A Spoonful of Murder: The first book in a hilarious and totally unputdownable cosy murder mystery series for fans of The Thursday Murder Club

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It’s possible these additional plot lines are Hall’s method of developing her characters, but there might be ways to do that without muddying the main plot and investigation.

A Spoonful of Murder is a cozy mystery centered around a group of retired teachers who meet weekly to visit. Why would she take off to Portugal at a moment's notice without arranging anyone to look out for her ailing mother? I wasn’t really a fan of Richard Osman’s TTMC (however the sequel was much better), which this book is very much like, but it’s far too similar but not as well done.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. All of this rolls together to create multiple questions that need to be answered, some of which are related to the main plot and some of which are not. Now, as you can imagine, this is not a fast paced thriller, but it is a book that drew me in and kept me pondering about the who, the what and the why – heck even the if – of the alleged murder. A subplot deals with a younger female single mother of two so JM Hall has created a situation where there will be something for most women to relate to. The story touches upon issues such as elder care and financial exploitation of vulnerable individuals by fraudulent entities, both of which are important issues.

As the daughter of a teacher, I found that their interactions and preoccupations evoked a sense of nostalgia for listening to my mother and her colleagues-friends chatter during quilting nights. Hall’s debut novel, A Spoonful of Murder is a charming cozy mystery with three smart, inquisitive and determined protagonists, a good dose of humor and an interesting premise. There’s so many extra characters in this book, it was so hard figuring out who was who, the book dragged like nothing I’ve ever felt. Kol dar jos namuose, kažkiek identifikuoji pagal kiekvienos asmenines problemas, o paskui susirenka krūvon – ir belieka vardai, o kur kuri. MY THOUGHTS: A Spoonful of Murder is an entertaining cosy murder mystery starring three very down to earth retired teachers, any one of whom could be your neighbour.These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. Recently there has been an upsurge in cosy mysteries featuring more mature amateur detectives, a modern take on Miss Marple.

One week they are sitting down to coffee and cake when Topsy and her daughter, Kelly Anne walk into the cafe. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. With the victim in the early stages of dementia, it looks like an accident with no foul play speculated. All the women seem to be different ages too and these are left unspecified - Jan has a teenager doing their A-levels still at home whereas Topsy has a thirty some year old, and Jan has a grandchild at primary school.Fans of The Thursday Murder Club, Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders will be hooked from the very first page. The story was a little slow starting, and I had trouble sometimes keeping the individual identities of our three sleuths straight. Or maybe not … It’s not entirely clear, especially given that the alleged victim, Topsy, a former colleague of the three women was in her dotage and suffering declining health.

I found the writing a bit long-drawn and repetitive in parts and it took a bit of effort to focus as I waited for the mystery to unravel. However, I think it is unlikely that "A Spoonful of Murder" will go on to enjoy anything like the success that Richard Osman's creation has achieved.

The cover and the premise scream out that this is perfect for people who loved the Thursday Murder Club (but it doesn't have the absurd and glamourous aspects it had). His plays have been produced in theatres across the UK as well as for radio, the most recent being Trust, starring Julie Hesmondhalgh on BBC Radio 4. As Thelma often wonders, when there are no children, who will look after the senior citizen trying to navigate this minefield? The author is overly descriptive, the pacing is slow, and it is hard to tell which character is talking (they all sounded alike to me).