24.4.25

The Cryptic Clue

I really enjoyed Amanda Hampson's first Tea Ladies mystery, so I was thrilled to spot this second novel, The Cryptic Clue, in a local street library (I told you I'd made some good finds lately!) Just as with Richard Osman's murder mysteries, the real joy is the cast of characters. The redoubtable tea ladies include intelligent, level-headed Hazel (who has dyslexia and can't read), flighty, soft-hearted Betty, cynical Merl and grubby Irene, who provides a lot of impetus for the plot with her shady connections, including a husband who has just died in jail.

The Cryptic Clue is set in Sydney in 1966 and features the then half-built Opera House. It's hard to remember, now that the building is the single most iconic image of the entire country, that it was highly controversial when it was first being built. Hazel befriends a Scandinavian acoustic engineer working on the project, and helping out Jørn Utzon -- who also had dyslexia, something I learned from this book.

Oddly, The Cryptic Clue and House of Many Ways both featured characters who lisped, as well as girls who didn't know how to wash dishes...

With the tea ladies' careers threatened by the new-fangled Cafébar (an Australian invention), I wonder if there will be any more sequels? Surely there will have to be a third volume at least.
 

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