I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Kate's sister Angie has decided to buy a tea room, but finds a skeleton in the basement. Hmm. For once it is not Kate finding the body, but she does step in to help solve the case. Another good addition to the series, and one I recommend.

Another great story by Dee MacDonald and so entertaining that I read it in one sitting on a rainy day whilst stuck in a hotel in Cornwall. Great characters and well crafted storylines. Hope I don't find a body in the tearoom I work in.

EXCERPT: In the medical centre Kate went about her duties, without comment, as all around everyone voiced their theories about Locker Man's identity. News traveled fast in a small place like this.

'Your sister must have got the shock of her life when she found that body,' Sue said, with a delighted shiver, as she and Kate stood chatting to Denise at the reception desk later.

'Yes, she did,' Kate agreed.

'But how come Polly Lock never found it then?' Denise asked. 'She must have had that place a good ten years. And Larry had it before that. It's funny that Angie was the one to find it...'

Kate was aware that Angie could be a suspect in the minds of the villagers who had no idea how old the body was. After all, she was a newcomer to the village and not everyone knew her very well.

ABOUT 'A BODY AT THE TEA ROOMS': Meet Kate Palmer! A semi-retired nurse with a sweet tooth for cake and a talent for solving crimes.

Kate Palmer is most disappointed when renovations at her sister Angie’s new tea rooms are derailed after a body is discovered in the cellar. She was looking forward to clotted cream teas with a seaside view. Instead she has another murder mystery to solve…

If the village gossip is to be believed, the unfortunate man was connected to the wealthy Hedgefield family. Kate is reluctant to get caught up in the investigation but a curious card in the victim’s jacket pocket sparks her interest. Not to mention the ridiculous rumour Angie is somehow involved! Keen to clear her sister’s name so she can finally eat cake in the charming tea rooms, Kate teams up with handsome retired Detective ‘Woody’ Forrest to untangle the baffling case.

After quizzing the locals over copious cups of tea, Kate begins to realise the Hedgefields, who live in a grand mansion and own half the village, are not as perfect as they make out. They’re hiding a long-buried family secret and plenty of people have a grudge against them, including a number of their ex-employees.

But who could have murdered a member of Lower Tinworthy’s most enviable family? Was it the old gardener? The seemingly sweet cook? Or the bitter maid?

Just as she inches closer to the truth, Angie goes missing. Does amateur sleuth Kate have what it takes to get to the bottom of this extraordinary puzzle and save her sister at the same time?

MY THOUGHTS: A Body at the Tea Rooms is the first book I have read by Dee MacDonald, but it's not the last. I enjoyed this so much I have already begun the next in this series, A Body at the Altar.

I am really enjoying reading books about older characters, and by older I mean not in their first flush of youth, who still have a zest for life and a penchant for 'sticking their noses in'. Kate Palmer is a fifty-nine year old semi-retired nurse, dubbed 'Cornwall's Miss Marple' after she has become involved in solving a series of murders. Her partner is Abraham Lincoln Forrest, mostly known as 'Woody' except when Kate is trying to make a point, a retired detective. Kate and her sixty-one year old sister Angie live in Lavender Cottage, a property they purchased together. Angie has been what is known as 'a free spirit', but seems to be setting down and is working on opening a café/bistro with Fergus, an Irishman she has become attached to.

It's in the cellar of the old building that Angie is renovating that a body is discovered, and Kate decides to get involved in the investigation as some of the locals are blaming Angie. No one knows whose the body is, but a DNA test provides some interesting information.

I love both the characters and the plot development in A Body at the Tea Rooms. Kate and Woody have an interesting relationship. While Woody is rather proud of Kate's investigative prowess, he is also concerned about the danger she puts herself in and from time to time tries, unsuccessfully, to rein in her endeavours and this does lead
to the occasional discord between them. I love Kate's thought processes, her penchant for making lists, and the numerous questions she inevitably comes up with. She and Angie row quite often, but love each other fiercely.

Although I guessed most of the twists and the eventual outcome by playing 'if I were the author, what would I plot?', I absolutely loved A Body at the Tea Rooms. It was great fun solving the murder, and I am enjoying getting to know the many and varied residents of Tinworthy who will, no doubt, appear in other stories to come.

