3.5 stars.
Thelma, Liz and Pat are back in a new mystery set in the school they've all retired from. The school is now part of a group of schools purchased and managed by a trust. There have been changes, consequently, to the curriculums, and to the style of management. A new head teacher was appointed to run the three friends' former school, and both Thelma and Liz soon find out that there are issues there.

When Kayleigh Brittain, the new head teacher, receives the first of what will be a series of nasty letters targeting teachers at the school, Thelma thinks it’s an isolated and unpleasant incident. Then Liz finds out from Jan, a friend and teacher at the school, that Jan is struggling to meet Kayleigh's requirements for results in class. Then, not long after, nasty letters begin arriving at the school, causing much pain and a further decline in morale (after Brittain's appointment) amongst the recipients, and evoking Liz's concern. The others are not as close to the problem, so don't fully appreciate the severity of the situation, despite their concern, until two incidents cause the three to come together to investigate in earnest.

The culprit wasn't really that hard to fathom, particularly with some of the clues dropped midway through the book. The reveal was satisfying, nonetheless.

Unlike the previous book in the series, the three women have drifted a little apart, as they all have their own concerns and worries, and a certain reluctance to share these with the other two. Much of the book is spent describing the friends' too many home responsibilities and worries about their husbands and the men's jobs, so the book took longer to take off for me. It was good to understand how all the letter recipients were reacting, but I will admit that the book took a lot of time laying out the situation before the plot picked up its pace.

And as the story is partly about the relationship amongst the friends, which was painfully strained for much of the book, this made this entry in the series somewhat less enjoyable read. That said, I still liked this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Avon Books UK for this ARC in exchange for my review.

General Thoughts 🤔

I was looking forward to picking up with these characters again after reading the first book in this series last year (review here). Unfortunately, I just wasn’t as gripped and enchanted by the story and the characters this time around and I just couldn’t settle in to the book. This is the second book in a row now that has made me feel this way, so this could be very much be a “it’s not you it’s me” kind of situation, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this book just didn’t ding my dong.

Characters 👫👭👬

I fell in love with these characters the first time around and really warmed to them. I liked all of the women and admired them for different reasons, however I felt like I didn’t get to hear much of their personal lives in this book and therefore I struggled to re-connect with them. What I don’t think helped was that the crime the ladies were investigating wasn’t very thrilling or exciting to me, so I didn’t care enough about what they were going through trying to find out who was writing the poison pen letters.

Writing Style ✍️

I will make a point of noting that I think the fact that this author has a background of being a teacher helped to make the setting and feeling of the book feel authentic. The detail included about the running of a school and all the little mentions of various different learning techniques (Pineapple Maths springs to mind) took me back and did transport me to Primary School Days.

However, I think the mystery was lacking somewhat and therefore I just couldn’t engage as much as I wanted to. There was a lot of time that seemed to pass before the story started to unravel and gain some traction.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

I’m so sad that this book and I didn’t have a great time together. I loved the first book in this series, especially spending time with Liz, Pat and Thelma. The three ladies were the sweetest (and they were in the second) but I struggled to feed as endeared by them in this second book. The mystery wasn’t mystery enough for me and I lost interest quite early on in the story. I don’t think I’d give up completely on this crazy group of ladies and I’d still give another book in the series a chance if there was one. Unfortunately this time, I didn’t love this second instalment nearly as much as the first.

I was absolutely honoured to be accepted to read this as an ARC on NetGalley.

The retired school teachers Thelma, Pat and Liz are once again caught up in scandal when poison pen letters start being circulated among friends and the small community in their Yorkshire village.

A well written lighthearted mystery whereby these teachers give this poison author a run and manage to solve it with many twists and turns.

I didn’t see the ending coming, I also didn’t feel as connected to the characters as I did in the first book. I also really missed the garden centre meetings which just I absolutely adored in the first book.

I am excited to see what JM Hall puts out next for sure! Thank you @netgalley and @avonbooksuk for this ARC

I enjoyed this book - as a teacher I like the school set up - it’s believable and well written. I also like the characters. I didn’t find it a quick read but I enjoyed it none the less - it didn’t drag and there were plenty of opportunities to be pulled in to making guesses and assumptions which I like.

Thank you for my earc of this book. I ended up listening to the audio of this but really enjoyed this cosy mystery. I really enjoyed this book and think it would be a great holiday read

First of all I just want to say thankyou to Avon books for such a great Suspenseful book .

Well we all know I love a cosy Mystery/ thriller so when this amazing book come up for review I jumped at the chance .I'm so glad I did , I loved a Spoonful Of Murder.and loved it .this one was just as good if not better . I can say it didn't disappoint at all .

The Plot well I thought I was going to guess who did what oh how wrong I was when I did find it was a jaw-dropper. It really had my head in a spin in the best way tho as I needed more . It story definitely pulled the carpet from under me .
The story was very well paced not to fast and not to slow just right .

As I also listen to the audio which was narrated by Julie Hesmondhalgh I thought she told the story perfectly she really gave every character there own personality which I really loved .

The characters which was Liz , Pat and Thelme oh they was brilliant even better than the first book ,and I enjoyed we was learning more about thier family .I really enjoyed how they all had there own lives but came together like Charlie angels.

