A Scone to Die For

Oxford Tearoom Cozy Mysteries, Book 1

By: H.Y. Hanna

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

"They say you have to make sacrifices to follow your dreams. I just didn't expect the sacrifices to involve an American tourist and a killer scone."

Gemma ditches her high-flying job and returns to Oxford to pursue her dream of opening a traditional English tearoom. It means giving up her savings, moving back with her parents, and coping with her bossy, matchmaking mother, but she's sure it will all be worth it. In fact, business is already booming—that is, until she opens up shop and finds an American tourist murdered by one of her signature scones! Now Gemma is apron-deep in a puzzling mystery, with her past coming back to haunt her when the handsome CID detective leading the case turns out to be her old college flame. And with the nosy "Old Biddies" from the local village meddling at every turn and her baker's cheeky cat terrorizing her kitchen, she's beginning to find herself in a real pickle....

Who was the American, and what was he really doing in Oxford? Is his death linked to a long-buried scandal at the historic university, or was he just the unlucky victim of a brawl at the village pub? What about the sultry new member of local book club—is she lying about her relationship with the murdered tourist?

The question that's really bothering Gemma, though, is how she can keep serving warm buttery scones with jam and clotted cream, and fragrant tea in pretty bone china...when her customers think her baking is more deadly than delicious! With the body count rising and her tearoom going bust, can Gemma find the killer before her dreams turn to custard?

A Scone to Die For is the delectable first book in the Oxford Tearoom Mysteries. If you like deliciously endearing characters, intriguing whodunits, and hilarious British humor—not to mention cats with big personalities!—then you'll love the first book in H.Y. Hanna's best-selling culinary cozy mystery series.

©2016 H.Y. Hanna (P)2023 H.Y. Hanna

Ignore the cover and buy this cozy mystery

I have been listening to a lot of cozy mysteries lately. Often they are silly, bumbling, and light entertainment. This is a REAL cozy mystery. Good character development as well as a well structured plot. Narration was very good. I enjoyed it, will definitely buy more in this series. I don't know why they illustrated the cover in such a silly style, it takes away from the quality of this book. Good lesson here for me, don't judge a book by its' cover... no, wait, I think I've heard that somewhere before... thanks Mom.

Perfect With A Cup of Tea! Just Perfect!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES, I am highly recommending this audiobook to all my friends. It is a delightful journey from the engaging storyline to the quirky characters, from the descriptions of the little Meadowford-on-Smythe village to Oxford University, from more than a few suspects to more than a few mysteries to ponder. This story has me hooked and eager to continue the journey.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Scone To Die For Oxford Tearoom Cozy Mysteries, Book 1?

The most memorable moments came as Gemma reflected on the thoughts and memories of her past relationship with DI Devlin O'Conner...the passion, the quiet, the regrets. We all had those college relationships and first loves, and for her the possibility of reigniting those feelings is an intriguing direction I look forward to see how it is addressed in the series.

What does Pearl Hewitt bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Pearl Hewitt is "Absolutely Fabulous!" Her British accent is the perfect dialect for Gemma's educated manner, and the tone changes helped add a bit to the other characters: proper English for the 'old biddies" and the Oxford Dons, street English for the pub owner and some questionable villagers, and the change she mastered for the Americans. She kept me engaged, giggling at the British tone I so enjoy...even murder sounds great with an English accent.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was very moved by how Gemma was looked after by so many of her friends and family. Even when her mother drove her crazy with comments about her change in career not worthy of an Oxford education, Mabel shared advice for keeping regular, Glenda remarked a man who is good at 'dancing' is also..., Cassie pointed out the dangers, and DI O'Conner scolded her, their motives were to protect her...showing their love and friendship.

Any additional comments?

