospheric, rife and charming manner. The second novel series written by author Laura Childs is entitled the A Scrapbook Mystery. This series deals with the life of the main character named Carmela, who owns a scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine. The series is set in New Orleans, where the shop of Carmela is situated in the French Quarter. Carmela often gets into troubles with one of her friends Ava. Ava owns a shop named Juju Voodoo. The series is a little edgier, having descriptions of spooky and above ground cemeteries, bayous, Mardi Gras madness and jazz clubs. The third novel series written by Laura, the Cackleberry Club Mysteries is set in a fictional town of Kindred in the Midwest. This series deals with the lives of three women who are in their forties. Suzanne, Petra and Toni are the co-owners of the Cackleberry Club in a rehabbed spur station and are semi-desperate in nature. The club offers a cozy cafe along with a yarn shop and a book nook. However, the club is mostly famous for its morning eggs as a specialty. Their happy life and good business see an unexpected turn of events when a murder occurs in the cafe. This causes the three women to experience more hardships in their lives. The series is full of descriptions about cake decorating, recipes, knitting and a spirited dash.

The novel series “A Scrapbooking Mystery” written by Laura consists of 12 very edgy and mysterious novels. The series was published from 2003 to 2014, depicting the events in the life of the central character, Carmela Bertrand. The first novel of the series was titled “Keepsake Crimes” and was published in the year 2003 by the Berkely publishing house. The book introduces Carmela Bertrand as a shop owner of a scrapbooking shop in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has the habit of delighting her customers with various sophisticated books that she achieves with the scrapbooks. However, things begin to change when she finds a murder tip among her client’s keepsakes. The scrapbooking shop of Carmela called the Memory Mine is situated in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She leads a cozy life with a blooming business of her scrapbooking. However, a murder of one of the elite citizens of the city takes place during the Mardi Gras and the number one suspect of the murder come out to be the estranged husband of Carmela, Shamus Meechum. Even though, she shares a bitter feeling of her scrapped marriage with him, Carmela does not think that Shamus can kill someone. She likes to frame the happenings herself without believing in the investigations made by the police or the stories depicted in the newspaper columns. When Shamus approaches her for help, she tries to help him, but could not find any clue. Just then, she discovers an important clue in one of the scrapbooks of her customer.

The second installment of “A Scrapbooking Mystery” series was entitle “Photo Finished” and was published in the year 2004 by the Berkely Prime Crime publishing house. This novel is also set in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States and depicts the main character Carmela Bertrand along with her friend Ava Grieux and Bartholomew Hayward. The plot of the novel opens up with a late night session hosted by Carmela, “Crop Till You Drop”. The session is disturbed when a neighboring antique shop owner, Bartholomew Hayward is killed and Carmela along with other scrapbooking experts is required to rearrange the jumbled clues in order to find out the true identity of the killer. The late night session hosted by Carmela shows the her customers sharing hand-tinting photos, rubber stamping, decorating album covers as well as enjoying themselves with the homemade praline pie, jambalaya and hurricane rum drinks. But soon they witness the dead body of Bratholomew Hayward with a scissor stabbed in his neck. The way of killing makes everyone believe that the killer was a crafty one. All the members of the late night session become the suspects in the murder along with Carmela. Now, Carmela realizes her responsibility to solve the jumble of puzzles in order to save her customers and find the real killer before he takes the life of another victim. Author Laura Childs received great appreciation from one and all for thriller novels. Her description of the female protagonists and pulse-pounding plots makes everyone love to read her novels. With the success of the initial novels of the series, Laura is still continuing to write next installments of the series. She is even planning to release a whole new thriller series under her real name Gerry Schmitt. A Scrapbook Mystery was very appreciated by the readers because of its likeable and in-depth characters. Laura got a lot of praises from her fellow authors for her lively style of writing and entertaining her readers with the thrill of her novels.

14 Responses to “Laura Childs”

1. Georgeann Herling: 6 months ago

   I love your Tea Shop Mystery Series. I have used a number of the recipes in these books for my luncheon group. Did you ever write a book with all your recipes in it? If so, can you share some information about the book.
   Please continue writing these wonderful books.

   Reply
   • Graeme: 6 months ago

     Some of the recipes are in The Cozy Cookbook which is listed above under anthologies.

     Reply
2. Lois Carrow Heise: 8 months ago

   Love the tea shop mysteries the best with the Cackleberry club running a close second. Am 85 yrs. old and trying to get ALL the book in these two series. Have the hard covers, prefer them over the paperbacks.

   Reply
3. Janet: 8 months ago

   I read a dark and stormy tea. They dropped the mystery of who burned down the bookstore? Inquiring minds want to know

   Reply
4. Mary Divie: 2 years ago

   Will there be any new scrapbook books coming out soon ? I like the teashop but I really like Camilla

   Reply
5. helen: 2 years ago

   I was wondering when Cadmium Red Dead is coming out. Have been waiting a long time.

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Hi Helen – there doesn’t appear to be any news on a release date yet

     Reply
6. Angela Lewis: 2 years ago

   In the back of my “Eggs on Ice” book, it shows a Cackleberry book coming out and it is “Battered Eggs.” The next Cackleberry Club book I got is “Egg Shooters,” and in the back it shows, “Eggs Over Uneasy.” Was just wondering what happened to “Battered Eggs?” Is it still coming out, too? Just wandering. Thanks!

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Battered Eggs was never released. It’s likely that the book name just changed from when it was originally planned. Although a book under that title could still come out at a later time 🙂

     Reply
7. Susanna Brown: 2 years ago

   I have all your Tea Shop Mysteries. I understand there is a new one that will come out soon. It’s called “A Dark & Stormy Tea.” May I ask when that will be available? Thank you. I love the books. Susanna Brown

   Reply
8. katherine Bulmer: 2 years ago

   love this website…if a patron wants to read a series from start to finish i always come here
   so straight forward and easily accessed
   thanks

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Thanks Katherine. Glad we can be of help and thank you for everything you do!

     Reply
9. Patricia garrett: 2 years ago

   I thought there was to be another Scrapbooking Mystery called Cadmium(sp?) Red. Is ths book still in the works?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Cadmium Red Dead was the potential title. Haven’t heard anything about it lately.

     Reply