The Afternoon Tea Murders by Helena Dixon ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

London, 1942. Miss Jane Treen is at her desk in Whitehall sipping a strong coffee when she receives an urgent message about her colleague, codebreaker Arthur Cilento. He’s in danger in Devon, and Jane needs to get there sharpish. But before her bags are properly unpacked, the local teashop owner in Arthur’s village is found lying amidst the scones and teacakes… and she’s dead.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

April 2026; Bookouture; 978-1805508281
audio, ebook, print (262 pages); cozy mystery

I recently had a 14+ hour flight, and since it was a daytime flight, I wanted to stay awake. This book kept me entertained.

I'm glad I read this on my return flight, though. I was in Europe for 14 days, and this book had me really missing my cats. Jane travels with her cat, and there are lots of mentions of him in this book, including curling up in her lap. It had me counting down the hours until I landed so I could be with my babies again.

Jane and Arthur are growing on me. Now that they are no longer grumbling about working together and how much each other bothers them, I like their working relationship. I do worry that down the line they may become romantically involved, but I'm really hoping that doesn't happen. I would like to have a series where a man and woman can work together without falling in love.

For a World War II cozy mystery, this one was good. Arthur is working at a classified site on codebreaking when some odd things start occurring. Jane is dispatched to figure out if these irregularities are anomalies or a threat to national security/the war effort.  There are enough realistic issues (i.e. black market dealings with food) that it felt like a plausible plot. 

The Afternoon Tea Murders is book 4 in Helena Dixon's The Secret Detective Agency series. I have read all of them, but I don't think that it is absolutely necessary to have read them if you are just now discovering the series. There is enough information shared about the recurring characters (Jane, Arthur, and Arthur's valet, Benson) to catch you up.

This is a book you can read in big chunks, so it is great for a vacation read, whether on a long flight or a day at the beach. 

Buy The Afternoon Tea Murders at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

 

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