Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you my book review for Arsenic For Tea by Robin Stevens, the second book in the Murder Most Unladylike series.
In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will try my best to avoid any spoilers.
Arsenic For Tea Plot:
In this book we are back with Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells as they look for their next case to solve. They are staying at Daisy’s home during the school holidays and somebody ends up being murdered.
I enjoyed the different set up of this book, compared to the first in the series, the location being Daisy’s home made the stakes higher because of the personal connections between Daisy and the suspects. The location also had an isolated feeling that Deepdean School did not have.
Arsenic For Tea gave me the same feeling that a good Agatha Christie would, a limited group of suspects each with their own secrets and motives. However, for me, the ending let this book down. I felt that the resolution, although plotted very well throughout the novel, did not give me the satisfaction that I look for at the ending of a murder mystery.
Arsenic For Tea Characters:
The two main characters in this series are Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, two best friends who met in the first book as they started at Deepdean School. In my review for the first book, Murder Most Unladylike, I mentioned how I struggled to like Daisy as a character because she was bossy and always sure she was correct, this is a character trait that has continued in Arsenic For Tea so I am still not keen on her as a character, but on the other side I do like Hazel’s character. Hazel is a smart and logical thinker, although sometimes she judges people with her emotions, and she is the character whose head we are in throughout the series.
Arsenic For Tea Writing and Dialogue:
The writing in this series is very enjoyable even as an adult aged reader. The pacing is perfect for the style of story.
Arsenic For Tea Overall:
I gave this book four stars overall because it was a great continuation of the series and I am interested in reading the rest of the series.
Blurb/Synopsis:
Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy’s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy’s birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious.
Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill—and everything points to poison.
With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem—and everyone has a secret or two. And when someone very close to Daisy looks suspicious, the Detective Society must do everything they can to reveal the truth… no matter the consequences.
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