Unfortunately I was unable to read this in the suggested time frame.

Star rating is my falling having read this since the book left netgalley.

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this book.

I did not realise this was the third in a series, it can be read as a stand alone which I did, but I think I would like to re read it with the first two as it would give me a better knowledge of the characters.

I really enjoyed the story, it wasn't predictable, I kept changing how i felt about specific characters doubting them, wondering how they could be connected to the mysterious body.

A great read. Unexpected twists and turns and really well written characters. Highly recommend! The writing style is lovely and flows well, alongside the excellent pacing it makes for a speedy read.

Once again Ant and Bea have managed to find themselves in the middle of a mystery, and this time it is extra personal for Bea. As always I’m not going to say too much about the plotline because it’s a mystery novel and I certainly don’t wanna spoil that for anyone. What I will say is that as ever Rachel has managed to write a story that captures your attention from a mystery perspective, but also draws you in from a personal aspect. I think Expiry Date pulls on that personal aspect to an even greater extent than the previous two novels in the series because of the extra link that Bea has with this case and the way it affects her family. I was certainly hooked by the story and probably stayed up reading far later than I should have done because I wanted an outcome both in terms of the satisfaction of actually knowing the truth what happened but also being genuinely concerned about how the truth, whatever it may be, would affect Bea and Queenie in the long run.

I’m just going to give a very quick mention to a couple of the supporting characters before talking a little about Ant and Bea. I’ve really enjoyed seeing Queenie develop over the course of the three books as she’s worked to overcome her agoraphobia, she has plenty to deal with in this book but I like to think she’s come out stronger at the end of it. Dot as ever had some wonderful lines that made me chuckle.

I had some mixed feelings about Bea in Expiry Date. Now don’t get me wrong I still really enjoyed following her on her quest to find out the truth but there was some points where I wanted to give her a bit of a shake and tell her not to be so silly. Without giving too much away there were a few times that I thought Bea was being just a little bit (or a lot) too reckless, I completely understand why she was so driven to investigate, and why she was so desperate to get answers, I just wish she’d thought about her own safety a little more! I did love the fact that Bea’s consideration for others still shines through, whether it’s showing concern for Julie, or looking out for Ant.

As always I have this huge soft spot for Ant. I think he’s definitely had a rough start in life, and has made some poor decisions in the past but at the same time I do genuinely think he has a heart of gold. I loved that Bea managed to get him into the library for their adult learning to read program, and I liked the fact that he opened up to her and let himself be vulnerable enough to do that. I definitely think he got dealt a rough hand during Expiry Date, particularly with his living situation and I genuinely just wanted to give him a hug for a fair amount of the book. I was so pleased that as the story wrapped up things were beginning to look much more positive for him. Again without giving anything away I adored the ending and I’m so looking forward to finding out what is next for our mystery solving pair personally and in terms of what mischief they managed to find themselves in!

Final Thoughts…
Rachel has absolutely done it again, what a fabulous third addition to the Ant & Bea Mysteries series. I read this back at the end of May, having survived several months of lockdown and with the realistic prospect of it being several months more before I would actually get to see my friends in person, the joys of living by myself in a different town to everyone else and not driving! Catching up with Ant & Bea was just the balm I needed to put a smile on my face. I’ll be ready and waiting for a fourth adventure!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun read, I was sceptical going into this book as I'd never read anything like it but I actually really enjoyed this book and I'll definitely be reading more of Rachel Ward's books!

This was my first encounter with Bea and Ant, and what a great experience it was! This book is fun, full of mystery and so down-to-earth it is easy to just befriend the characters and become part of the story. I leaped into the pages, turned myself into a supermarket customer, I had eyes and ears everywhere. It felt comfortable but bits and pieces kept tickling my curiosity. Not a dull moment with this team and the people around them! A vanished woman, a chorus, family secrets, and the struggles we are familiar with. What’s not to love? I recommend Expiry Date to anyone who wants a cosy mystery with a clever writing, heart at its core, endearing characters, and the kind of mystery that you can feed on forever – smart but not overwhelming. Just perfect for a brilliant reading time!

I love this series! Reading an Ant & Bea book is like meeting up with old friends. Absolutely delightful :)

Expiry Date is the third instalment in the Ant and Bea Mysteries, and tells the story of a checkout girl, Beatrice Jordan, who ends up involved in a murder case.
Unfortunately I hadn’t read the first two books in the series, so I was slightly thrown into the deep end with this! Luckily, Ward states what happened in previous books, which was good for me, but might have been annoying to someone who had recently read the series.
I thought it was an interesting mystery, with two women ‘missing’, and lots of red herrings. I was convinced the murderer was someone else up until the actual reveal of the truth, which goes to show that Ward is good at plotting.
I did find the writing very simplistic, and it felt like it was aimed more at younger audiences than adults. Bea acted like a Sixth Former, and not a 21 year old, and the same for Ant. I thought the way Bea talked to the press was very silly, and she trusted the journalist with way too much personal information! I’m only a year older than Bea, but I’d know to never give a letter from my dead father to a random journalist because he said he was going to help me.
There was lots of repetition, especially with characters drinking something to get over shock. I can count four separate scenes where Bea sat down with someone and had whiskey or a strong cup of tea for sugar specifically because they were in shock.
(Also, I really didn’t like any of the romance in the novel? I thought Ant and Bea worked great as friends, especially as Bea was sort of repulsed by the idea of them being together.)
Overall, I would say this was an interesting book with a good mystery plotline to solve. It would probably be best to start at the beginning of the series, but it didn’t really cause any problems as it was easy to pick up what had previously happened.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