Although A Body at the Tea Rooms is #3 in the Kate Palmer series, it is easily read as a stand-alone. Personally, I intend to get my hands on #s 1 and 2 in the series so I can discover how Kate and Woody meet and begin their relationship.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.4

#ABodyattheTeaRooms #NetGalley

I: #deemacdonald @bookouture

T: @DMacDonaldAuth @Bookouture

#contemporaryfiction #crime #familydrama #murdermystery

THE AUTHOR: Dee MacDonald wrote her very first book – at around seven years of age! This was a love story which she duly illustrated before sewing all the pages together up one side. Writing was what she ‘was good at’ in school and she won several essay competitions, but then life got in the way and she didn’t pick up a pen again until after retirement.

Dee left Scotland and headed for London at the beginning of the swinging sixties. After typing her way round the West End she became an air stewardess on long haul routes with BA (then BOAC) for eight years. After that she did market research at Heathrow for both the government statistics and for BA, she became a sales rep and was the receptionist at the Thames Television Studios in Teddington when they had the franchise.

She then ran a small B&B for ten years in Cornwall, where she lives with her husband. Dee has one son and two grandsons who live locally.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Body at the Tea Rooms for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

This is a brilliant addition to this cosy mystery series featuring Kate Palmer, who just can’t resist investigating when a body is discovered in the cellar of the tea rooms that her sister is renovating. Despite the reiterated warnings from Woody, her retired police Detective ‘boyfriend’, she just has to endeavour to discover the truth. Using her contact with patients, Kate starts to uncover secrets from the past but can she stay safe this time or will Woody need to come to the rescue again?

This is a lovely cosy murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns, romance and intrigue. It involves Kate determinedly acting as sleuth, using her local contacts and ability to encourage gossip to help her uncover pertinent information to help solve the case. It is an enjoyable read, with great characters, some laugh out loud incidents and several suspense filled scenarios, too. The seaside area is a beautiful setting, complete with a whole range of village folk who are brought to life in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will definitely be looking out for more stories in this series in future.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my copy of this book which I have voluntarily read and honestly reviewed.

A Body At The Tea Rooms
By Dee McDonald

This was a great murder mystery. It kept me guessing until the very end. This was my first book of this series and I will read more. Story was well-written, I recommend this book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

The Body In The Tea Rooms by Dee Macdonald is the third book in the Kate Palmer cosy mystery series set in Cornwall. I have read every book in the series and they seem to be getting even better as the series goes on.
 Semi-retired registered nurse Kate has gone over to California with her retired Detective boyfriend Woody Forrest on a trip to visit his family. As they get back home and Kate reaches the door to Lavender Cottage she is approached by her sister Angie. Angie had recently inherited a large sum of money unexpectedly from her ex-mother-in-law and decided to buy The Locker Cafe, near the beach, with the plan to renovate it and rename it Tea Rooms; she was having the property gutted to hopefully open a bar for the evenings. Angie discovers a bricked up cellar complete with a skeleton. Kate and Woody begin their investigation almost immediately. As the gossip makes its way through the village it seems the skeleton os connected somehow to the Hedgefields on the Tremarron Estate. Katie and Woody actually met Aaron Hedgefield on the flight home from California and he even gave them a lift home. Katir and Woody very cleverly decide to take Aaron up on his offer of dinner. This works for Katie as she is very adamant that she wants to discover something to hopefully help them. Can they get to the bottom of who the skeleton actually is in Angie's tea rooms?
I always love revisiting Katie and the village. The characters are all ones you can easily picture in a small village community where everybody knows everyone's business. The setting itself is such a cute village I can imagine the quaint houses with the locals pottering about making sure they are all up to date with the latest news!
A story that is a riveting and addictive read with plenty of drama and action too. I always enjoy a cosy mystery from Dee Macdonald, as I know it will be a page turner.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the copy of the book.

Some of the things I liked about this book was the fact that you didn’t have to read the previous books to follow along with the story. The pace was easy and it’s definitely the kind of book that you would read if you just want to relax on a nice summer day. And it is a book for I would say readers of an older age since the main leads are older and they have this growing budding romance. I think that that was something new for me to come across a book with such an older pairing which is nice to draw other readers to. And I would say it is a book for readers of an older age since the main leads are older and they have this growing budding romance. I think that that was something new for me to come across a book with such an older pairing which is nice to draw older readers in as well. Likewise, I thought that the history and secrets behind the body that was discovered was interesting. That was the only hook in the story that really made me want me to keep reading more of the book. However, for me personally I didn’t find the book to hold that much of “wow” factor. It is the kind of book I think I would recommend to people who haven’t read a lot of mystery stories or someone who just wants an easy book to read in the summer. Which I think is fine. It’s just that from the outside looking in as someone who reads a lot and isn’t a novice to mystery stories I guess it was a little too simple/a little too easy of a book for my taste.

