The Queen of Poisons

I started reading the series to get a death in paradise/ Thursday murder club vibe and hated the first but had bought the 2 on sale and the second one was better and this was available at the library and was better still so it's slowly growing on me

That reveal sure came out of left field! Yet, somewhat believable?

Marlow's amateur sleuths are back in this, their third outing. In The Queen of Poisons they have been given an advisory role with the police as they investigate the murder of the Mayor of Marlow. They take this role very seriously, and flash their official lanyards everywhere they go.
The investigation keeps our intrepid ladies very busy, as there are no shortage of suspects.
The Queen of Poisons is a cosy mystery, and quite a jolly affair. It's an easy, pleasurable read, but reality should definitely be suspended while reading, as I have my doubts any police force would allow three civilians to trample around crime scenes or question suspects, the way Judith, Suzie and Becks do.

3,5 stars rounding up.

Been looking forward to the next book in the series. The first one is still my favorite, in that one the three MCs all had their own arch.

In this one, Judith gets the most attention and Suzie feels a little neglected, almost like three MCs are too many characters to juggle.

All in all it felt a little lacking in passion maybe. A little color by numbers.

That said, I still enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the series. When reading the first book that was my first feeling, I want to watch this so fun to see it happening. Samantha Bond as Judith sounds perfect.

As a gardener I'm alway annoyed with how poisonous plants are being treated in murder mystery books. Poison plants are so common and most people have them, having wolfsbane is not a big deal and who the heck grows them under a cloche and have them blooming in spring, why? This is a pet peeve of mine.

I was disappointed by the anti-fat bias in this book. The earlier books in the series undermine ageist stereotypes and I hoped for better. The mystery and story were good, but I'm amazed by the promotion of gross stereotypes.
(I received a galley copy through Edelweiss.)