Simply Angela : Tea with Milk and Murder by H.Y. Hanna

Monday, November 20, 2017

Tea with Milk and Murder by H.Y. Hanna

While at an Oxford cocktail party, tearoom owner Gemma Rose overhears a sinister conversation minutes before a University student is fatally poisoned. Could there be a connection? And could her best friend Cassie's new boyfriend have anything to do with the murder? Gemma decides to start her own investigation, helped by the nosy ladies from her Oxfordshire village and her old college flame, CID detective Devlin O'Connor.

But her mother is causing havoc at Gemma's quaint English tearoom and her best friend is furious at her snooping...and this mystery is turning out to have more twists than a chocolate pretzel! Too late, Gemma realizes that she could be the next item on the killer's menu. Or will her little tabby cat, Muesli, save the day?

Series: Oxford Tearoom Mysteries # 2 | Publisher: H.Y. Hanna | Narrator: Pearl Hewitt | Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins | Genre: Contemporary Cozy Mystery | Source: Publisher | Ratings: 4.5 Cups

Challenges Read For: Blogger Shame

So, yeah, this one was a blogger shame. *hangs head* I received the audiobook for review then completely forgot to download it to my Kindle. I found it when I was going through my audiobook library and it was just the right cozy mystery that I needed.

This is such a great cozy mystery series and I’m having such a good time reading through it.

In this one, we have a death by poison—very Agatha Christie—that occurs during her best friend’s gallery show. Now Gemma’s left wondering if Cassie’s new boyfriend is the murderer. As the investigation heats up and another person is poisoned, Gemma becomes the prime target.

Gemma is such a fun character. She left the corporate world behind, moved back to her hometown, opened a tearoom, and now finds herself acting as amateur sleuth. But she isn’t in it alone, there’s an entire cast of secondary characters, including a charming yet quirky cat, that we finally get to know more about them and I really enjoyed that.

Like most cozy mysteries, there’s a love triangle developing. I’m not entirely thrilled about this, I think that the romance angle should focus more on the second chance romance between Gemma and Devlin. While I’m not a fan of the love triangle, it was expected and it wasn’t overly trying on my nerves.

The mystery was pleasing. I do like a good death by poisoning mystery because it makes the where, when, and by whom a bit more challenging to nail down and I wasn’t disappointed. I had a short list of suspects and, when the killer was revealed, the clues made sense and I was proved right.

So some of the scenes felt a little—I don’t want to say odd—but perhaps forced. Obviously, it was necessary to have Gemma in certain spots as she’s investigating but a smoother approach would have been nice.

I enjoyed Pearl Hewitt as the narrator but I still feel that she portrays Gemma older than she is.

Overall, I had such a great time with this one. The mystery was solid and I really enjoyed getting to know more about the characters.