The intrepid Kate Palmer is back on the case in A Body at the Tea Rooms, the third addictive stand-alone installment of Dee Macdonald’s fabulous Cornish-set cosy mystery series.

Semi-retired nurse Kate Palmer had come to Cornwall for the quiet life – unfortunately for her though, fate seemed to have ideas in store for her. Ever since she settled in Lower Tinworthy with her sister Angie, Kate has earned herself a bit of a reputation as Cornwall’s answer to Miss Marple. With two investigations under her belt, Kate plans to hang her sleuthing hat up for good. With Angie about to open up her own tea rooms in the village, Kate hopes to do nothing more strenuous and demanding than indulging in the clotted cream teas her sister is going to be serving. Unfortunately for Kate though, it looks like her investigative skills will be needed anew when a body is discovered in the cellar of her sister’s tea rooms!

Despite her reluctance to get involved, Kate simply cannot resist doing her own investigating. With rumours swirling around the village that her sister is somehow involved, Kate is prepared to do whatever it takes to clear Angie’s name – and as luck would have it, dashing retired Detective ‘Woody’ Forrest is more than happy to offer her a helping hand. As it transpires that the unfortunate man was connected to the wealthy Hedgefield family, Kate’s investigation begins to wield some rather surprising results – mainly that the Hedgefield clan weren’t as perfect as everybody seemed to believe…

There seems to be no love lost between the people of Lower Tinworthy and the Hedgefield family. But which one of them is a killer? As the investigation gets more and more complex, there are further shocks in store when Angie goes missing! Can Kate find her sister in time and unmask a killer? Or is Kate in way over her head this time?

Having loved the previous two books in the Kate Palmer series, I was really looking forward to A Body at the Tea Rooms and I was not disappointed. A brilliantly plotted and cleverly constructed thriller full of clever twists and turns and surprises that keep readers guessing, A Body at the Tea Rooms is a terrific British cosy mystery I read in a single sitting.

Kate Palmer is a terrific character. This semi-retired nurse might be a little on the nosy side at times, but she is intelligent, warm-hearted and incisive. I love her charming romance with Woody, her penchant for TV crime dramas and her very realistic relationship with her sister, Angie.

Dee Macdonald has written another top-notch British mystery with A Body at the Tea Rooms – I cannot wait for the next one!

Nurse and amateur sleuth Kate Palmer returns from holiday to find her sister's business plans in tatters following the discovery of a body in the premises. Kate can't resist another mystery to investigate even though it exasperates her lover, former police officer Woody Forrest.
A Body At The Tea Rooms is the third book to feature Kate Palmer as she adjusts to life in Cornwall with her sister Angie (who is rather keen on gin) and a developing relationship with Woody.
Angie's latest project is renovating some tea rooms with her feckless boyfriend Fergal. They find a skeleton behind a wall and initially hope it is a centuries old smuggler but then find it is only about 20 years old. Kate is convinced that the locals must know the identity and the DNA links the victim to a rich landowner. She embarks on a mission to trump the unhelpful police by uncovering the victim's name and his killer.
The plot develops at a medium pace as Kate collects evidence through speaking to a range of characters who were around 20 years earlier. There is a big twist and I did guess it but this made me feel proud of my own intuition rather than spoiling my enjoyment. The ending was quite dramatic but was in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book.
I think this was actually my favourite of the books so far. Angie has a purpose so is drinking less which makes her more likeable. Kate is naturally gregarious and gets on well with people, using her career as a nurse to chat to people without appearing nosy. Her inquisitiveness works well with her calming and caring demeanour to get others to reveal information. Her relationship with Woody continues to develop although he is frustrated by her involvement in another mystery.
A Body At The Tea Rooms is quite a traditional English murder mystery. The focus of the book is on the investigation and motives, with very little forensic detail. I would love to see this series televised!

This is the third in the Kate Palmer series and I absolutely loved it. Kate is such a lovely grounded character who has a nose for trouble!

I haven’t read the others in the series (but I shall be) however the writing is so good, you pick up the pieces of back story that matter.

When Kate’s alcoholic sister decides to open a tea rooms the town is startled to realise that there has been a body buried there for decades. With Woody no longer being a policeman, the information Kate and he can get is limited, but Kate is nothing if not determined and seeks to discover the identity of the deceased.

This is a great whodunnit with a very good twist, that I really didn’t see coming.

I LOVED getting to know Kate Palmer, nurse and part time sleuth. I spent a Sunday afternoon with her and devoured the book in one sitting. While the plot may be a little predictable, it is still an intelligent and amusing read. If you like MC Beaton's Agatha Raison, you'll be a fan of Kate Palmer. I already ordered the first two books in the series.

