A Spot of Earl Slay (Tea Time Troubles Book 1) by Aubrey Elle – Review by Santana Hicks
A Spot of Earl Slay by Aubrey Elle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
After finally escaping a loveless marriage, Naomi takes her daughter, Ella, to the small town of Fayette. Naomi’s uncle left her his house after he passed. Naomi took it as a means to start fresh.
Things go wrong almost instantly when a dead body is found in their shed upon arrival. Not wanting to stay in the house, when the nice older neighbours, Barbara and Ingrid, invite the duo to stay with them, Naomi is quick to say yes. The 4 women get along immediately and start to talk about their theories of whodunit. Turns out the Victim is the town’s busybody, Yasmin. Yasmin is known to be sticking her nose in everyone’s business which makes a lot more enemies than friends.
Ella is instantly excited and warms up to the older ladies instantly. Meanwhile Naomi is stuck on the what ifs. What if her ex husband finds out and tries to take Ella? What if they aren’t actually safe here? Etc…
As time goes on, more and more suspects pop up as Naomi gets to meet the townsfolk. It being a small town, everyone knows everyone and their business too so everybody she talks to has to put in their own two cents. Can the ladies figure out who the murderer is over tea? Maybe.
This book was an exciting cozy mystery that hits close to home for me. I grew up in a very small town where everyone knew everyone and when someone died, the whole town would be in cahoots, speculating everything. The author did a wonderful job portraying the small town mindset. There is one thing I wish the author did differently. I feel like the author was running out of time and rushed the ending. There were a few things mentioned but then never mentioned again making me wonder what happened there.
I must admit that the title alone is what drew me in. I love play on words and this is a clever one. The story was very realistic. I also liked how it was a woman escaping her life to start anew. She showed up with nothing and slowly built up her life again all while investigating a murder!
