Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

On Thursdays, Liz, Thelma and Pat who are schoolteachers meet up for coffee and cake at a garden centre. On one occasion they see Topsy who is used to work with them.

A week later Topsy is dead. The three friends think there’s something not right about the way she died, is there a way they can prove this?

I loved reading this book, it had everything a cosy murder story should. The way the three friends went about solving the murder and seeing the lives they lead away from it was nice. I didn’t see the ending coming as I thought it was someone else.

A cozy mystery that really tries hard to get in the leagues of The Thursday Murder Club…..

……and fails.

What drew me to this book? The cover of course! Also, the title sounded so intriguing.

Three retired school teachers – Liz, Thelma and Pat meet every Thursday evening at their favorite café. They unexpectedly meet Topsy, their ex-colleague. But a week later, she is dead. As the three friends ponder over this, they know that there is some foul play surrounding her sudden demise. Now they are forced to get involved, even though that’s the last thing they want.

The book failed to grab my attention instantly, like I am used to with thrillers. The narrative jumps from one to another, that it was arduous to keep up with who was who. The names just didn’t register initially, even till half-way.

Though the plot was multi-threaded that had a great potential, the execution was mediocre. The pacing was much too slow for my liking. The protagonists seemed to mull the same things over and over again, causing boredom and a lot of eye-roll.

If you ask me, the problem was the lack of camaraderie and easy banter between the friends. They just seemed to carry on doing their own thing, with disregard for one another and there was even a hint of jealousy at times! At their age and given the years of acquaintance, this felt a bit unrealistic.

I truly wanted them to work as a team. This book at the very least needed someone like Joyce from #TheThursdayMurderClub to lift up our spirits.

However, the author deserves credit for maintaining the suspense almost till three-fourth of the book. The mystery refused to give up its secrets and kept us speculating. The writing well portrays the perils of old age & the insecurities it entails.

Only the ending again didn’t have the desired punching effect. I indeed understand this is supposed to be a pleasant murder mystery, but the big reveal wasn’t so surprising. It looked as though Liz, Thelma and Pat, pulled a rabbit out of a magician’s hat at the last minute.

Unfortunately not for me, but if you enjoy slow burning murder mysteries with older protagonists then this might be for you!

Thanks Avon Books UK and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of an honest review!

I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book so much as this. As an older reader and retired teacher I felt completely at home with Pat, Liz and Thelma. I could picture their morning coffee sessions in the garden centre cafe so clearly, and I particularly empathised with Pat and her snug fitting tops! There are several injustices to be righted here, all against a beautiful North Yorkshire setting. I was so pleased to find a second book us on the way!

Great debut novel from J M Hall, intriguing story line about three retired teachers, it lends itself to a series of books

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall another @netgalley read. Three retired teachers (Liz, Thelma and Pat) meet at a garden centre every wk, however they go for their ‘coffee o’clock’ one wk and everything changed when they meet up with an ex colleague and her daughter. First impressions of this book were great, it read well and seemed to flow, it started off being quite interesting and quite intriguing however this was short lived. This book definitely had potential, however I think the subject is over done with books such as the very popular books by Richard Osman. I didn’t enjoy those books so not a surprise I wasn’t a fan of this but also if you are a fan of his books then this book is probably for you. The thing that I found strange was that this group of 3 friends meet Topsy at the garden centre, she’s not someone they meet up regularly and I wonder if these three friends had found out about Topsy’s death through the paper they would have shown as much interest as they did after meeting her. I think there are many factors that fuel this interest, boredom after retirement, being nosy, genuine concern for a friend and avoiding issues in there own life’s. Apart the the topic being overdone, I think this isn’t gritty enough for me, by no means do I want blood and gore but I want something that keeps me hooked and this lacks that and perhaps if you are looking for a murder mystery this is in many respects to much of an easy read. There’s also a few character where this story kind of splinters off and at times I found this quite confusing and hard to keep a track of who was who and who had done what. After the success of other books like this I can’t help think this will be a success however it’s just not for me and that said I won’t be recommending this to family and friends. But this is what @netgalley is about introducing you to new authors and books you wouldn’t normally read and I wouldn’t have read this book if I had, had to purchase it. ⭐️⭐️

