A highly clever mystery

In Four Puddings and a Funeral, the sixth in H.Y. Hanna's Oxford Tearoom series, Gemma Rose, owner of Little Stables Tearoom, gets her first catering job, for the funeral of Rex Clifford. The much younger widow, Adele, who flirts with the eligible men there, showing no sense of mourning for her husband, is triumphant that the night before he died, Rex changed his will to disinherit his only daughter and give everything to his wife. Then, at the funeral, a strange man gives a sudden announcement that he is the half- brother of Rachel Clifford, the long- lost love child of Rex, conceived during one of his trips to China. As they all argue over the man's identity and Rex's will, Adele clutches her stomach and falls over. The next morning word spreads all over town that Adele had died, and she was killed by a high dose of arsenic.

Gemma then becomes surprised to see a new detective in Oxford show up at her tea shop, demanding to know all about the food she served at the funeral. When he learns that Mabel Cook, the leader of the Old Biddies, served Adele a treacle tart at the funeral, the detective demands that she come back with him to the police station "to help him with his inquiries." At this moment, Detective Inspector Devlin O'Connor, boyfriend of Gemma, comes to the tea room and is horrified at the prospect of his colleague's forcing Mabel to go to the police station. But Mabel is delighted at the opportunity because she has always wanted to be grilled. That should have warned the arrogant new detective, come from London, and Mabel gives the man such a hard time that he can't wait to release her. However, Mabel has now made a mortal enemy, and the detective, who has put himself in charge of the case, spends his time trying to prove Mabel guilty instead of actually investigating the case. So Gemma gets involved in order to be sure that the true murderer gets arrested.

Four Puddings and a Funeral is another strong entry in the Oxford Tearoom series. I really enjoyed the quality of the mystery as well as the relationship issues we see arise between Gemma and Devlin. It is not common to get to enjoy a mystery with both a very strong plot and a wide range of clever and vividly drawn characters, Hanna accomplishes this effectively. The plot, with its many possible solutions, unfolds to keep our fascination drawn to the book.

The characters are especially delightful. We have fun with the Old Biddies, especially hearing the account of how Mabel created havoc in the police station. We appreciate Gemma and Devlin, and we can identify with the challenges that they have been facing to make their relationship work, even in the face of Gemma's mother's determination to marry Gemma off to Lincoln, the doctor son of the mother's best friend. There is a fun but excruciating scene in which Gemma brings Devlin to have dinner with her parents, only to discover that her mother has invited Lincoln and his mother to the dinner as a way to show up Devlin. Gemma's mum is a crazy character herself, having lost her iPad and desperate to locate it.

I enjoyed the secret joke of naming the dead couple Rex and Adele. This harks back to Agatha Christie's Pocket Full of Rye, in which the murder victims are named Rex and Adele, the latter being Rex's much younger and new wife, just as in Four Puddings and a Funeral. Further, with Adele's death, Rex's daughter, Rachel, inherits his estate, just as is the case in the Christie Miss Marple book.

Pearl Hewitt performs the audio edition of this book. I always enjoy her performances, which contain so much expression. She truly does seem to embody the character of Gemma as she reads the book. She creates strong voices for all the characters and makes the book particularly enjoyable to listen to.

I really loved getting to listen to Four Puddings and a Funeral. The book has all that anyone could want in a cozy mystery: a strong plot, delightful characters, and creative relationship plots. I look forward to the next book's coming out on audio, and I give this book five stars!

4 people found this helpful

Why not pen the main character as self assured?

I did enjoy the first few books so I gave the series 5.2 books and then I stopped listening. I was getting a bit tired (well, no more like frustrated) of the lead character's side of the romantic storyline always being high-schoolish. But, with the last two volumes, it's gotten worse! This Gemma character is penned with a love interest that she is much too emotionally unstable to handle, and a mother that she kowtows to, with this being a substantial part of the books recurring storyline I need to say goodbye to this little tea room and with it sadly the other characters that have a quirkiness that makes you like them.
P.S. I also find it kind of funny that one of the volumes murder suspects was a daughter that let her mother tell her what and how to do everything in her life while Gemma felt sorry for her! Pot/Kettle

2 people found this helpful

Another clever, thoroughly enjoyable mystery

Four Puddings and a Funeral is book 6 of the Oxford Tearoom Mysteries series, and it’s another clever mystery with entertaining characters, keenly inserted red herrings, an adorable hedgehog, appearances by the old biddies, and relationship troubles between the main character, Gemma Rose, and her boyfriend, CID Detective Devlin O’Connor. And let’s not forget mischievous little Muesli, Gemma’s little tabby cat.
When a woman falls dead at a funeral reception that Gemma is catering with many delectable desserts from her successful Little Stables Tearoom, many come under suspicion since the woman wasn’t at all liked. But when one of the old biddies is arrested Gemma gets involved. But will she find the murderer before she becomes the next victim?

2 people found this helpful

H.Y. Hanna is such fun!

If you could sum up Four Puddings and a Funeral in three words, what would they be?

Laugh out loud!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Mabel. I laugh out loud at her antics.
Another fun story set in Oxfordshire featuring strong and wonderful female characters!

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

OMG Pearl is incredible! She conveys each character with incredible skill and conviction so much so it is as if there is someone different portraying each character but it is not farcical or irritating. She is so talented!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Arsenic and old ladies.

Any additional comments?

I look forward to every Oxford Tearoom mystery. They are fun and the setting is great.

2 people found this helpful

Love These Lovely Tea Shop Mysteries

I want to listen to them all. They’re so light and sweet, like the pastries. The characters are becoming familiar friends. Looking forward to the next ones.

1 person found this helpful

Four puddings and a prickle

This is such a fun cosy series and this book is another great one to add to the collection.

Even though one of the old biddies is accused of murder it is once again the animals that steal the show for me. Leading to some fun and games.

Gemma once again finds herself getting dragged into a murder investigation to clear a friends name, when she caters her first big social event at a funeral. The story flies by with lots of food that could have been used to poison the victim and lots of suspects too.

The narrator was very good and I think she is perfect for the voice of Gemma.

1 person found this helpful

Fun and Entertaining

Four Pudfings add nd a Funeral is a fun and entertaining mystery. It has the perfect balance of rt omance and mystery. The story is light and well placec. I hope tgd nrxt book ix available soon for Aufinlf lovers.

1 person found this helpful

Great story

This series is well written and the characters are well developed in each one! The narrator is especially good at adding to the telling of the story.

Entertaining and fun books!

I absolutely love these books and the narrator is so endearing! I can hardly wait to read the next one!!

Series Gets Better with Each Book

Oh, what a good and funny book. The characters are so believable that I can't imagine them not being based on real people.