The Cryptic Clue
The Tea Ladies #2
Amanda Hampson
Reviewed by Helen
We are back with Hazel, Betty and Irene the intrepid super sleuth tea ladies, back to Surry Hills in Sydney as they come across another mystery or three to solve. It is 1966 and Australia has just converted to decimal currency, The Opera House is being built, there are lots of changes happening and the ladies are in the thick of it.
Nothing gets past these ladies and first off Irene gets a cryptic message that is left to her from her husband and then things are looking bad for Hazel keeping her job as tea lady at Empire Fashion wear with the advent of the Café-Bar and things go really bad when national security is threatened around the Opera House and this looks like it has links to the local Catholic Church, where Hazel’s young neighbor Maude has taken on the role of housekeeper to the Priest after the sudden death of Aunty Vera, danger is growing and the ladies are not giving up.
It is not long before Detective Dibble who they met in their last escapades is there and asking for help to solve a plot against national security, Oscar Sorenson, sound engineer who is working on the acoustics for the Opera House and very good friend to Hazel is there with his expertise as well and the ladies of course throw themselves into solving the mysteries without thought to the danger they put themselves in, will all questions be answered and will they all be safe?
This is another fabulous story in this awesome series the setting is fabulous, the characters are the best there are laughs and danger and mysteries to solve and they do it so well all with the thought growing that the tea ladies may be out of a job very soon, strikes are organised to save their jobs, but for Hazel, Betty and Irene perhaps they will always have jobs as super sleuth detectives.
I do highly recommend this one and the series and I am really looking forward to more mysteries to solve with The Tea Ladies.
Nothing gets past these ladies and first off Irene gets a cryptic message that is left to her from her husband and then things are looking bad for Hazel keeping her job as tea lady at Empire Fashion wear with the advent of the Café-Bar and things go really bad when national security is threatened around the Opera House and this looks like it has links to the local Catholic Church, where Hazel’s young neighbor Maude has taken on the role of housekeeper to the Priest after the sudden death of Aunty Vera, danger is growing and the ladies are not giving up.
It is not long before Detective Dibble who they met in their last escapades is there and asking for help to solve a plot against national security, Oscar Sorenson, sound engineer who is working on the acoustics for the Opera House and very good friend to Hazel is there with his expertise as well and the ladies of course throw themselves into solving the mysteries without thought to the danger they put themselves in, will all questions be answered and will they all be safe?
This is another fabulous story in this awesome series the setting is fabulous, the characters are the best there are laughs and danger and mysteries to solve and they do it so well all with the thought growing that the tea ladies may be out of a job very soon, strikes are organised to save their jobs, but for Hazel, Betty and Irene perhaps they will always have jobs as super sleuth detectives.
I do highly recommend this one and the series and I am really looking forward to more mysteries to solve with The Tea Ladies.
5 stars
April 3, 2024 by Penguin Group Australia
