The Dinner Lady Detectives is an occasionally comically absurd cosy mystery that follows two dinner ladies as they become detectives (the clue’s in the name isn’t it really?) in order to find out what happened to their kitchen manager.

What follows is a wild ride as the two end up, among other things, crashing into a fishpond, arrested for trespassing on a crime scene, and getting into a war of words with a gym receptionist. It’s not a serious read, for all that it’s about murder.

On the whole, then, reading this was a lot of fun. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the absurdities and the chaos that Clementine and Margaret wrought. If they somehow chose to stop being dinner ladies and start up a detective agency instead, I think it would be great.

The mystery in general was, I guess, a little obvious—this was more in the kind of sense that once you know who it is you go back and suddenly certain interactions that you thought, that has to be too obvious, are shed in a different light. That’s fine, though, because you’re not really here for the mystery. You’re here for the chaos and fun and it delivers.

So this is, in the end, definitely a book I’d recommend. Especially if you’re on the lookout for cosy mysteries, a subgenre that doesn’t seem to be that represented in LGBT lit.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. I liked this book. It reminded me of that British TV show, "Rosemary & Thyme", or even a bit of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates." Well-intentioned nosey women with a mind for crime-solving. Margery and Clementine don't seem particularly likeable at the beginning; they don't even really seem to like each other, and it isn't clear for a long time that they aren't sisters or a romantic couple. At one point, one is described as sleeping across the room, but it is later revealed they share a bed. And then we get to know more about their relationship as the story goes on. Their characters are most developed. The other characters all have their odd little quirks, like the Headmaster who lies about the quality and provenance of his office furniture.

The scene I loved best in the book involved a pond. It made me laugh out loud. I did like the red herrings and never guessed who was responsible until it was actually revealed. What I disliked was the fact that the word ginormous was used five times throughout the novel. Also, the author had a habit of referring to a character almost constantly by their first name and then suddenly call them by their title and surname in the same sentence, causing a moment of confusion. I also thought Clem and Margery's last names a little contrived, especially at the end.

Overall, it was a fun book to read. I was happy with the ending. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you, Netgalley.

This was an enjoyable, although slightly long, murder mystery. I really enjoyed small aspects of Clem and Margery's lives, like the toffee pennies being the only Quality Streets left in the tin and their banter. At times, the writing was a little sluggish which made reading boring a times. But I did enjoy the mystery and the outcome of the book.

Overall, don't expect a fast-paced, thriller but give it a chance if you enjoy slower paced mystery stories.

On reading the premise this should have been right up my street. I just found it very hard to read and get involved and it wasn't for me. But that is not to say other people wouldn't enjoy it.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

Two cafeteria ladies set out to solve a crime that the local police seem to overlook. The ladies bumble their way through their investigation. I grew to love all the quirky characters of the school community. Even the victim had so much personality even though she was dead! A fun read.


I was given access to an advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

As my dear grandma would have said - "Too daft to laugh at."

All my life I lived with my grandmother until her passing a year ago, and I was raised on a steady diet of Miss Marple, Murder She Wrote, and Rosemary and Thyme. These two facts combined mean that I have an extremely soft spot for the elderly, especially senior citizens getting in trouble and solving crimes, and that's probably the only reason I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 2.

I feel that comedy is one of the hardest genres to write, because absolutely everyone likes to think they have a good sense of humour, and this is... rather rarely the case, at least when it comes to actually writing comedy. It's a particularly thorny issue when it comes to cozy mysteries, because you have to balance the quaint light-hearted comedy with the fact that, y'know... there's been a murder.

(Or has there?)

Unfortunately, the author has not nailed the comedy aspect at all. It's often overwrought and inappropriate, which CAN work (Mr. Bean), but can also fall flat on its face in an epic way (Mrs Brown's Boys). It was very surface-level humour rather than anything particularly clever, but it did get the odd chuckle out of me, and I have encountered far worse attempts at humour, and for the most part it was... tolerable.

The mystery itself was pretty good. No absolutely insane twists or anything, but it keeps one guessing (or it kept me guessing, at least), and it wasn't too unrealistic.

The main characters, Clementine (fantastic name) and Margery were... just okay. Deep characterisation is hindered by incorrectly utilised humour, and they didn't really seem like a couple to me. I know they've been together thirty years and I'm not expecting them to be all lovey-dovey like they're in the honeymoon period, but I expect some chemistry.

Overall, although this book wasn't bad, it was very squarely average. Wouldn't really recommend it, I'm afraid.

This was a really interesting book are usually read other genres but I have read detective and mystery novels before and I enjoyed them so I thought I would give this book ago as it sounded really interesting and unique as I’ve never heard of a book along these lines before so I thought I would give it a go. I was really happy to be excepted to read a copy of this so I got started right away as soon as I got the email telling me that I’ve been accepted. I couldn’t put this book down when I started reading it I thought it was absolutely amazing the characters were great the relationships and the interactions were amazing I love the community and the group in this book and I just thought overall is a really great book

I am very torn on this book.

I liked the concept of a cosy dinner ladies mystery, liked the idea of the two lead characters, also being romantically involved, and having been so for many, many years, sadly there is a but.

Margaret and Clementine didn't have the best relationship, seemed to be a lot of bullying from Clementine, and a lot of blame from her that she puts on Margaret, didn't always make for comfortable reading, Perhaps if it had been done with more humour, it would have read better. Everyone gets into a niche with their partner after so many years but hopefully in a more humorous, gentler way.

The book did drag in parts, took me a while to finish it, when I usually would have zipped through it.

