Muffins and Mourning Tea (Oxford Tearoom Mysteries #5)
by H.Y. Hanna
Rating: 4 stars
Blurb:
Cotswolds tearoom owner, Gemma Rose is excited to join the May Day celebrations in Oxford… until the beautiful spring morning ends in murder. Now, she’s embroiled in a deadly mystery – with four nosy old ladies determined to help in the sleuthing! Before she knows it, Gemma finds herself stalking a Russian “princess” and keeping up with the Old Biddies in Krav Maga class, while still trying to serve delicious cakes and buttery scones at her quaint English tearoom.
And that’s just the start of her worries: there’s her little tabby cat, Muesli, who is causing havoc at the local nursing home… and what should she do with the creepy plants that her mother keeps buying for her new cottage?
But the mystery that’s really bothering Gemma is her boyfriend’s odd behaviour. Devlin O’Connor has always been enigmatic but recently, the handsome CID detective has been strangely distant and evasive. Could he be lying to her? But why?
(* Classic Banoffee pie recipe included!)
My Review:
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review
This was another great read in this series. This series has quickly become one of my favorite cozy mystery series and I am excited every time a new book is released. This book is filled with tea, murder, danger and oxford traditions. It was such a fun read! This time someone gets killed in the busy morning during the May Day Celebration. Gemma is close enough to see the body and while she doesn’t mean to, she gets again involved into the mystery. It was a fun read and I was a bit sad when it ended, luckily we usually don’t have to wait too long for the next book in this series.
It was a great mystery, I kept going back and forth between who to suspect. And for a while I wasn’t sure who to suspect as none of the suspects seemed quite right as there wasn’t enough evidence at that point. Then I suddenly had a weird idea someone totally different was the murderer and then I swung back to a previous suspect. In the end I figured out who the murder was just seconds before Gemma did, the last clue finally pointed me in the right direction. It sure was a mystery that kept me guessing.
In this book we again get to meet up with by now familiar characters. Gemma, the main character gets involved into another murder mystery and she’s just too curious for her own good sometimes. She does act a bit questionable in a few scenes, but I don’t mind too much as it’s fun to see her uncover clues and playing an active part in the investigation. Devlin her boyfriend is acting a bit strangely, I am a bit sorry we never saw how that worked out as it felt like it added some unnecessary drama and in the end we still don’t know what he was up to.
Muesli again makes some fun appearances and I liked her first visit as therapy cat. Then there are the Old Biddies again who are determined to help solve this mystery and they come up with some fun ways to help. I always enjoy reading about these old ladies and how they are sharp of mind even with their old age and often help Gemma. And Gemma her mom is up to something new again in this book, every book she has something she goes a bit too far with. In this case it’s plants and I always find it fun to see what gemma her mom is up to now. There are also some new characters we get to meet surrounding the murder investigation, people who were close to the victim and other suspects. And I like how we get a bit of a feel for the victim, his friends, girlfriend and surrounding through the investigation.
To summarize: I enjoyed returning to Oxford and Gemma her cute tearoom and see her get involved into a new murder mystery. It has all the things I enjoyed from the previous books again, we get to see more of Oxford and it’s traditions, the picturesque tearoom, the great cast of characters like Gemma, the Old Biddies and Muesli that feel familiar by now and there’s a great mystery that kept me guessing until I figured things out moments before Gemma did so. If you love a good cozy mystery I definitely recommend you pick up this! It’s one of my favorite cozy mystery series and I am already looking forward to the next book!
Now, that sounds really good especially since it kept you guessing and happy to put all the clues together to solve the mystery.
The cat, old ladies, and her eccentric mother sound fun. Too bad, you didn’t get enough to figure out what was up with her boyfriend.
Love the sound of this series.
I haven’t read a cozy mystery for a while, but my favorite part outside getting a mystery is usually that they have fun and interesting settings.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Manga Classics: Sense & Sensibility by Stacy King and Po Tse #SweetDelight
I love how this author writes her mysteries, they are so well done. they keep you guessing, but there are also enough clues to guess the murderer if you want to.
The characters in this one are so fun, the old ladies, Muesli the cat and her mother always make me smile. I just had hoped we would eventually find out what is up with Devlin (her boyfriend) as it got mentioned multiple times he was acting strange and it feels like we never find out why.
If you want to see if this series is for you, the prequel is currently free: https://www.amazon.com/All-Butter-ShortDead-Prequel-Tearoom-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01JAI3EFK/
The mystery is a bit faster than in the full length books, but it does give a nice feel for the series.
Yes that’s what I love about cozies as well, the mystery and also the setting or unusual hobbies/ job the characters have. The unusual themes always grab my attention!
The Old Biddies and Museli just made me laugh out loud from glee — they sound like so much fun — as does Gemma, lol I kind of focused on everyone but her!
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The character are a lot of fun to read about and Muesli and the Old Biddies add some comical relief to the series as well ;).
I don’t read many cozy mysteries but this sounds good. Thanks for the great review.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Happy Raturday!
It’s one of my favorite cozy mysteries series, each book is has been a lot of fun to read and I am always looking forward to the next one.
Lola recently posted…Review: Muffins and Mourning Tea by H.Y. Hanna
That’s awesome that the mystery kept you guessing right up until the end! I’m terrible about that usually in mysteries though. I just jump back and forth between a bunch of different characters the whole time. Except I do remember this one time I saw a movie with my friends, and I called the murderer in like the first scene, and I stuck to it, and I ended up being right lol.
Sorry about the boyfriend drama, but it sounds like all the other characters were good enough to make up for that! And that’s cool that you even got to learn about the victim 🙂 Glad you’re still enjoying this series!
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones (Zoraida Grey Book 1) by Sorchia DuBois
Me too, I hardly ever guess it right or I just keep a bunch of characters as suspects and then it might turn out to be one of the, but I wasn’t quite sure. And sometimes you just know suddenly who the murderer is. With book 4 in this series I think I guessed the murderer right about 75% into the book and it was fun to guess the murderer so early in advance.
Not sure what was up with the boyfriend drama as it just added drama and then nothing got done with it at the end. But luckily all the characters in this one are great and I always have fun reading about them and what they’re up to now.
I always enjoy getting to know a bit about the victim through the investigation, not sure why but I think it’s quite interesting.
I’ve not read a cozy mystery before! And I actually thought that was a kids book from the cover until I saw the super bloody knife.😂 hehe. I’m so glad this was a win for you, though!
I love cozy mysteries, they are a lot of fun. Cozy mysteries are basically mysteries without the gore. They usually have a slightly cartoonish cover style.
I don’t read too many cozies. I actually tried my first last year and am waiting for the second book (it comes out soon I think). I do want to add more so I will have to check out this series!! Great review!!
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I hope you give this series a try! I think it’s a great series to start when you’re still new to cozies as that’s when I started this one too. I think the prequel novella is free at the moment if you want to get a feel for the series.
oh this looks like such a fun cozy mystery. I need to look it up. Have not read them yet. I love cozy by Heather Blake and Cleo Coyle write some really good ones.
Lily B recently posted…Terminal by J.L. Bryan
Its such a fun series, one of the best cozy mystery series I’ve read so far.