An engrossing and entertaining cozy mystery. Even if it's the 3rd in a series it can be read as a standalone.
I appreciated the quirky and fleshed out characters, even if some of Bea's choices left me wondering, the setting and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This was a great YA Thriller!

I got through this one quite quickly and didn't want to put it down.

I enjoyed reading it, and hope to read more from the author when I'm able to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is the first book I have read by Rachel Ward. This is a detective novel following a case of domestic abuse when one of the characters does not return to the supermarket any more like they used to. This uncovers a lot of twisted and dark series, I did enjoy the investigative components of this story. This sparks a worrying case of murder investigation. This is actually the third book in this series, however you can certainly read it as a standalone as I did. The writing style is contemporary and easy to follow. The characters are unique and really make the story engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book!

I had no idea that this was continuation of a mystery/crime series, but this can be read as a standalone too! This a light-hearted mystery that kept me engaged throughout! I loved the characters and the plot. And the writing was right up my alley! This book was quite short so was easy to get through and the pacing really helped wrap up the story. Although I didn't get some of the references, I'm hoping to pick up other books in this series! Highly recommend if you are looking for a memorable mystery series!

A woman's gone missing, a young girl's body has been found, and the police aren't asking the right questions. So it's up to 21-year-old Bea, and her friend and workmate Ant, to find out the truth.

'Expiry Date' is the first 'Ant and Bea' mystery I've read. Although it's the third in the series, it was very easy to get into, to understand who the characters are and their relationships to each other. It was also great to read a 'light' mystery of this kind with a firmly working class setting - Bea, a check-out operator, certainly stands out among all the amateur detectives who own cutesy bakeries or write books for a living.

Unfortunately, I wasn't sold on the book as a whole. I think I'd figured everything out before I was even halfway into the book (always disappointing as a mystery-reader) and I was asked to suspend my disbelief just one too many times - the number of murders Bea has already solved, her perennial niceness, the number of guys trying to date her, her extreme attractiveness, and her young age all together were too much for me.

A fun, unchallenging read, but I shan't be returning to the series in the future.

This was a surprisingly cute read. Book 3 in the Bea and Ant series, but, it can be read as a standalone. Ward has a really fresh and modern voice, and a way of describing things that made it feel as if this were the newest show from BBC rather than a book.

The mystery wasn't the sole focus, it was more about the people of the town, especially those connected to Bea and Ant. I wouldn't say this was amazing but it was exactly what I needed, quite lighthearted for the most part, a dash of mystery and a premise for a mystery series I haven't seen yet! Supermarket Sleuths, love it!

Thank you to Sandstone Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have not read the other books in this trilogy, so my review is based purely on this one story. The mystery in this book did keep me reading and intrigued and the writing style is very easy and pleasant to read. My issue with this book however is the character Bea, i just find the choices she makes very frustrating and hard to understand and pass as believable which did lower the enjoyment of the book for me. However for a quick mystery read defiantly worth a go.
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read an arc in return for an honest review.

The book was a good continuation to the series and like the previous books I enjoyed the writing style, the characters and the setting.

The plot was interesting and had a more personal feel to it as it was linked to Bea’s dad, this meant the book focused a lot more on Bea and her feelings in comparison to the previous books. I also liked the characters in the book and how they helped with the plot in their own ways.

However, I still feel that Ant’s chapters are pointless because there is not enough of them to get to know him personally or as a narrator so the few chapters we do get feel unneeded. I also felt like in this book a lot more information was handed to Bea easier than previous books and I was disappointed with the ending of the book because of the reveal and because it felt rushed.

3/5

In Expiry Date, the third outing for supermarket-worker amateur detectives Ant and Bea, a body is uncovered on a building site. It turns out to be Tina, Bea’s former babysitter, who went missing back in 2005. Bea learns her late father was one of the original suspects in Tina’s disappearance, and she sets out to clear his name once and for all.

Meanwhile, Bea hasn’t seen Julie, one her regular customers at Costsave, for a while. Julie’s slimy husband Dave says she’s gone on holiday with their two young children, but Bea doesn’t believe him. With the police doing little to help, she enlists the assistance of Ant and his friends and takes risks in order to solve the mystery.

