This book is a joy, I really really loved it.. I really liked the three ladies and I was invested in their lives.

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall is a great cozy mystery that takes a trio of retired educators and turns them into amateur sleuths…a murder/mystery novel that was quite the enjoyable ride. They learn from Topsy’s daughter that recently she had been cruelty defrauded of her life savings by a telephone scammer. By the next Thursday Topsy is dead after apparently muddling up her pills. Yet something doesn’t feel right to her friends prompting them to do some sleuthing of their own. No further details to avoid spoilers. Three retired school teachers; Pat, Liz and Thelma meet every week at the cafe of their local garden centre for a cuppa and a catch up. At one such meeting, they happen to bump into an old colleague of their’s called Topsy. By the following week, Topsy is dead. Without a hint of condescension, J.M. Hall imbues his senior citizen characters with warmth, humour and humanity. Certainly Liz, Thelma and Pat have their foibles and flaws, but there’s no writing off people just because they might be retired. Their collective experience of previously working in a school is pitch perfect, so that all three women are warm, quirky and just like anyone you might know in real life. This makes them so endearing and believable. And if it hadn't been a Thursday . . . if it hadn't been the garden centre cafe . . . they wouldn't have met Topsy and KellyAnne and, crucially, Thelma wouldn't have come across Topsy crying in the toilets, which they all agreed was really the start of things.

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What I liked most was the juxtaposition of the absolute mundane routines of these ladies lives such as watching garden rescue, planning for the families dinner, making lists for a shopping trip with the extraordinary - trying to solve the murder.. life goes on even when murder is involved

Three Miss Marples for the price of one… The plot is carefully assembled, rather like a patchwork quilt, with each element placed just so’ NetGalley review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ It is about small close communities and everyone being connected and knowing everything about each other. Daisy and Hazel think baby Teddy is enough to deal with, but as always the girls are never far from a mystery. Recently there has been an upsurge in cosy mysteries featuring more mature amateur detectives, a modern take on Miss Marple. Certainly as an older reader, I appreciate this trend. In between seeking answers we learn more about the friends’ lives. I loved the gradual uncovering of a part of Thelma’s past and think all the characters have huge potential for future stories.

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REVIEWED BY LINDA HILL It’s going to sound ridiculous to say so when reviewing a murder story but A Spoonful of Murder is enormous fun!

These three ladies had For Pat, Liz and Thelma, they think the questions never quite feel resolved. It’s for them to find out what have really happened to Topsy. This was a fun cosy mystery in which three retired school teachers become involved in a case of possible murder. But one fateful week, as they are catching up with a slice of cake, they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy. Pat, bright and attractive, the wife of Rod, (a builder), worries about her youngest, teenage son, Liam, the bodily trials of aging, and a generation raised in a world where the internet in all its trappings can clearly be seen to “sap the soul”.At first it looks like a accidental death caused by the dementia that Topsy is suffering from but something is not sitting right with the 3 ladies and they start to making enquiries into Topsys life and her nearest and dearest. When Hazel Wong’s beloved grandfather passes away, Daisy Wells is all too happy to accompany her friend (and Detective Society Vice President) to Hazel’s family estate in beautiful, bustling Hong Kong. But when they arrive they discover something they didn’t expect: there’s a new member of the Wong family. Daisy and Hazel think baby Teddy is enough to deal with, but as always the girls are never far from a mystery. Tragedy strikes very close to home, and this time Hazel isn’t just the detective. She’s been framed for murder! The girls must work together like never before, confronting dangerous gangs, mysterious suspects and sinister private detectives to solve the murder and clear Hazel’s name – before it’s too late . . . The Yorkshire setting feels absolutely right for the narrative and J.M. Hall’s style made me think often of Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood so that reading A Spoonful of Murder brought a real smile to my face. That said, as the threads of the plot are drawn together so successfully at the end, there are moments that bring an emotional lump to the throat too. A fabulous, cozy, mystery story... Wonderful... Absolutely perfect for fans of Richard Osman!' NetGalley Review