Honestly, cosy crime isn’t usually something I lean towards. With a notable exception of Richard Osman’s series, which is one of my favourites. However, I tend to prefer my crime fiction on the dark and gruesome side and I’m always really happy to return to that, even after Osman. ‘A Spoonful of Murder‘ tempted me with its delightful cover and title. Luckily for me, the inside was just as delightful and I would quite happily read more of it.

In ‘A Spoonful of Murder‘ we meet Liz, Pat and Thelma. Three retired schoolteachers who meet up with each other every Thursday (and there’s a completely believable reasoning behind why it has to be a Thursday) for cake, coffee and a chat about children and grandchildren. But then a former colleague is found dead and their weekly meetings turn a little something darker. Because Topsy may have died looking all peaceful and whatnot in her comfy chair, the three friends know deep down there’s a lot more to it than that. Now they just have to prove it.

These three ladies will capture your heart from the very beginning. All three are very different but they also compliment each other, and their friendship just works. Often as I was reading, I was thinking about how much fun it would be to pull up a chair and join them at their table for a wee cup and a natter. Not that retirement sounds like a bed of roses. Pat knows there’s something troubling her youngest son Liam but can’t figure out what it is, for Liz it is her grandson who’s causing worry, and Thelma may be childless but she has things going on in her head that aren’t easy to deal with.

Then Topsy dies and it’s not only the friends’ lives that are turned around because the story itself suddenly deals with a more complex societal issue with regards to the elderly and how they are taken advantage of. Especially those who are considered extremely frail, possibly suffering from dementia. Up pops an entire array of, quite frankly, despicable people who don’t even think twice in ripping off the vulnerable. This ranges from the builder who offers to do jobs that don’t need doing for a lot of money, to the seemingly helpful voice on the phone from “your bank” who wants to help move your hard-earned money, to tons and tons of junk mail promising all sorts of things. As Thelma often wonders, when there are no children, who will look after the senior citizen trying to navigate this minefield? Before you know it, your cosy crime story ends up being a lot more thought-provoking than you envisaged at the start.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. ‘A Spoonful of Murder‘ is oftentimes fabulously witty and I absolutely adored these characters, who managed to make me chuckle out loud. Watching them being pushed out of their comfort zone was quite entertaining and I think the author really managed to portray it wasn’t always easy for them. Sure they want to find out the truth about what happened to Topsy but there’s also this reluctance, this feeling that maybe they shouldn’t be getting involved in things they know nothing about.

I had a pretty good idea about what had happened to Topsy early on but there is something else surrounding the mystery of her death that left me with a list of suspects I was unable to narrow down. So, what started out as being completely bedazzled by a lovely cover actually ended up in a couple of hours of truly entertaining reading. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with these lovely ladies and if they were ever to set out on another murder investigation, I’d quite happily join them on that mission. Grab yourself a cup of tea and a nice, warm blanket because if cosy crime is your thing, I think you will enjoy ‘A Spoonful of Murder‘ too.

Retired teachers Liz, Thelma and Pat meet every Thursday morning at a local café. One week, they see Topsy, a former colleague, but by the next Thursday, Topsy is dead, and the ladies are suspicious.

This is the first book by a new-to-me author, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The premise sounded good, and the comparison to The Thursday Murder Club convinced me to request the book. It was similar to Osman's book, but only in the age of the main characters and the setting, even to the point of the having the group meet on Thursdays. Unfortunately, the three ladies seemed almost indistinguishable, and there were way too many characters, so I constantly got characters and their relationships/families confused.

