A spoonful of murder gave me similar vibes to Richard Osman's Thursday murder club and it is a very good debut novel. I liked all three of the main characters even though they were a bit too nosy and it was a fast paced book that gave information at the right times to keep you guessing what could have happened to Topsy. It also deals well with the heavy topic of dementia and how it affects family's lives. This is a perfect cozy mystery to sit down with and you will instantly feel drawn in and won't be able to put it down!

The 'charming' read of gloomy characters, judging each other and getting older, traces a rather gloomy mystery too .. set of elderly friends who gather regularly and steadily judge and coach other etc. Its gloom put me off I guess .. competent and strong narrative voice .. sure. Maybe too close to home!

Every Thursday three retired school teachers, Liz, Pat and Thelma, meet for coffee and a little chat. The book starts with them at one of these meetings when they encounter an ex-colleague, Topsy, and her daughter. It is quite obvious that Topsy is suffering from a mental illness. But what is more disturbing is that later that day Thelma found Topsy crying in the bathroom saying someone wants her dead. By next week Topsy is indeed dead. The police think she was just confused and took too many pills but our heroines are not so easily convinced and they set out to find out what really happened.
I enjoyed this. It reminded me in some places of my favorite Poirot. He wasn't big on finding clues and footprints, he just listened very carefully to what people had to say, and that's the case here too. Liz, Pat and Thelma used to be school teachers, in their years of working they encountered all types of people, heard all kinds of lies and truths. They have that old people's wisdom, if you will. So they don't exactly go around trying to find evidence, they just observe, talk and listen. It might not work for some people but I quite like mysteries like these.
The one thing I didn't like was the writing, maybe? I don't know, of it was the writing or the pacing, but for it not being a long book it read like one, took me a few days to read.
Also, did I mention it is very funny in some places?)
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book - read it in the midst of winter and this was the ABSOLUTE PERFECT COZY LITTLE MYSTERY….like after reading this I genuinely want the mug on the cover 😭😭

Allow me to start off by saying I need the mug on this book cover!

Now let me continue by saying I enjoyed this read as much as the mug on the cover! A legitimate mystery great for fans of "The Thursday Murder Club".

Friends and former colleague meet weekly for "coffee o'clock" sessions, when they run in to another former co-worker, Topsy. Previously structured and strict, they are saddened to see how aging is taking it's toll on Topsy's once sharp mind.

When Topsy is found dead the next week, the ladies feel something suspicious has gone on. And thus begins this mystery. Murder, fraud and deception surround Topsy's last weeks, and one by one is all gets uncovered.

I enjoyed the layers to this story, having several missing pieces that one by one get filled. Surprisingly, the ladies, despite no investigative experience, seemed both capable and relatable. They never appeared in over their heads, but rather as though they were acting as the voice for their passed friend.

An enjoyable read that will keep you guessing!

This cozy mystery was a cute story of three retired women investigating the true cause of their friend’s death. The characters seemed true to life, and I enjoyed how they truly cared about their former friend/coworker.

I found this book to be an ok storyline. At times it felt very dragged out in parts and it didn't keep me as gripped as I thought.
It was an ok book but I wouldn't want to purchase it for a friend or family member.
The front cover design is lovely though!
Thank you to J.M Hall, NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A really enjoyable read, comparable to the Thursday Murder Club, which I am a massive fan of.
I felt that some parts of this story were a bit longer than necessary and padded out, but it did also touch on some important topics regarding the vulnerabilities of the elderly.

A solid 2.5/3 star book! Incredibly predictable but I enjoyed my time with it. The ending was very predictable but it was wrapped up nicely & was a cute story following an age demographic not always represented in books!! The POVs were confusing at points and, like I said, overall very predictable! It took me a long time to figure out who was who so I never felt that I connected to any of the characters which makes a book difficult to enjoy.
Thank you so much to the author, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book early!

I enjoyed this cosy murder mystery. If you like this genre of book you will enjoy the characters you wet in this book.

This books started really slow. It was difficult for me to get into the story, however, once you give it the chance, you find yourself reading a cozy book

This book was a great read and I was heavily invested in the main characters. I definitely recommend and want more from this author!

Absolutely loved this one. It fit the "cozy mystery" to a tea. However, I was surprised how many social problems came up in this novel, but talked about it politely. It was a fast read as well which I enjoyed.

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall is a book that you'd like if you enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club books by Richard Osman, or other mysteries where retired people use their wits and knowledge to solve murders.

3 retired schoolteachers meet every Thursday for coffee, and one day they see an old colleague who has gone downhill, and mentions something disturbing to one of them in the toilets.  Shortly after that, she's found dead, and without meaning to, they start investigating.

