I really wanted to love this one, I really did, but I just couldn't get fully into it. For fans of Thursday Murder Club, I think this is the book for you. I couldn't get into the writing style or even the characters for that matter.. It is a cozy mystery for someone looking for a lighter mystery. It does touch upon elder care and financial exploitation which I feel are important but for me there was something missing

I have started this book four (?) times? Each time I get about 15% in and can't take it anymore. Truthfully, I'm not sure why it doesn't do it for me; all the pieces of a really good cozy are there. Good protagonists, a worthy victim, lots of red herrings and a definite sense of place in the descriptions. However, every time I pick it up, I end up going to bed early depressed because the main characters just don't seem like they like their lives. Your experience may be different.

Cosy crime perfect for fans of the Thursday murder club.
Pacey (for the most part), twisty, intriguing & overall a good debut.

This is a British cozy mystery featuring retired protagonists Liz, Thelma, and Pat. While the premise is promising, the book's overly descriptive writing style and slow pacing made it difficult for me to enjoy. The characters lacked distinct voices, and frequent viewpoint shifts and parentheses disrupted the flow. Despite a complex mystery with multiple red herrings, the plot felt predictable, and it really neatly resolved in the end. The themes of elder care and friendship added depth, but the execution missed the mark for me, making it not my favorite read overall.

I was hoping for more Thursday Murder Club vibes and it didn't completely hit the mark. It was fun at times, but I felt like the main characters were caricatures but a bit boring at the same time.

A cozy brit mystery focused around 3 protagonists. I enjoy these type of books, they are a comfort, however this seemed very predictable for me despite all the red herrings. I found the writing to be awkward and made it a slow read.

Reading this book was up and down for me. I struggled with keeping track of all the characters, as there were quite a lot and I couldn't seem to keep them apart and create a clear separate image of them.

To me it felt like the book could've been a lot shorter than it is. It dragged on on certain parts and my attention was not there anymore. I felt I was starting to skim over pages and that might've also contributed to not fully getting into the book.

I did appreciate the topic of scamming older people in the book. The focus on how older people are tricked into giving money away or their bank account being emptied. It's something I haven't seen that many times yet in mysteries.

At times I was able to get into the story and I enjoyed those parts a lot. Unfortunately not during the entire book.

The storylines were complicated and got tangled up with no resolution. The characters all merged together and it was hard to tell people apart. The ending was weak and lacklustre

Not very cosy, and very little mystery for me - without trying unduly hard, I guessed all of the subplot “mysteries”. I couldn’t picture the three women as I don’t remember much in the way of description, and as for the overdose of parentheses… dear Lord.

Take this example:

“Keys lost, timings muddled, meals burnt, doors left unlocked. Not that KellyAnne minded as such (At the end of the day when all’s said and done she’s my mum) but you could love someone and still find something a ball ache (Pardon my French). They’d finally managed to penetrate the labyrinthine system that was the Hambleton Memory Clinic (twice they forgot her appointments) but by the time the clinic had finally given them a diagnosis–‘an Alzheimer’s related condition’ (whatever that means when it’s at home)–it was a good few months after everyone else knew that something was seriously amiss.”

I very nearly DNFed early on, but persevered.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

Nice cosy mystery! Enjoyed this for what it is, there a few books similar at the moment but this one does it well.
Thanks!

This was a DNF for me unfortunately. The premise as enticing and I’m grateful for the copy in exchange for a review. I found the characters to be a little older, which is fine! But it’s just not an age I can relate to. I like to really be able to connect to the characters in the books I read and I wasn’t able to achieve this. Still highly recommend as it wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me.

3 retired teachers meet an old friend from their school days. When she is found dead from an accidental overdose this is not the friend they remember and agree to check out the circumstances.
This is a cozy mystery in the Thursday Murder Club vein. Very much down to earth ladies see the little clues in people's lives that will bring together the answers they need to if it really was murder.
The pace of the story is a bit on the slow side but is worth reading to the end.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

A Spoonful of Murder tried its best to be The Thursday Murder Club. There was a flood of octogenarian novels set around this premise that the group would solve crimes that are taking place around them. The problem with this novel is that it lacked a propulsive plot and characters that you were rooting for.

Bank holiday weekends are for coffee shops, tea and cake and a good book. It was such a treat to have a relatively chilled bank holiday weekend and enjoy some quality reading time.

I’m really enjoying Cosy murder mysteries at the moment and after watching The Mousetrap at the theatre last week I was totally ready to get my inner detective on again with J M Halls A Spoonful Of Murder.

I wanted to love this, the plot sounded great, but I couldn't connect to the story. These women were all a bit dull and acted like they were in their 80s rather than their 60s. This one was a miss for me.

A good debut novel from J.M. Hall. I found the pacing on this mystery a little slow for the first half of the book but it did pick up in the second half and I enjoyed the reveal. That moment of "aha!" when that last piece of the puzzle clicked in to place, you could almost see the characters faces in this scene.

This lacked interesting characters and was hard to read. It dragged on and I didn’t finish reading it

A Spoonful of Murder is the debut novel of J.M. Hall. It is a British cozy mystery featuring three kind, smart, and curious protagonists who have extra time on their hands since they retired.

I wanted to like this one, but the writing is overly descriptive.

I really wanted to enjoy this book considering the reviews likened it to Richard Osman books but I felt something as missing. I didnt gel with the characters and unfortunately did not finish.

Thank you for the arc.

I loved this book. The depictions of English life are spot on and, as an expat, they made me yearn for garden centres, the Edinburgh Woolen Mill and all things English. The story starts gently but is totally gripping and the characters sympathetically and humanly drawn. I really would recommend it to any armchair sleuth!