This is the 3rd instalment in the Kate Palmer Mystery series by Dee MacDonald and features experienced nurse Kate who has relocated from West London to Cornwall along with her sister, Angie. The sisters live in gorgeous Lavender Cottage in the picturesque village of Lower Tinworthy, and they still hope for a relatively peaceful life.

In this instalment, Kate is looking forward to sampling the cream teas at Angie's new tearooms but is upset when the renovations are delayed. A dead body has been found in the cellar hidden in a wall and Kate is determined to solve the murder, against the judgement of love interest Woody Forrest.

Retired DI Woody is on hand and to figure out whodunnit Kate doggedly begins following leads with a suspect in mind as she searches for evidence to back up her speculation before divulging it to Woody, working alongside the new Detective Inspector, Bill Robson. This is a superb cosy mystery with plenty of substance but still maintaining that cosy edge, with an alluring countryside locale. Divorcee Kate is an intrepid and caring character. Her fondness for sexagenarian Woody is charming to read about and they make an effective sleuthing duo. This is a comfortably paced read with a hugely enjoyable plot, and a great cast of characters. It boasts a fair number of suspects with plausible motives, red herrings and disclosures. A quality, well-plotted cosy with a fulfilling conclusion, A Body at the Tea Rooms is the perfect novel to curl up with on chilly spring evenings.

A wonderfully fulfilling read with appealing characters, and very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

A Body at the Tea Rooms by Dee MacDonald is a cozy mystery from England and I just love it. It takes place in Cornwall, in a small village and the two investigators are Kate Palmer, a 60ish nurse who is in semi-retirement in Lower Tinworthy, and Woody Forest who is her other half. Woody is a 62 year-old retired police detective that she met while they were both investigating earlier crimes. They are the kind of couple every 60ish person aspires to be a part of. They get along well, no one is in a hurry to marry, they have a healthy sex life, and they share common interests, although Woody worried. Kate also has a sister, about the same age, who drinks too much and has a very short attention span. That sister inherited some money and she and her current boyfriend are refurbishing an old tearoom, looking toward reopening it, and serving liquor at night. Kate has her doubts. Then, as the refurbishing is moving forward, the workers find a body behind a brick wall in the cellar. They are all hoping it is a pirate or something else historical, but alas, it's a man, about twenty. Been in the wall for about twenty years. Thus it begins.

I love this series, in part because of the ages of the protagonists. I love this particular book because of the family history research, which led Kate to a possible solution. As it turns out, she was wrong, but the research held. Murders this old are difficult to solve, at best. When no one has been reported missing, it is harder. There were clues along the way, and Kate even noticed them, but didn't put them together. The book is well-written and the mystery is a good one, although it was easy to put some of the clues together and get to a partial solution before Kate and Woody did. They are such good characters and MacDonald writes such a good story I can do nothing but recommend you read it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of A Body at the Tea Rooms by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #abodyatthetearooms

A fun, cosy read.

This is the 5th in a series but my first time reading - i don't think it mattered that I hadn't read the other books as there were brief over views of previous storyline and also this was an entirely new book and plot line.

It made me laugh that the main character would know so much as it was a little impossible to believe and imagine at times however overall was a quick, cosy mystery. The ending was a little obvious and the twin aspect I could see a mile off however I still enjoyed reading it.

Thanks for an arc.

I was delighted to see another book in the delightful Kate Palmer series of books. Like the previous two, this is full of quirky characters & a fair dash of humour. When Kate's sister's plans of opening a tea room are delayed by the discovery of a body, nothing is likely to stop Kate's desire to find out 'whodunnit'! Never one to be deterred by the unhelpful police detective she she's soon poking her nose into everything, dragging retired detective Woody Forrest with her. I was quite pleased when I determined 'whodunnit' fairly early on- long before Kate & Woody anyway! However there was still surprises to be sprung.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book- can't wait for the next one!

If you have read cozies for a while, you will have figured out the central part of the mystery midway through the book, but Dee MacDonald does have one more twist up her sleeve. I can’t say that you couldn’t see that part coming, but you did have your doubts as to how deep the ruse went.

I enjoy this series. Kate Palmer may not always make the wisest decisions, but her heart is in the right place and she brings a maturity that is missing in so many other cozy mysteries. With the combination of Kate and her wacky sister Angie, there is a balance that creates a delightful melding of personalities and insights.