Expiry Date is a straightforward and easy-to-read novel. It’s clearly and competently written, and certainly intriguing, but not particularly challenging, deep, or surprising. You don’t need to have read the previous books in the series to understand who the characters are or what’s going on.

Its real strength lies in its setting and characters. The story is set in the fictional small south-western town of Kingsleigh, and Ward makes it feel like a real place with its medium-sized non-big-name supermarket, one main shopping street, and self-aggrandising local political figures (can you tell I grew up somewhere just like it?).

As in any real-life small town, there is a mixture of warm, kind characters who support and look out for each other, rough diamonds, and out-and-out villains. This reminded me of Mel Sherratt’s Mitchell Estate series: in both cases, the working-class characters are not idealised, demonised, patronised, or treated as homogenous, and are written respectfully and realistically.

Bea, for example, is clearly intelligent, yet she doesn’t regard herself as ‘above’ any other characters or ‘too good for’ Kingsleigh, or even complain about the routine nature of her job. She has grown apart from her friends who have gone to university, yet doesn’t seem bitter about it, and Ward presents her choice as a valid one. There’s no sense that her supermarket job is ‘below’ her, or that she’s ‘stuck’ in any way. This makes a nice change from smart working-class characters who are ambitious, raring to disassociate themselves from their roots, and embarrassed by their less academic friends from home. This, again, reflects real life, where not all bright people feel university is for them, and some people enjoy retail jobs because they like talking to people and the camaraderie with their co-workers.

Although her light touch and exclusion of gruesome details place this crime novel very much in the ‘cosy’ category, Ward doesn’t shy away from contemporary issues such as domestic violence, homelessness and illiteracy. Ant is a ‘sofa surfer’ who is taking part in a literacy programme at the local library, and his dad’s in prison for burglary. It’s quite unusual to see a character in this position being valued, liked, and encouraged, rather than pitied, by others. It’s also refreshing that he’s a main protagonist and Bea’s confidante.

Expiry Date is an easy mystery read with warm characters and a well-created setting that reflect real life.

When a body is discovered under a factory, the status quo of the community is shook to its core. However, it is only when shop workers, Bea and Ant begin to question what really happened that information about more horrific events come to light.

Kingsleigh itself, the town in which the story takes place, can be seen as being cosy and idyllic. Although, this view is radically changed when Bea investigates into the body which has been found. The more that she researches through the history of Kingsleigh itself, the more that she discovers that nothing is as good as it seems, especially from the people that she knows the most. This creates the search for clearing someone's name most close to her, she must first be able to dig deep into some of the secrets that have been locked away until now. However, this poses the question of whether no one is truly innocent in this game and everyone could be a suspect.

The great thing about this book is that its not predictable. In fact, there are many occasions throughout the book where certain events change your perception of people and how they might relate to the mystery of the body and who could have been involved. This is interwoven into many other subplots which deal with how there are many other stories which can be seen to be relevant and can carry some weight to the overall storyline. There are some important themes that are presented throughout which are very relevant and ongoing such as domestic abuse and asking for help when needed and that there is always someone around the corner ready to step in. But this could also be seen as being a detriment due to how there was a lot to focus on. However, when you look at it it can be resembled to how small town life is an array of stories which are stitched together to make one big picture.

The lovely part I found about Bea and Ant is their compassion and empathy that they both have to their community. It is shown through their relationships with friends and family and the customers while working in a shop. You can really feel the element that this is a real and breathing world and sometimes reminds me of my own experiences and makes me laugh at how authentic they are to reality.

I quite liked the character Ant, who seems like the ying to Bea's yang, or the Watson to Bea's Sherlock. He can be described as being the rational one out of the relationship who is able to tell Bea when maybe she should take a few steps back and evaluate the information she has discovered and the tactful way in which she is able to use it.

However, I also found some problems with the pacing of the story itself. There were times where I felt very frustrated with how quickly the investigation was taking and whether they are still investigating the same event. At times it felt chaotic, are they interested in one particular event or numerous ones? It felt like the storyline was only starting to pick up and become juicy half-way through the book and the first half was more of a set up. I think it made it a bit more difficult coming into the third book of this series as I did not have the same sort of connections between characters that you could have done from reading the first two. Therefore, my care for the people of Kingsleigh was not as much compared to if I started the series at the beginning. However, I am not sure whether my opinion is not the best on thrillers of this calibre as I am very impatient to know who it is, rather than spend the time taking the journey to find out the real culprit.

When I first started reading this book, I really felt like I wanted to give this book four stars, but I felt like this might be biased in the experiences that I have had in the past. However, the more that I delved into the book I felt as though there were some elements that just weren't sitting with me well and so for that I rate this book three stars.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into romance stories and literary fiction however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for opening up my mind to something totally different.

Thoroughly enjoyable time spent with Ant and Bea. An engrossing who dunnit set in a small town with a good selection of characters to keep you intrigued in the plot until the reveal.