A Pen Dipped in Poison: A witty and cosy mystery story, perfect for fans of Richard Osman

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as well as the summary on the back ("one by one, careers are ended, marriages destroyed") of the book are a bit misleading. Retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma are back at their usual table at the Thirsk Garden Centre cafe with a brand-new mystery to solve . It felt like the characters were stuck in the past and I did find myself getting frustrated with how out of touch they were. As delightful as it is deadly, A Pen Dipped in Poison is a feel-good, fun and fabulous cosy mystery that had me utterly gripped from page one.

It had a lot to say about educational system, where nowadays it is way more about the business side of things and money and not about children. This second book featuring three nosy retired Yorkshire schoolteachers doesn’t focus on solving a murder, but other insidious drama—someone is sending nasty messages to the staff at their old school. As one by one, careers are ended, marriages destroyed and no one is beyond suspicion, the three friends decide enough is enough.Retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma are great friends and I was looking forward to catching up with them in A Pen Dipped in Poison. The second instalment in this lovely cosy mystery series, centred around a group of retired primary school teachers, and imbued with admiration for their motivation, resourcefulness and capability. 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. The author has found his writing style and I hope we will have more books with these wonderful characters.

Our budding Miss Marples are retired teachers who investigate a spate of poison pen letters sent to members of staff at their old school.The plot and pacing were absolutely perfect in this one, and I was so happy that we got to learn more about the ladies’ families. Yes, the friendship between the three main characters, and their determination to persevere and find a solution to a terrible situation involving poison pen letters is laudable, but the story gets bogged down more often than not. This mystery finds them, trying to find out who is sending poison pen letters to their friends and neighbours. I am hoping the next book in this series, if there is one, will go back to all the things that I loved about the first book. It was a bit long winded but this is a new author and I am curious to see what happens in book three, mainly due to the trio.

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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. I understand he's from Yorkshire, but it does show some short sightedness to seem to assume your audience is from your geographical region.

There were lots of mini sub plots in this read that it took a while to get my head around, but they all connected and tied up nicely in the end. The friendship between the women that I loved seems to be showing some cracks and they are drifting apart.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. I really enjoyed the school setting of the book, and finding out what it is like behind the scenes there. This was my first entry into the world of retired school, teachers, Liz, Pat and Thelma, and although I hadn’t read the first case I didn’t feel that I was left behind ( I’ll be catching up with that one as soon as possible).