If you love a cosy Mystery then this will be right up your street .

I give this thrilling book 4.5 stars 🌟

Intriguing mystery with charismatic protagonists and a solid second book in the series.

I really enjoyed this cosy mystery set around anonymous "poison pen" letters. The setting is the school where retired teachers Pat, Liz and Thelma used to work, and where all three, for different reasons, are spending a lot of time. The three friends, who meet every week for tea and cake in the local garden centre, take on the job of solving the mystery.

I'm always interested in mysteries involving anonymous letters, and I really like Pat, Liz and Thelma. They each have a distinct personality and add something to the story, and I like how the author includes ongoing threads about their personal lives. It adds depth to the story.

I recommend this series to mystery fans who like their cosies with a slight bite. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next one.

I'd like to thank the publishers and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Sad to say, I've struggled with this sequel to Pat, Thelma and Liz's earlier adventures. For me, there's just too much going on and I found it very difficult to remember who was who and what there problem was. I felt that it needed tightening up in terms of both word count and pacing. A good editor could have made all the difference.

This is the second book in this series and we are on another adventure with the three retired dinner ladies. This isn't always the easiest story to follow as there are a lot, often too many, characters to get to know and it becomes confusing. However, saying that, it is a good story, a nice little cozy mystery and a good book to pass to escape with for a few hours. The main characters are well written and relatable.

Unfortunately this book just didn't hold my interest. There are too many characters that don't have a distinctive voice so it's confusing and hard to keep track of who's who.

The plot doesn't seem to be moving anywhere and I'm finding myself falling asleep reading it

Sorry but this one is not for me

I enjoyed the first book in this series but this one was a little boring for me. I liked the setting of the school and the premise of the nasty letters being anonymously sent to the teachers but it was quite slow and felt like it was repetitive in some parts with not much plot progression. It was nice to be back with the 3 main characters but unfortunately the story was too slow.

A lovely mystery who dunnit? This is the 2nd in a series, however i havent read the first one! it does not detract from the penmanship of this author and you can read this as a standalone.

The second in the cozy mystery series with Liz, Pat, and Thelma. I enjoyed this book even more than the first - poison pen letters, shady contractors, and questionable school administrations really caught my attention. Enjoyably low stakes drama with a genuinely surprising conclusion, this is perfect for fans of the Thursday Murder Club series.

Lodestone Academy has acquired St Barnabus school, and they have installed an extremely glossy headmistress in the form of Kayleigh Brittain.
There now seems to be a poison pen writer around who is targeting everyone from the headmistress down.......
A great cozy afternoon read, highly recommended.

This is the second book in the Liz, Pat and Thelma series. I don’t feel it works particularly well as a standalone book as there are a lot of references to the first book, A Spoonful of Murder, so it helps to have read that book first.

Our budding Miss Marples are retired teachers who investigate a spate of poison pen letters sent to members of staff at their old school.

I enjoyed this more than the first book. It is an easy to read cozy mystery with a good pace but as in the first book, there was some unnecessary filler, which made it drag a little in places. However, there are enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages and the three protagonists are likeable, so all in all an, it’s an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

This is the second in the series but stands alone (I haven’t read the first!)
A series of anonymous letters are being sent to members of the school community, revealing secrets that could affect careers and relationships. Liz, Pat, and Thelma are retired teachers who love to solve a mystery! Can they work together to uncover the identity of the person sending these poison pen letters before things go too far?

The author’s background as a Primary School teacher gives an authenticity to the storyline & it is believable that the 3 retired teachers would look to solve a mystery like this!

From the description I was expecting murder rather than just “poison pen mystery” but nevertheless I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a cozy mystery.

Honestly not my favorite. I had an incredibly difficult time getting into it. Mystery feel too flat for my taste.

St Barnabus Primary School is part of the Lodestone Academy Trust and is run by a fearsomely efficient headteacher called Kayleigh Brittain. However all is not well at St Barnabus, anonymous letters have been sent to members of staff and are causing distress. One marriage has crumbled, another is on the rocks and staff are off sick, into this mess come the retired teachers, Liz, Pat and Thelma. Each has issues of her own with family but are are passionate about their local school and the impact of academisation as well as the letters.
This is the second outing for these three middle-aged sleuths and I had not read the first so it took a while to separate the characters. However the setting in Thirsk, with plenty of references to Ripon (and even Bradford) had me hooked and I found myself warming to the gentle pace and actually not very threatening plot. Everything is handled discreetly and the whole book is just as cosy crime should be - fun and light

Another good cosy crime book, love the setting and hearing places that I know. Great characters and a good mystery
Very enjoyable

In this second book in a series, retired teachers Thelma, Liz, and Pat combine forces to try to discover who is writing nasty notes to the teachers at the local school. In addition to this problem, there seem to be issues with the school accounts, a malfunctioning boiler, vandalism, not to mention secret liaisons. The idea of schools being operated as businesses are also explored. There are several mysteries to be dealt with, as well as the personal and family life situations of the three retirees.

The atmosphere of the story seems dark and brooding. There is no overt violence or any descriptive adult scenes in this book. A reader does not need to read the first book to find out what is happening in this one. However, there were a lot of characters to keep straight and some obscure references to the first book led to some confusion.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.