Add to that the book's slow start, the overly descriptive text, and the multitude of parenthetical comments, and I had a hard time picking the book up again when I put it down. I did like the focus on Alzheimer's and other issues faced by the elderly, but I wonder if all of that was too much for a book billed as a cozy. There were so many red herrings that it got to be relatively easy to ignore them, which made it almost too simple to figure out whodunnit. While this book might appeal to other readers, I will probably not look for more books by this author.

Thank you so much to Avon Books UK and Netgalley for the chance to read/review this book prior to release.

Cozy mystery is one of my all-time favorite genres and I was so excited to get into this one.

Right from the start, I was overwhelmed by a mass amount of character introductions without enough story to really make sense of who they were and what they were there for. It started to seem like a bunch of paragraphs in a row that really had nothing to do with each other as there wasn't a very clear story flow.

Ultimately and very unfortunately, this resulted in me not finishing the book. I just couldn't get past the writing style.

I wish the author the best and hope that many people enjoy this read.

It is available for purchase on March 17, 2022.

A Spoonful of Murder by JM Hall is described as being a cosy crime, a description I dislike intensely. For me it suggests tweeness and sentimentality. And that is not an apt description of this book. It's a clever look at human nature as much as a murder mystery.

Thelma, Liz and Pat are distressed when their former colleague Topsy is found dead. She had been living with dementia and her death appears to be the result of her own confusion. But as the three friends hear more about Topsy's life, they become less certain that her death is not suspicious...

Retirement is suppose to be relaxing, but for a group of retired school teachers, it’s not necessarily all relaxation. During one of their weekly coffee sessions, Liz, Pat & Thelma bumped into their old friend, Topsy. Within a week, Topsy was dead. Things just seemed a little too suspicious and they didn’t believe it was natural causes. With their new suspicions, they found themselves looking to solve this mystery for the sake of their friend. There are a lot of bumps along the way, but nothing will stop this group of retirees in finding the truth.

This is the first book I picked out on NetGalley that fell short for me. It took a bit for the pace to pick up on this one. At times it felt repetitive and there were one too many subplots to follow. I also had a trouble keeping up with the characters. With all of the subplots, more and more characters kept getting introduced. Even still, the overall premise of the book was solid, it just needed a bit more. A lot of cozy mysteries focus on small town murder with a side of romance and to follow a group of older ladies in retirement solving the murder was a refreshing difference.

A toasty British cozy about 3 retirees that get thrown into a murder investigation is the premise of A Spoonful of Murder. It's the perfect premise for a cozy of this archetype. It does suffer from some pacing issues mainly because it swaps narrators and they have inconsistencies between them narrative wise. Each of the ladies are likeable in their own way. You've got a smart alec and sweet one and then the normal one for the anchor. I think the next book will have its footing and be great. Since the families are fully fleshed out, I think it wouldn't suffer any of those issues and be perfect. The writing was really smooth otherwise. I would totally pick up another book in the series.

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 British cozy, but I found it hard to read. I felt like I was in the middle of a tornado twisting round and round. That is what this book felt like to me. The writing style is the problem. 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). There was also too much repetition (because of the switching viewpoint and memories issues). The first two-thirds of the book is slow going with the pacing picking up toward the end as the mystery reaches its climax. We follow Liz, Thelma, and Pat as they go about their day-to-day activities plus work to solve the mystery. We are privy to their thoughts about on their lives, families, and friends (with it often being in parenthesis which is distracting and further slows down the pace). We are introduced to a multitude of people with many of them having nothing to do with the mystery. The author tried to make the mystery complex with multiple red herrings and subplots. By the end of the first chapter, I knew who would die and the identity of the killer. I can understand having a red herring or two, but the author went overboard. The mystery was nicely wrapped up at the end. It is carefully explained how Topsy died and how the killer accomplished the deed. We also are privy as to how the three amateur sleuths pieced together the clues. There are several themes in A Spoonful of Murder that includes elder care, dementia, aging, elder financial fraud, parenting, and childlessness. I like the close friendship between Liz, Thelma, and Pat. I liked the humor scattered throughout the story. II felt, though, that the author missed the mark with this cozy. A Spoonful of Murder should have been a light cozy mystery with plenty of humor and warm characters. The book felt long and drawn out. I wanted to like A Spoonful of Murder, but it was hard as the story jumped from issue to issue and character to character. I found it a chore to complete this book. While A Spoonful of Murder was not for me, I suggest you obtain a sample to judge for yourself. A Spoonful of Murder is an eventful British cozy with coffee klatches, financial fraud, a difficult death, muddled memories, and firm friends.