Enjoyable cosy crime set in Yorkshire with characters that you believe.  There are a couple of threads of storyline, that all worked out in the end!

A Spoonful of Murder was published on 17th March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

I'm afraid I couldn't find any links for you to follow J.M. Hall!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books.

This is a cozy mystery that reminds me a little of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club which I really enjoyed. I have a soft spot for little cozy mysteries that involves the elderly.

This story follows retired teachers - Liz, Pat and Thelma, who meet up every Thursday for coffee and chit chat. On one of their usual Thursday coffee, they bumped into a former colleague, Topsy. It became clear to them that Topsy is no longer the feisty healthy colleague they once knew. She was diagnosed with dementia and while attempting to make conversation, the ladies made another discovery about Topsy that seems suspicious. Worrying about Topsy, they promised to keep tabs on her but before they had a chance to do so, Topsy is dead. The three friends are determined to get to the bottom of this using their wits and clues.

The pacing can be very slow at times. It feels like having a grandparent trying to tell you their story. It is very long winded and very detailed. I personally didn’t mind the slow pacing. Instead I found it quite charming but if you are looking for a fast paced mystery, this will not be for you.

The whole plot is well thought out and despite the slow pacing, there are plenty of little twists that kept me engaged throughout the story. What I also love about this is how the author commented on the social issues elderly people face and how they can be easily taken advantaged of. Truly shame on those who would take advantage of the elderly for personal gain! They really deserve a little more compassion and patience from us.

Although I guessed the culprit pretty early on, I still enjoyed reading how the ladies figured it out. Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the arc.

⭐⭐ -- Cute cover on this one!

I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. I loved the setting, but the story itself just plodding along and I found it confusing to keep all the characters straight. They all can't be winners, right? 🤷🏻‍♀️

**ARC Via NetGalley**

A truly cosy, old fashioned style whodunnit read! I love the parallels with the extremely popular Thursday Murder Club! Although more calm, there is plenty of twist and turns of different mysteries in this debut. It starts steadily, but picks up pace and I was then very drawn in to solving the different problems of the main characters with them. I liked how there wasn't just 1 mystery to solve but how all the sub plots of the characters lives, alongside the crimes played out. It really brought to life the people and gives you a great connection to them.

One of the local school's retired teachers gets dementia and... ends up dead. Nothing to see here. Is there? Oh well, yes, there is plenty to see.
Interactions between a group of retired colleagues-friends, dealing with age and issues that come with it, mothers-daughters relationships and their dangers (yes, I got the word right).
A Spoonful of Murder is a cozy mystery set in an English town where three friends meet at a cafe in the middle of the garden center. A very prosaic setting for a very prosaic event (a person with dementia passes away)... But bit by bit several dark secrets and nefarious events get uncovered.
A very enjoyable read.

Not my usual book choice, but an ok read nonetheless. This cosy mystery has an interesting premise and the main characters were well written, however the story fail to really catch and keep my attention (*I will say that I read it at a very stressful exam filled time so that may have been due to my state of mind at the time.) There were also too many characters and it took rather long for the story to unfold. All in all, it was just an ok read. 2.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall

This is one that can only be described as a slow burn. A slow, slow, very slow burn. Is burn even the right word? No. A slow slow, very slow *glow*. I came very close to not finishing this one, and honestly if it weren’t for the plane rides to Memphis, I likely wouldn’t have.

Three retired teachers meet for their weekly coffee. One week, they run into an old colleague, Topsy. A few days later Topsy is dead. She had Alzheimer’s, sure, but these retirees suspect that there’s more to the story of her death. Through multiple POV, the book weaves together the narratives of those involved in a whodunit-type fashion.

Two main things deterred me from this one. The first is that I felt like it was difficult to keep track of the characters. Each of the retirees has their own people, and by the time a secondary character was mentioned again, I had forgotten who they were. I think this was exacerbated by my second complaint, which is just that it was so. darn. boring.

It felt to me like a lot of the descriptions and backstories didn’t contribute much to the plot. The one thing that felt clever about it (whether on purpose or not) was how it felt very day-to-day boring, like how a bored retiree might feel. I think this was supposed to help bolster the drama of a potential murder in their lives. For me, though, it just didn’t deliver because I felt no reason to care about any of the main characters. By the end, I barely cared to know who did it. Thankfully, it does pickup near the end.

Perhaps I’m not the right audience for this one, or it just didn’t catch me at the right time. I think it demands more attention than I could give it. If you’re someone into slow-paced mysteries, then it might be worth a shot. Some lines did make me chuckle. But overall, this one just fell flat for me.