Review: The Cryptic Clue (The Tea Ladies, #2)
Gaby Meares
What’s the collective noun for tea ladies? A cosy of tea ladies, of course! It’s an absolute delight to again spend time with these wonderful characters: Hazel Bates, Irene Turnbuckle, Betty Dewsnap and Merl Perlman, as they put their heads together to not only solve a mystery, foil a plot that threatens national security but most importantly, fight to save their very livelihoods.
Hampson has again written a real page-turner. But what sets these books apart from the rest of the cosy crime genre is her eye for the changing cultural landscape of Sydney in 1966. The news reports more Australian boys dying in a war in Vietnam; there is continuing controversy over the building of the new Sydney Opera House and the country is about to convert to decimal currency, causing a lot of confusing.
However the seismic threat to our beloved tea ladies is the introduction of a machine called The Cafe-Bar which promises an end to tea breaks in the workplace: ‘thousands of Australian businesses can testify that with a Cafe-bar in the office, lengthy group tea breaks practically disappear…the Cafe-bar is always on duty and staff tend to have their tea when they want it and keep working while they have it’. Businesses couldn’t resist the appeal of this ‘saving’, but the reality is that the loss of the tea lady and a dedicated tea-break lead to a loss in morale and collegial support. It was a sad day in many workplaces when the tea lady was ‘let go’.
I loved the first Tea Ladies mystery, and I love the second even more! I am thrilled to hear that the third is in publication, as we speak!