EXCERPT: Since they'd all been retired (Pat two years, Thelma and Liz four) it had to be said the weekends had somewhat lost that special quality - that snatched, hallowed glow. Truth be told, the days even held a certain . . . sameness - Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays - a sameness to be fought against with book groups and keep fit classes and stints in the charity shop. Fought against, but not admitted to.

Hence coffee o'clock every Thursday in the café at Thirsk Garden Centre (good parking, well away from tourists).

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.

ABOUT 'A SPOONFUL OF MURDER': Retirement can be murder…

Every Thursday, three retired school teachers have their ‘coffee o’clock’ sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre café.

But one fateful week, as they are catching up with a slice of cake, they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy.

By the next Thursday, Topsy’s dead.

The last thing Liz, Thelma and Pat imagined was that they would become involved in a murder.

But they know there’s more to Topsy’s death than meets the eye – and it’s down to them to prove it…

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.

My favourite character was definitely Pat. Self-deprecating, inquisitive and very wise in her own way, Pat is definitely easy to relate to and often had me laughing at her inner thoughts. Thelma and Liz are the ideal sidekicks.

The plot flows at an even pace, with numerous humorous moments. There are a veritable plethora of red herrings and multiple suspects who could be responsible for Topsy's death, but WHY? Why would anyone want to murder a harmless, if slightly befuddled, old lady?

Narrator Julie Hesmondhalgh has a wonderful range of voices and intonation in her repertoire and I would instantly be attracted to anything she narrates.

A Spoonful of Murder, as well as being a delightfully entertaining read, deals with dementia, loan sharks, and cleverly outlines many of the ways the vulnerable elderly can be defrauded of their life savings.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.1

#ASpoonfulofMurder #NetGalley

I: @jm_hall_writer @avonbookduk

T: @AvonBooksUK

#audiobook #contemporaryfiction #cosymystery #murdermystery

THE AUTHOR: J.M. Hall is a 20-something PR executive based in New York City. A Philadelphia native, he began writing fiction during his time at the University of Miami before embarking on a career in corporate communications. During the day, he can be found getting top-tier press for his clients in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fortune and USA Today.

At night, he can be found at his computer, crafting his next story.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Avon Books UK for providing a digital ARC of A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall is available in Kindle and audiobook formats.

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 was a DNF for me. 10% in and neither the plotting nor the characters grabbed my attention. I wish the author well.

Every Thursday, three retired teachers, Liz, Thelma, and Pat, meet for coffee at a cafe. One Thursday, they see an old friend and fellow retired teacher, Topsy, and her daughter enter the cafe. The friends find out Topsy has early dementia and has worsened since her husband's death. The following Thursday, she's dead.

Liz, Thelma, and Pat all suspect murder is the cause despite what Topsy’s family believes to be Topsy “muddling” her medication. The retired teachers take it upon themselves to dig into things and find out what really killed their old friend.

A Spoonful of Murder is the debut cozy murder mystery novel by J.M. Hall centered around three smart, inquisitive protagonists. There is witty humor and touches upon the issue of elderly care and issues seniors face.

