A Spoonful of Murder: The first book in a hilarious and totally unputdownable cosy murder mystery series for fans of The Thursday Murder Club

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It was so much hard work getting through this book - and reading should never have to feel like a chore or an unenjoyable experience. Each of the women resent the disruption to their routine, each of the women hopes fervently they wont be dragged into somebody else's life, each of the women find themselves unwillingly enmeshed in Topsy's afterlife when she dies days after the meeting. They have cups of tea at a garden centre, and visit friends with dementia, a funeral and a strip club. Primary teaching has always been a huge part of his life and throughout his writing career he is proud never to have lost the ability of running a slick painting table. Fans of Agatha Christie, Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders will be hooked from the very first page.

They talk about everything and nothing, when they bump into ex colleague Topsy a rather strong character with failing health due to Alzheimer’s disease setting in they never dreamed that a week later that Topsy would be no more. Hence coffee o'clock every Thursday in the café at Thirsk Garden Centre (good parking, well away from tourists). When Topsy is found dead in her home the following week Liz, Pat and Thelma suspect that there might be more to her death than meets the eye. I know that the three women, Liz, Thelma and Pat, were great characters, brought perfectly to life in the audio, and really good to spend time with.

The three friends have to be my favourite characters, they were very different from one another but came together to see their sleuthing through and get justice for their friend. 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.

While on the whole A Spoonful Of Murder is a light and entertaining read, the issues around financial abuse of the elderly are very real and disturbing.I loved the setting, but the story itself just plodding along and I found it confusing to keep all the characters straight.

Childless, and married to a college professor, she fills her days with charity work - hiding a heartbreaking secret. Along with the opening line “to be involved in anything like murder quite simple it was something they would never set out to do! Pat would wonder whether her son is having an affair with the Celtic poet right in the middle of cooking dinner and worrying about Topsy. It was in parts amusing and in others poignant as we hear about older widowers being taken advantage of for money. It’s all there - so many threads woven into the fabric of realistic everyday existence, and touching, in some cases poignantly, on the effect our actions can have on those around us.I was not having a good time with this book by the time a revelation about Liam came to light that I just got so angry over the smallest decision of the words chosen. They uncover a rather shocking trail of elder abuse - worst of all that Topsy had been conned out of her life savings by somebody masquerading as a bank employee. With respect to the audiobook Julie Hesmondhalgh is a well-known tv actor and I thought her an excellent choice to narrate this cosy.