The Dinner Lady Detectives

The Dinner Lady Detectives 1

By: Hannah Hendy

Narrated by: Jenny Funnell

Murder is a dish best served ice cold...

In the idyllic, small town of Dewstow, Margery and Clementine are eagerly awaiting retirement from their work on the front-line serving meals to the students at Summerview secondary school.

Their peaceful life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead in the school’s walk-in freezer. The police are adamant that it’s an open-and-shut case of accidental death. But Margery and Clementine are convinced that something more sinister is afoot and take it upon themselves to investigate.

As the dinner ladies inch closer to the truth, time's running out. Will the perpetrator get their just desserts or is everything just going to go down the pan?

A charming, cosy British mystery, The Dinner Lady Detectives is ideal for fans of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club or Murder, She Wrote.

Hannah Hendy lives in a small town in South Wales with her long-suffering wife and two spoilt cats. A professional chef by trade, she started writing to fill the time between shifts.

©2023 SAGA Egmont (P)2023 SAGA Egmont

“Detectives” shouldn’t be in the title

“Detectives” is a poor depiction and of this book. 1st, the ladies already had a more appropriate and official name for themselves. 2nd, it’s misleading to readers that are actually avid fans of really mystery detective fiction books. This was more like a story of the ladies, not the “murder mystery.” That said, I enjoyed from a “cozy” genre perspective.

Cozy murder mystery

Checks every box for me. British, amateur sleuth, women protagonists, funny, and the perfect narrator. I can't wait to listen to the Christmas one.

Boring

It wasn’t worth the time spent. It never gripped me, it didn’t make me wonder, it became background noise. I thought there was way more effort put into being funny than who-done-it?

Predictable

Started out on the wrong foot as Audible suggested “if you liked the Thursday Murder Club”…. This is far from it. The main characters, presumably in their 60’s are portrayed as dottering fools, gross stereotypes of older folks with little ability to function in a modern world. They never do solve the mystery although it is pretty obvious early on in the book: it is explained to them by the murderer. The characters are flat and the story uninteresting.

Surprises at every turn!

I loved not being able to figure out the 'who dunnit'. It was well narrated too. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading more about this amateur group of detectives!