Book Review: Dead as a Scone by Ron and Janet Benrey

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Good story with interesting characters
Cons: Pacing a little off
The Bottom Line:
A fun mystery book
With characters that I like
Pacing only con




Perfect with a Cup of Tea

For Nigel Owen, the year has not been going well. After loosing a great job in London, the only job he could get was as acting director of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum. Still, this confirmed coffee drinker is determined to make the best of it and move back into his old circles as soon as he can.

Flick Adams, meanwhile, is thrilled to be working for the museum. The American transplant loves tea and finds her job as chief curator to be a real joy.

Both their lives are shaken when Dame Elspeth Hawker, board member and relative of the museum's founder, dies in the middle of a board meeting. Her doctor wants to write it off as natural causes, a reasonable assumption for an 84 year old. But Flick recognizes signs of poisoning and insists it was murder. Nigel knew there was something on Elspeth's mind that day. Could it be the reason she was killed?

Meanwhile, Elspeth's death puts the museum's future in jeopardy since many of the items in the museum were on loan from her family, and the heirs want to sell them. Can the museum come up with a way to keep their collection?

I love a good cozy and thought that a mystery set around tea in a small English village would be a perfect fit for me. I was right. Royal Tunbridge Wells is a charming place populated with endearing characters. It was a blast spending time with them. The book was so well written that time and the pages flew by, and it was always difficult putting the book down.

The story is told in equal parts from Nigel and Flick's points of view. This allows us to get to know them both equally and also provides different insight into the story. Each has their own straights and weaknesses, and this makes their scenes stand out all the more.

The pacing of the story is a little uneven. While Flick calls it murder right away, it's a long time before anyone else thinks it is. This makes for a beginning that's a little slower then I would have liked. The writing style, characters, and the museum collection sub-plot help keep things interesting, however.

One curiosity - the book is marketed as a Christian mystery. While there are a couple Christian characters and a Bible verse provides a clue, the majority of the characters, including Nigel and Flick, aren't Christians. Frankly, this didn't bother me either way and think it is worth noting only in passing. I think this might change as the series progresses, however.

I enjoyed Dead as a Scone and plan to spend more time with Nigel, Flick, and their charming tea museum.