No Spoilers! But, the final solution to the mystery was not expected, and I choked back a tear when all was revealed. H.Y. Hanna gave a twist that often is not part of the 'cozy mystery' formula. But it was the right decision. I really LOVED this book, and am inviting Pearl over for tea and scones and...will you read book 2 to me?
SCONES!
The Traditional English Scone method is described in the audiobook as Gemma tries her hand at Fletcher's recipe, but in the eBook/print the recipe is included.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

Based on the cover of this book, I didn't think I would like it. However, I took a chance and I'm glad I did, This is a light cozy mystery but it's not just fluff. The characters are engaging and realistic. The plot was believable and well written with a bit of humor. This was a fun cozy mystery and I look forward to listening to the next book.

A Cozy Mystery You Don't Want to Miss

Where does A Scone To Die For Oxford Tearoom Cozy Mysteries, Book 1 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This audiobook was excellent -- the narrator captured the voices perfectly, and that is such a fine line to walk because we all have pre-conceived notions of what the characters sound like.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I was kept on the edge of my seat because I was really rooting for Gemma to catch the murderer, and I loved how the Old Biddies would push her into investigating. At the same time, I was worried that the murderer might think that Gemma knew too much and would go after her.

Which character – as performed by Pearl Hewitt – was your favorite?

Oh goodness, they were all so good, but she really nailed Gemma -- I was really impressed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, because I didn't want to miss anything, like the lovely descriptions of Oxford and Gemma's relationships -- I wanted to savor the story. However, toward the end, you couldn't have gotten me to hand over the headphones!

Any additional comments?

This Oxford Tearoom Mystery was truly delightful. Gemma is a lovely protagonist, the setting in Oxford is wonderful, and each friend and character comes to life and you come to care for most of them. I highly recommend this book and the rest in the series, they are truly brilliant!

Fantastic reading of a Fabulous book!

Would you consider the audio edition of A Scone To Die For Oxford Tearoom Cozy Mysteries, Book 1 to be better than the print version?

I have read the book and listened to the entire book and I loved both. I don't know that I would say that the audio was better, but I think I appreciated the book even more because of the way Pearl Hewitt performed the reading.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot was engaging and had enough consistency to make it believable, yet plenty of information and clues that were discovered along the way to make it interesting. I loved the humor and the cast of characters and the way they all contributed to the plot line throughout the book.

What about Pearl Hewitt’s performance did you like?

I liked that Pearl Hewitt was able to alter her voice enough so that different characters were discernible throughout her performance. It was not stiff at all and she had plenty of color in her voice that kept my attention throughout.

Any additional comments?

I absolutely loved this book and all of the others in the series. I'm looking forward to listening to the next one in the series on audio.

Decent but not my favorite cozy mystery

Would you try another book from H.Y. Hanna and/or Pearl Hewitt?

I would try another but I am not itching to listen to the next book in the series

Would you recommend A Scone to Die For to your friends? Why or why not?

The overall mystery was decent for a cozy mystery but the love component was a bit eh for me. I did really like the setting and little Oxford tidbits. I would probably recommend this but not quite as much as I would recommend an Aurora Teagarden mystery.

Was A Scone to Die For worth the listening time?

Yeah, I listened to the entire book and that means I considered it worth the time

Any additional comments?

The narrator’s voice was very soothing, so it might put you to sleep if you are overly tired. On the plus side, I like to listen to something when going to sleep and it helped me get to sleep after I had listened to it the first time :) Double duty

Better on Audible

I had this book as an upload to Kindle and could not finish it. The audio version was so much better since hearing it read with the British inflection made it a really enjoyable book.

American bashing

I love British novels, however after about 5 chapters in, I tired of the anti American narrative. The performance was excellent though.

Nice start to a new series

This was a nice start to a new series. The characters were well developed and believable. Pearl Hewitt brought the characters to life.

I enjoyed the book BUT

The main character is enjoyable and I would certainly buy the next book. What annoys me is the complete access to the police and their information. The other plot contrivance that gets tiresome is when the main character keeps identifying the murderers (incorrectly) but rushes to the police to report her brilliant deductions. I would love to see the heroine figure out for herself when she is wrong. But, I repeat, I will be buying the next book.

Cosy, mystery with everything you could want.

I am a big fan of miss Marple and Agatha Rasin books so I really enjoyed this! Apart from having all the usual themes of a cosy murder mystery, it genuinely kept me guessing.Just gutted tgerey are no more in this series on audible.

