Step into Agatha Christie’s world through one of its most revealing rituals: afternoon tea. The Mystery of Afternoon Tea is an unofficial literary cookbook exploring the tea tables, classic tea-time treats, and domestic rituals that appear throughout Christie’s novels and stories. From Miss Marple’s village teas to Poirot’s particular tastes, from hotel lounges and railway refreshment rooms to kitchen tables, nursery trays, and dangerous cups of tea, this book follows the small edible details that help make Christie’s fiction so recognisable, atmospheric, and unmistakably English. Inside you will find classic English tea-time recipes inspired by the tea tables of Christie’s fiction, including: • sandwiches, scones, muffins, crumpets, and irresistible jam doughnuts • Victoria sponge, coffee and walnut cake, seed cake, chocolate cake, fruitcake, Swiss roll, and other traditional cakes • biscuits, jams, marmalade, lemon curd, and tea-table preserves • the unforgettable Delicious Death from A Murder Is Announced • notes on tea culture, porcelain, brewing, social rituals, and the many ways tea becomes part of the story Read more

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