‘A Gravely Troubling Discovery’ by Hannah Hendy

Published by Canelo,
1 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-472-7 (PB)

Accidental sleuths come in many forms; I’ve encountered musicians, sailors, archaeologists, vicars, who can’t seem to help tripping over bodies. But a team of school dinner ladies? That’s a new one on me. 

Hannah Hendy’s crew of Education Centre Nourishment Consultants, as they’re more pretentiously dubbed, have already tripped over four before this outing, and have even made it official with a website and fixed fee per case. This time around, the fifth in the series, they’ve vowed not to investigate any more murders – and then a body is found under the playground during a long overdue re-laying.

Even then, the ladies, led by Margery and Clementine Butcher-Baker, kitchen manager and head cook respectively, turn their attention to a different investigation: is Evelyn Redburn’s husband having an affair, and if so, who with? Could it be Vivian, Evelyn’s erstwhile best friend, local benefactor and owner of two of the biggest, most glamorous houses the dinner ladies have ever seen? The evidence points that way, but of course, in the best tradition of cosy crime fiction, things are never straightforward.

And then there’s the missing swimming gala trophy. And a second body, in the bottom of the swimming pool...

It all adds up to quite a tangled web for the ladies to unravel, especially when all the mysteries become muddled up together, but they managed to extricate the truth – and themselves – in the end, with the help of a friendly retired local copper Nigel and the hindrance and disapproval of his replacement Officer Wilkinson. Meanwhile, the schoolchildren get fed, the kitchen gets deep-cleaned, a wedding gets arranged and the school is subjected to an audit by an inspector who seems determined to find fault at every opportunity.

They’re a varied bunch of personalities. Margery is cautious and organized, and Clementine is more impulsive. Then there’s bride-to-be Seren, content to leave all the arrangements to bossy Rose, the deputy head. And heavily pregnant Ceri-Ann, and Karen and Sharon who dissolve into tears at the drop of a ladle.

On the whole, I think I’m glad I didn’t have kids who went to that school. Between bodies under the patio, sorry, playground, and a team of amateur detectives in the kitchen, it’s far too dangerous. Then again, they would have been well fed at lunchtimes, even if the dinner ladies did have to slope off to solve a murder once in a while. 
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Hannah Hendy is a professional chef by day and author by night. She has recently signed a three book deal with Canelo publishing and is the author of the upcoming novel, ‘The Dinner Lady Detectives’. Hannah lives with her brand new wife (covid wedding!) and two cats in South Wales, UK.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.