It was an OK read

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for allowing me to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy

Margery and Clementine are dinner ladies at a local school, when one of their group of fellow dinner ladies dies in what Clementine and Margery decide are suspicious circumstances they decide to investigate.
It’s a simple and cosy premise and it’s a book that I have been really looking forward to reading since I first heard about it, and I suppose I was a little biased towards this book because of this and therefore I was a little disappointed as it was not what I imagined, it sounded like a fun quaint English cosy murder mystery book and it just wasn’t.

The centre of this novel is Margery and Clementine and they are a great partnership (its late in the novel when you realise that they are in a lesbian relationship and have been for some time)they are two older ladies who I had high hopes for and they are the opposite of each other where one is cautious the other is straight in there.. sometimes I wanted Clementine to just take a breath, and not spill all the plans to the others. The victim is the manager of the dinner ladies and she was portrayed as a trickster but her tricks are mean and I really did not have sympathy for her death…

The mystery was quite basic and I figured out the murderer quite early on, I wish the murder and the mystery was more tightly woven and more complicated, and more serious investigating.. instead of bumbling and falling into the answers.

The book is humorous and it is trying to be unpredictable with the setting in a school and the small cast of character but it just fell a little short.. I wanted this to be a fun traditional cosy mystery and it was nearly there but it just fell short.

The book ends with a hint of a sequel and I am tempted to read it when it is published but I will not be getting my hopes up as I did for this book.

I awarded this book 3.5 but I rounded up to 4 as I got a kick out of the character’s name of Seren as this is my nieces name and you do not hear it a lot.


#TheDinnerLadyDetectives #NetGalley #cosy #murdermystery #England #contempary

I really wanted to love this book. I liked the premise and it sounded such a fun cosy murder mystery. I loved the idea that the two main protagonists lived together and my fav part was the epilogue of the wedding prep and the dinner lady detectives in the news paper. BUT this book just fell flat for so many reasons. Sadly, it was obvious and not funny. The jokes didn't work and I didnt like any of the characters. It felt a bit mocking towards older people.

Thank you for the arc.

A cosy mystery that is worth a read, whilst the actual story did not seem to match up to the blurb it is still an easy read and one to pass a rainy day with

I liked the synopsis of this one. I do enjoy cozy mysteries and the setting in Dewstow, South Wales UK was intriguing. The dinner ladies, Clementine and Margery work together in the cafeteria of a school, serving the students in the lunch line (why do they say dinner)? A British thing maybe?

A slow paced beginning sets up the murder of their kitchen manager, when she is found dead in the walk-in freezer. Let's just say the police department needs to send their detectives back to police training because they immediately decided this was an accident. The ladies aren't the sharpest crayons either!

The writing and tone is simple and light, much like many cozy murder mysteries. It gets more interesting in the second half, but is pretty long-winded over many mundane things (snooze). I learned the ladies are actually a committed couple although they are pretty grumpy and seem to argue quite a lot. Lots of clues seem to appear (no bread crumbs here) and just be "thrown" at them until the big reveal (womp,womp).

Those looking for a light, corny mystery featuring a cranky couple who don't seem capable of solving a crime may enjoy following them along in their escapades.

Murder Most Foul..
Peace is shattered by murder most foul in the small town of Dewstow. The police are treating this heinous act as an accident but there are two dinner ladies lurking in the shadows who think very differently - and who are very determined to get to the truth. Entertaining cosy mystery but with rather too much slapstick comedy from the two protagonists that rather took over the plot. A fun and escapist read nonetheless.

I was looking forward to this cozy. I love cozies with older sleuths in them. This one fell flat as the murder was easy to figure out. The characters weren’t all that likable.
There are some funny parts.
#TheDinnerLadyDetectives #NetGalley

I was looking forward to this book as, from the title, it seemed like a fun concept for cosy crime. Sadly, the two main characters just didn’t ring true for me. I really didn’t care who the murderer was, as the victim was so unrealistically unpleasant. Some underdeveloped characters here too that could have been built up instead of the focus on the main two characters. I can see though, that with some tweaking of the characters to make them less irritating, this could turn out to be a successful series.

Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me. However, the characters did make me chuckle at times. Lovers of cozy mysteries may enjoy this, but it fell a bit flat for me. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I love a good cozy, and was looking forward to this story of older women sleuthing.
The one thing I liked about this was the longterm essentially marriage between two women. Otherwise, unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this book for these reasons:
-the writing was not particularly compelling
-the characters were all unlikeable, with one in particular, Clementine, whom I could not abide.

Thank you to Netgalley and Canelo for his ARC in exchange for my review.

I received and advance digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Cosy crime at its best. I loved this book - it was an enjoyable and easy read.

Margery and Clementine are a perfect pair. They balance each other throughout the story and you can’t help but enjoy their company.

When their supervisor tragically dies at work they are convinced that something is not what they are being told. And so in a stubborn and somewhat reckless way Margery and Clem set out to investigate.

Suspecting many people along the way and encountering a range of near death moments can they find the truth before they loose their jobs or their lives?

Perfect for anyone who enjoys cosy crime - already looking forward to the next instalment.

A cozy style book with mystery and humour following two dinner ladies trying to solve a murder. Light hearted and quick to read. I enjoyed it. Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy

I read the premise and thought it would be such fun to read about lunch ladies solving a crime. There were a couple of scenes that were "Lucy & Ethel" funny so I'll give it three stars. The kitchen crew was not much fun as a whole and I did not connect with Margery and Clementine. The whole thing just seemed so haphazard and cluttered to me. I'm sure many will enjoy this more than I did. Just not my cup of tea.

Thank you to Canelo and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.