Published by Canelo Crime, 2022

This isn’t a great work of literature and nor does it claim to be, but it’s a lighthearted festive read with some clever bon mots. I particularly liked “they had got to know the neighbours over the years and were on good Christmas card terms with most”. It might have been describing me!

This is the second in the series of ‘Dinner Lady Detectives’ books written by professional chef, Hannah Hendy.

It’s basically a murder mystery with a more complicated plot than I anticipated, although I was rather distracted by my underlying vision of the cast of Victoria Wood’s ‘Dinner Ladies’ tv series playing the major characters in the book. I should stress that was not the fault of the author, rather my overactive imagination.

Something I particularly liked was the way the author draws out the very real love and affection between the two Mrs Butcher-Bakers, despite their obvious differences.

Incidentally, I hope a bumper pack of Quality Street is on its way. The subliminal advertising certainly worked on me.