“Meet Kate Palmer! A semi-retired nurse with a sweet tooth for cake and a talent for solving crimes”


I don’t really know whether to be pleased with myself, or a little disappointed, as I had worked out some of what was going on in this explosive storyline from a little over half way through the book, ahead of both amateur sleuth, nurse Kate Palmer and her often reluctant assistant, retired DI, Woody Forrest. Although to be fair, I wasn’t quite certain about the identity of the true villain of the piece until all the facts were being laid out before Kate, the final twist in the tale was revealed, and just as she was almost about to make that fatal mistake which would mean that she couldn’t fulfil my strict fourth criteria for an all-round inclusive story, that of not being dead!

Not that anything about the storyline was in any way diminished by my knowing half an outcome; as with Kate, Woody, Angie and Fergal around the place and on the case, there is never a dull moment and the journey is always as eventful and unpredictable as the getting there. Oh! and of course, only Angie and Fergal could find a skeleton in their basement!

Kate seems to have the knack of always being in the right place at the wrong time, or the wrong place at the right time, depending on your perspective; and although this is the third case she has become embroiled in, in a very short space of time, you could quite happily jump into her life right here and now and know all you need to know about her past within a short while, as author Dee MacDonald does an awesome job of managing a full re-cap of all the pertinent facts, in a few concise lines, making these books excellent stand alone stories. Catching up with Kate, is like putting on a pair of comfy slippers and curling up in the chair, for a cozy night in front of the fire and a good ‘girlie’ chat, although beware! as Kate has a way of finding out all the information she needs to glean from you, without you even realising it – That must be her nurse’s ‘bedside manner’!

This well structured and developed, multi-layered storyline is textured, intense and rich in atmosphere. With it’s short punchy chapters, it moves along at a cracking pace, with the location and character changes being faultlessly fluid and seamless. Dee is an excellent storyteller and knows exactly where she is going with a storyline, skilfully and effortlessly leading me in that direction, almost without my realising it. There were plenty of twists and turns in this plot, with loads of red herrings planted along the way to trip up the unwary, lies and deception come as a second nature to some people, and just remember, don’t assume that anyone is who they say they are!

The assured, observational and descriptive narrative, together with some excellent conversational dialogue, offers a real sense of time and place, all set in a location that is one of my personal favourites, which adds a real depth and range to the story for me personally.

Each new case sees Dee weave a unique cast of suspects into the story and they really are designed to make me want to cringe, almost to the point where I would like them all to be guilty, but then that’s what makes these lovely mysteries so immersive. All the central characters are so beautifully defined and drawn, and all seem to be growing in stature and confidence each time I meet them. There is some excellent synergy between them, which makes them easy to relate to and invest in. Everything about the way Kate and Woody approach a case, is designed to put any potential suspects, of which there are always plenty, at ease and off their guard. Woody even begins referring to Kate as his ‘Miss Marple’, although I think that she has earned her stripes in her own right now, as her style is unique and she has made the role her own. The banter between them is natural and authentic. I felt at home in their company and sad to have to leave them behind until next time.

I tend to read this genre of story for: enjoyment, entertainment, escapism and emotion. A Kate Palmer adventure always comes good for me in each and every one of those criteria, and what’s a body or two between friends!

“The female of the species is more deadly than the male”

Nurse/amateur sleuth Kate is back from her holiday with her boyfriend Woody when a body is unearthed in the cellar of her sister Angie's new tea room. Angie is hoping for a pirate or a smuggler, but the body turns out to be from only twenty years ago. Village gossip is rife, some even accusing Angie and her new beau Fergal. Kate can't resist looking into it.

This is the third in the Kate Palmer series but it's a self-contained mystery with no overlapping storylines or cliffhangers and easily read as a standalone.

What I like about this series is the characters each have their flaws, making them believable. I sometimes find cozy mystery sleuths are sometimes a little too perfect. Kate is still her determined self but of course that determination for the truth often gets her into trouble and this story was no exception.

Another favourite thing about this book is the setting of Cornwall. On the surface a quiet, charming tiny village, but underneath there's plenty of disreputable goings on and the whole place seems to run on gossip!

What I will say is I didn't think the overall mystery was as strong as in the previous books, but of course that's just my opinion.

A Body At The Tea Rooms is a solid cozy mystery with flawed, believable characters and a quaint setting. A definite must if you love this genre!

I really enjoyed this book. Loved all the characters as they pertained to the book. The main character, Kate and her boyfriend, Woody made perfect sleuths. Her sister, Angie and her boyfriend Fergal were quite entertaining.
The story line and it's ending were perfect for this book. I enjoyed it so much I plan to read the first two books in the series. and look forward to the fourth installment. This was "A Totally Addictive English Murder Novel."

Thanking you NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.