The perfect cozy mystery

I adored this mystery so much that I immediately bought the rest of the series (well, all that's available in audiobook format so far). It has a great setting, a varied cast of characters, is entertainingly written, and well narrated, which all adds up to a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

Really, really bad. Unoriginal and almost no characterisation

I was really disappointed in this; I really like the cosy mystery genre but this was a very poor example.

It was very generic, full of cliches, the plot was both guessable and hung on some very unoriginal ideas including… [Spoiler alert] the clocks going back. This is one of the most tired plot hooks ever.

The character descriptions are almost all situational; there is almost nothing about who these people ARE. You get a couple of weak characteristics per person, just openly stated, and most of the characters are simple cliches: for example the nagging posh mother.

I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone, if you're looking for a fun cosy mystery, this isn't it.

Cosy English murder

I enjoyed this, with all the cosy mysteries set in America it was a nice pace to listen to a story set in England. Even though it was set in Oxford you could picture it happening in any country village and imagine the local busybodies poking there noses in, in order to help solve the mystery resulting in some humour sprinkled tho the book.

The narrator was very good and I didn't find myself cringing,like I quiet offen do when someone tries to put on a English voice, leading to it being snobby and annoying. The narrator really helped tell the story so you could picture village life easily.

I will be looking out for more stories by this author and in this series.

A village murder with afternoon tea

Having read and enjoyed this book as part of our book club I am always interested to see how they convert to audio books. This gets my thumbs up! Really enjoyed the audio version and it kept me company to & from work, on my walks, weekend running and in the evening when my eyes are too tired to read.
A light hearted murder mystery tale rather than a thriller, more in the style Morse/Agatha Christie/Miss Marple.
Based in a village just outside Oxford the story entwines the characters of the Tea room, locals and unexpected visitors, where help comes from the most unexpected people when Gemma finds a body at her tea room who was a customer the day before. Fingers point to usual suspects, however Gemma feels the mystery runs deeper and starts to scratch at the surface. This is when things start to get complicated and dangerous.
I really enjoyed listening to the tale unwinding and had forgotten some of the subtleties in the story line. Am sure I've chuckled on the bus a couple of times whilst listening.
Definitely recommend this audio book.

An excellent story line, keeps you guessing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend this audiobook. The storyline keeps you guessing as to who the murderer is until the end. The narrator, Pearl Hewitt is just right for the characters and brings them to life. Throughout the story you're piecing together the clues just like Gemma and the 'old biddies', and are sure that you know who the murderer is, only to have your guesses proven wrong.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are all so believable and the antics that the 'old biddies' get up to are hilarious. Gemma's mother is forever forgetting her password for her iPad, and keeps phoning Gemma up to remind her what it is, which is quite funny, if very annoying for Gemma.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

When Gemma goes in search of her scarf at Gloucester College, only to find the 'old biddies' there, listening to an interview between the Detective Inspector and a suspect. With the door about to open, five eavesdroppers need to find a hiding place.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think where Gemma, a 'dog person', has taken Muesli to a Rescue centre to have her rehomed, and realises that she actually loves the little cat.

Any additional comments?

I received a copy in exchange for a honest review.

Terrible reader

I love a cosy mystery, and this series has good stories. I can even forgive the inevitable jarring Americanism that always creeps in when American authors write about quintessential England.
BUT the narrator is terrible! She over enunciates every word, to the extent that it almost sounds like she’s reading English as a second language. This slows the story down to such an extent, you’ve almost forgotten the beginning by the time you’ve ground through to the end

A nice engaging book

The book is very light entertaining and engaging the character likeable will buy next book

Gentle murder

Easy listening with a straightforward plot that still had me wondering who done it to the end. I liked the characters which helps as it made me more interested in how they were interacting. Not too much but enough about the characters without swamping the story. Reader was good with a clear pleasant voice.

Boring and tedious

Far too much inane detail. I stuck it out to chapter 4 but could not listed any longer. I am amazed at how much can be written about so little. I had high hopes for this series of books and I am sadly disappointed.