For me, the beginning is a confused mess. You have thoughts coming from everyone and how everyone feels, and the narrative was hard to follow. I wasn't entirely sure who was thinking what and just felt scattered. Several reviews stated it took until the halfway point for things to improve, it did get better and started to pick up the pace and flowed a lot easier. But it was hard for me to stick with this book because the first half was confusing and slow. It's a cozy mystery With a lot of potential for a great series that just needs to flow better initially.

I'm giving this a 2.5, rounded up to 3 stars, because I did really like the three friends.

Thank you, Net Galley, for this ARC for an honest review.

3,5* upped to 4
There's a lot of potential in this book as there's good ideas, humour, a cast of relatable characters, and a solid mystery.
The first chapters and the second half of the book are quite entertaining and gripping. The rest was dragging and I was tempted to stop reading.
I think it could become the first in an entertaining series, a faster pace will surely help
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The cover, title and blurb excited me to read this. However, the story didn't work for me. I was unable to connect to plot, characters and writing. I had to push myself to read it. I was considering to DNF but went ahead with this being buddy read.

Who doesn't enjoy a cozy murder? Every Thursday three retired teachers meet for coffee at the same little cafe to catch up. They see an ex-colleague, Topsy and her daughter. They find out she has early dementia and has been getting worse since her husband's death. By the next Thursday she's dead.

Liz, Thelma, and Pat all suspect murder is the cause despite what Topsy’s family believes. The family believes Topsy incorrectly took her meds. The ladies start digging around for the truth.

This book touches on the vulnerability of our elders including the exploitation of their finances. The pace was a bit slow for me. There were many things that could have been removed to make the story flow a little better, in my opinion. I still thought it was cute and a good debut!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC!

What an outstanding Debut book by the author I read this in and day and could not put it down as it had me gripped from the first page, what I loved about this book is we find out about the main characters life and backstory too and what happened to them when they aren't meeting for there coffee o’clock’ sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre café.

I loved all the characters in this book but my favourite definitely got to be Thelma in one scene in the book what she does to someone else in her home made me howl with laughter.

I won't ruin this book with any spoilers but lets just say I thought I had worked the story out and what happened to Tops'y how wrong i was and i absolutely love books that you can't guess the ending to .

if you loved The Thursday Murder Club you going to love this book.

Many thanks to Avon Books and netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review

I actually used to read a lot of cozy mysteries, but I haven’t in forever and I’ve definitely missed them. I really enjoyed reading a mystery where I’m still trying to figure out what happened, but it’s not too heavy. This is kind of like if the Golden Girls solved a murder, and were very British.

I also really appreciated the focus on aging and how all the characters were in a different stage of life than characters I usually read. I honestly don’t think I’ve read a book with retired characters, and that was really neat. I also liked that they’re not, like, Instagram and TikTok grandmas, but they still have cellphones and use technology. It feels very realistic.

The only thing I really disliked is the pretty heavy subplot of body shaming and diet culture, especially from one of the characters who goes on a very restrictive diet in the book, including calorie counts of food she eats. It’s annoying at best, and could be very triggering. Especially as the marketing of the book seems very food based, with the blurb on goodreads even suggesting we “sit down with a cup of tea, a slice of cake”. It’s confusing marketing with all the diet talk and body shaming!!

Other than that, it is a little slow paced. You know what would have solved both of those problems in my opinion? Recipes! This book would have been a perfect one for recipes, and not diet recipes. Especially because this book is so British, and I’d love to have seen some lovely British baking recipes.

But overall I thought this was really good and I really liked the mystery. I stayed up like two hours later than I meant to reading it. I don’t think it’s the most complex mystery, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be. It’s just… cozy. The murder mystery is supposed to be something you could figure out, so you feel clever. This does exactly what it’s supposed to, and I think this was a really fun book that could be a great start for a cozy mystery series.

Representation: There’s like one minor side character who’s queer and a Black character mentioned like twice, so, like, not really lol.

Content notes: Elder abuse, murder, mentions of miscarriage, nothing graphic. Soooo much diet talk and weight shaming.