26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cozy for sure!, November 24, 2004
This review is from: Dead as a Scone (The Royal Tunbridge Wells Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)
I'd given up on new authors producing the kind of pleasurable, cozy mystery that I grew up with. But here it is! Coming to the end of the book and wanting more is a sign that the authors have succeeded. I grumped because I'd finished and then perked up when I found this was to be a series. Can't wait for the next one!
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reels in the reader, February 7, 2005
This review is from: Dead as a Scone (The Royal Tunbridge Wells Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)
Ron and Janet Benrey are a professional writing duo who live in Maryland. Ron is a graduate of MIT, holds a masters in management and a law degree. Janet is a native of Kent, England and has a degree from the University of Pittsburgh. They have written several books together, and Ron has had an extensive career writing books and articles for CEO's. He also is a veteran speaker for Fortune 100 companies.
The Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum is an esteemed establishment with an acting director in the person of Nigel Owen, a permanent curator named Flick Adams, and an elderly heiress named Dame Elspeth Hawker. Dame Elspeth suspects someone is switching pieces of the museum's collection and substituting fakes. She has a pretty good idea who is behind it, but before she can report to the trustees, she is the victim of a murder. Only Flick Adams, who has a Ph.D. in food chemistry and a fairly extensive background in toxicology, is suspicious. Dame Elspeth has been her valued friend, and Flick is certain that the doctor, Sir Simon Clowes, also a trustee, is wrong in his diagnosis that Dame Elspeth expired from heart problems. Flick finds herself in hot water when she shares her theories, but Nigel finally makes the right choice and comes to her rescue, in spite of his misgivings:
"Why had he offered to help? Probably because vague pangs of remorse kept reminding him that he had intentionally ignored two opportunities to do right by Flick Adams. He might have eased Flick's sequential scoldings-first by DI Pennyman and then by the trustees-if he had repeated what Elspeth said on the day she died."
DEAD AS A SCONE is a delightful and warm tale written in the Agatha Christie "cozy" style. The team of Ron and Janet Benrey craft a tantalizing love story behind the whodunit tale of poison, pets hovering by to encourage the sleuths, and the world of art, tea, and baking. Old and grievous wounds figure as the motive, and the setting of the museum in the actual town of Tunbridge Wells reels in the reader with visions of marble, dead bodies, and intrigue.
Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect with a Cup of Tea, March 25, 2006
This review is from: Dead as a Scone (The Royal Tunbridge Wells Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)
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 this series debut and plan to spend more time with Nigel, Flick, and their charming tea museum.
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