Title:Cyanide and Sensibility
Series: The Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery (Book 3)
Author:Katie Oliver
Genre: Amateur Sleuths, Cozy Mystery, Austenesque Fiction
Publisher: Berkley (December 12, 2023)
Length: (320) pages
Format: Mass Market Paperback, eBook, & Audiobook
ISBN: 978-0593337653
Tour Dates: December 4 – 18, 2023
Murder is on the menu and Phaedra Brighton is called on to serve up justice in the latest Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery.
While Phaedra Brighton might not have a Mr. Darcy (yet), she’s quite content with her loving family and loyal cat. Phaedra’s sister Hannah is the Jane to her Elizabeth, and Phaedra is ecstatic that Hannah has decided to move home for her next adventure—opening a business.
All of Laurel Springs is out in full force to celebrate the grand unveiling of Hannah’s new patisserie, Tout de Sweet, including local celebrity Rachel Brandon. Hannah is a master of her craft, with confections so divine, one bite will make you think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Of course, you never want that to happen literally.
When one of Hannah’s famous dark chocolate cupcakes sends Rachel’s assistant to the hospital with poisoning, Hannah begs for Phaedra’s help to save her reputation and budding business. But Phaedra has more questions than answers: Who was the cupcake actually meant for? And how far is the culprit willing to go to take their target off the menu—permanently?
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Review:
Cyanide and Sensibility is a fairly standard cozy mystery story but with an Austen-ish twist. Our main character/amateur sleuth is an English professor who prefers to dress in the time period of her focus (the Regency, of course) and has created a JA-focused book group with her friends, the Jane Austen Tea Society. There are various other JA-themed elements throughout (pets with names from the books, shop names that are similar to titles) and in this one at least, a character is described as being a possible “Wickham.”
This is the third in the series but worked just fine as a standalone–though there are a lot of characters to keep track of; those who are already familiar with the series might not have as many instances of wait…who is that again? (Thank goodness for the ability to search for character names in digital copies, amirite? 😉 )
Overall this was a cute story with a villain who seemed a bit obvious several chapters before the reveal (at least to this reader) at the same time they were a bit all over the place with their murder attempts. (Did we ever find out where the car cupcake came from?) The flow of the story wasn’t the smoothest–there were some jumps in time that seemed a little odd–and the bits we were…hearing the cat’s thoughts? Reading what Phaedra imagined her cat was saying with his mind? were kind of out there. If you like cozy mysteries and are at all a fan of Jane Austen, though, you should definitely give this series a try.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
Katie Oliver is known internationally as a writer of Jane Austen rom-coms with a hint of mystery. In the US and the UK, she is the bestselling author of the Dating Mr. Darcy and Marrying Mr. Darcy series.
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