For somebody who claims to prefer the darker end of the Crime Fiction spectrum, I've been thoroughly enjoying some cosies recently. Although I did originally try to "read" this one via the audio book, but that didn't work, so I switched to the printed form and found myself happily enjoying the 2nd of The Tea Ladies series - THE CRYPTIC CLUE.
Anybody who hasn't picked up the first book - THE TEA LADIES - would find no problems in catching up with the main characters in this series - Hazel, Betty and Irene, although their backgrounds are more thoroughly explained in the earlier novel. They are all, unsurprisingly, tea ladies, working in Sydney's rag-trade district, with a sideline in solving crimes that happen right in front of their eyes. The complication this time around is that they are also confronting a threat to their livelihoods with the sneaking encroachment of automatic tea making machines!
In this outing, they find themselves forming a union, helping solve a threat to national security, and traipsing around the bush in search of the proceeds of crime, all while getting very close to part of the team building this new, controversial building, known as The Sydney Opera House.
Bit on then, as always. Even though this story starts out with a holiday, it progresses quickly, as men start behaving oddly, and then there's the toaster that's not coming back from the dead.
Part of what works for this reader is the sly, dry sense of humour that this series is imbued with. And the idea that these are women for whom life has been complicated, but that doesn't mean they are going quietly into the good night. Despite a propensity to drink shandies and enough tea to flood the aforementioned Opera House, these are women readers are invited to connect with, like and admire. There's also a bit of depth to the stories, and as unlikely as the plots sound, it all works in the end, and credulity only gets stretched ever so slightly.
The Cryptic Clue
Look who's back in hot water! The highly anticipated new novel in The Tea Ladies cosy crime series, a runaway bestseller of the year. Available for pre-order now!
Welcome back to Zig Zag Lane in the heart of Sydney's rag-trade district, where our intrepid tea ladies, Hazel, Betty and Irene, have their work cut out. Solving a murder, kidnapping and arson case, and outwitting an arch criminal, earned them the respect of a local police officer. Now he needs their assistance to help solve a plot that threatens national security.
As if that's not enough, Irene gets a coded message directing her to the spoils of a bank robbery, which sends the tea ladies on a treasure hunt with an unexpected outcome.
There's also trouble brewing within the walls of Empire Fashionwear, where an interloper threatens not just Hazel's job but the very role of tea lady. It's up to Hazel to convince her friends to abandon their trolleys and take action to save their livelihoods - before it's too late.
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