Today I am thrilled to be able to bring you this wonderful "Super Give Away Contest Prize Pack" to Celebrate the release of Amanda Cooper's Second Book in the Teapot Collector Mystery Series as well as have a visit with Amanda and share with you some questions I had for her about her love of Tea Time. **Contest details will be at the end of this post.
In addition to this wonderful give away Amanda has agreed to share a cup of tea with us today and tell us a bit about herself and her Teapot Collector Mystery Series. So put the kettle on, warm your favorite teapot and pour yourself a cup of tea while you join us in a read today.
Tea Time With
Amanda Cooper
I’ve thought
about this a lot. If I was ever to run any kind of eating establishment, it
would be a tearoom. I love everything about them; the pretty furnishings, the
teapots (glorious teapots!
Transferware, figural, chintz… too many to love!) the fare, tasty sandwiches,
soups, cakes, and the ambiance. There always seem to be groups of ladies
chatting, excited about a day out.
I wonder, though,
what would running a tearoom be like? I imagine dressing nicely and going
shopping for food at farmer’s markets and upscale grocery stores. I can picture
working in a sunny kitchen, making dainty sandwiches and delicious soups, and
overseeing the baking of Napoleons and puff pastries. I picture presiding over
the tea tray, pouring fragrant cups of tea, weaving between tables chatting
with guests.
And then I wake
up. I have seen enough reality TV to know how hard those in the food services
industry work, and I’m not cut out for it. It is long hours and a wire thin
profit or loss line. For every pot dirtied, one has to be scrubbed. Patrons are
not always polite, nor are they always appreciative. I can imagine that.
But that’s what
writing is all about. Writers throw a glossy veneer over tedious truth. In my Teapot
Collector mystery series I feature several tearooms, among them Auntie Rose’s
Victorian Tea House, and the next door neighbor’s Belle Époque. Sophie Taylor,
professional chef from New York, who once ran an upscale dining establishment
in the garment district, now helps her grandmother run Auntie Rose’s. In my
books it’s not an easy job, but it is
as pleasant as the tearoom entrepreneurs I have witnessed make it seem! And
that’s how I choose to imagine it.
Amanda
kindly agreed to answer some questions for me about her writing and
love of tea here are highlights from our conversation...
Karen: When you found yourself writing Shadow of
a Spout and the Teapot Collector Series did you draw from personal experience
or did you find you had to do a lot of research in to the tea pot collecting
community?
Amanda: "I did a lot of research. My teapot collection, such as it is, is extremely
small simply because of space restrictions. I was surprised by how many people
collect teapots, and yet that there is NO collecting group dedicated to it!"
Karen:
What is your personal favorite item found
on a tea tray?
Amanda "Ooooh, food? One thing I adore that’s not
really too sweet is scones. I find them easy to make, and delicious fresh out
of the oven. I love all kinds of sweets though, particularly brownies!"
Karen: Do you have a favorite tea pot? If so
kindly send me a photo of it...
Amanda:I do have a favorite, for many reasons. It
is a lovely red transferware pot, and I love everything about it: the color,
the transfer pattern and most specifically the shape! I think it’s perfectly
elegant. Also, I bought it on a day when I went to the tearoom that inspired
the creation of Auntie Rose’s Victorian Tea House. It’s called Sparta House, in
Sparta, Ontario, a tiny village near me. The owner has hundred of teapots
displayed all over the tearoom, and the lunch was delicious. I bought the
teapot in a quirky little shop called Anything Used, even though nothing in the
shop is actually used. They’re famous for their candles and fudge!
Karen: When you think of making a pot of tea what
is your tea of choice?
Amanda: "I am such a traditionalist. I have always
drunk Tetley tea, the round teabags. I
love it; there is no other tea that says relaxation to me like it does. That
being said, I also enjoy fruit zingers (black tea with fruit flavor), Rooibos,
(an African herbal tea)on occasion, and some others. I’m not into chamomile,
nor mint, nor do I like Earl Grey, which I find too perfumey."
Karen: "One of the things I like most about this
series (other than the tea pots and tea theme) is the different ages and the
points of view you tell the story from, the different ages of the characters
and personalities. Do you have a favorite resident in Gracious Grove?"
Amanda: "Oh, yes! I like humorous mysteries with
quirky characters. Joan Hess is one of my favorite authors, as is Donna
Andrews. So naturally I love creating Thelma Mae Earnshaw, an eighty year old
drama queen, star of her own in-her-brain black and white movies. She’s such a
hoot, getting into trouble for what she says and does all the time. Some of the
things she says and does remind me of my Mom, who wasn’t as difficult as Thelma
can be, but was every bit as stubborn and funny."
Here is a bit about Shadow of a Spout...
Avid teapot collector
Rose Freemont takes a break from her Victorian tea house only to find a new
mystery brewing elsewhere...
Leaving her home in Gracious Grove behind her, Rose is off to the annual
convention of the International Teapot Collector’s Society. Her granddaughter
Sophie is minding the tea house while she’s away. Rose is eager for tough
cookie Zunia Pettigrew to appraise a prized antique teapot she believes may be
a holy water vessel from China. But when Zunia declares the pot a fake, Rose is
really steamed. After Zunia’s found dead beside Rose’s dinged-in teapot, Sophie
must rush to her grandmother’s aid and find the real killer—before Rose is
steeped in any more trouble…
To be entered into our Super Prize Pack Give Away from Amanda Cooper, please email me at karenmowen@gmail.com with SHADOW OF A SPOUT in the subject line along with your mailing address. Contest is open from today April 6- April 11th 2015 to all Canadian and American Fans of A Cup of Tea and A Cozy Mystery. *Void where prohibited
Thank you to Amanda Cooper for this wonderful opportunity for my readers! Be sure to find out the latest info about Amanda Cooper by visiting Victoria Hamilton Mysteries.com
Thank you to Amanda Cooper for sharing with us this wonderful give away and joining us for A Cup of Tea and a Cozy Mystery.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
** About
Amanda Cooper:
Amanda
Cooper is the pseudonym for bestselling mystery author Victoria Hamilton. She
writes the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and the Merry Muffin Mysteries as
Hamilton, in addition to the Teapot Collector Mysteries as Amanda Cooper.
Cooper’s
long time love of mystery novels started at age twelve when her mom handed her
an Agatha Christie book and said ‘Read!’. Thousands of novels later Cooper is
still reading. And writing.
But
besides those two favorite pastimes, Cooper also enjoys collecting vintage
kitchenalia, old books, teacups, teapots and other ephemera. Perfume is her
secret addiction. She likes to cook, hates to clean, and enjoys time spent with
friends chatting over wine or tea. She loves crafts, loathes boredom, and her
guilty pleasure is ‘reality’ TV, which she knows is largely fake but enjoys
anyway.
Cooper
thinks that people are the most interesting study of all, and more than
anything, she loves to hear from readers, not just about her books but about
anything and everything.
