Lucy and her best friends are on a group trip to England when someone traveling along with the group unexpectedly dies in flight. Was it a case of an unfortunate allergy that was tragically triggered, or was something more sinister at play? This book in the long-running Lucy Stone series takes place on vacation, so there are lots of descriptions of Lucy and her friends visiting various tourist sites. Admittedly I am fonder of the novels that take place back in quirky Tinker’s Cove, Maine with its odd cast of characters (and funny lab, Libby), but I also enjoy spending time with Lucy and her girlfriends. This one had a fun mystery to solve in the end.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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If Lucy Stone wasn't nervous at being at least seven miles high in the air while flying to London, on a sponsored trip by Winchester college, when a fellow passenger suddenly drops dead, she certainly is now.

The man that died was tour leader, George Temple. The cause of death was apparently an asthma attack, but, as always, Lucy seeks to see if there was anything else at play here. So, par her natural course, Lucy acts as amateur sleuth yet again.

When in London, Lucy runs into someone from her past - and a man that has sparked her interest - Quentin Rea. Lucy has no business being drawn to Quentin as she is married to Bill, and is the mother of four, and is also now a grandmother.

Not only must Lucy ignore Quentn's overtly flirty behavior, she begins to notice other odd activity among other members of the group that are part of the tour. Strangely enough, just about everyone on the tour has some type of connection to the victim. When it is discovered that there was a real motive for revenge, then Lucy gets even closer to the cause. After another tour member dies, Lucy realizes that she just have to dig deeper and that she might have an idea as to what has happened. Can she prove her ideas, or will this place her in grave danger?

English Tea Murder was a quick read. I wasn't too keen on Lucy being tempted by Quentin, but I guess as it it can be human nature, it was understandable. However, there was enough intrigue to keep the story rolling at a great pace. I look forward to continuing the series. The next book is Chocolate Covered Murder. ( )

This is the first time, to my recollection, I have ever read a mystery by Leslie Meier, and I was pleasantly surprised.

I usually am put off by "cute-cozy" and sparky, whiny, small-town women whom all seem too good to be true; however, I have run out of books to read, my TBR is mostly Tudor Fiction (I need a rest), and since we have a new County Library Director w/ her own blatant personal bias so our collection has gone to hell damnation (all books purchased are by people who know nothing and care naught about purchasing books of interest for any of the upper income level communities)... So, as the collection has gone to hell in a handbasket, I was forced to peruse the book sale and I ended up with this & an Agatha Raisin book as well.

Back to my review: four friends, one is Lucy Stone, the protagonist in the series, are off on a trip to England with a local college professor. Prior to boarding the plane, Lucy notices several odd incidents w/ the professor, and for some reason his asthma acts up while boarding the plane. Mid-flight he succumbs to anaphylactic shock.

The college then sends another professor to take over the tour, he has a past w/ Lucy from when she was a college student, which he tries to take advantage of.... but the professor is also making whoopee (check out that term) with one of the students on the tour.

There are mysterious events taking place on the tour, one of the students attempts to kill herself in Brighton by jumping off the pier, a friend of Lucy's is pushed into traffic, and two of the student's pull a knife on another of Lucy's friends, and then everyone (almost everyone) confesses, but it's not really over.....

The plot is loosely based on two of Agatha Christie's more famous works: "The Mousetrap" and "Murder on the Orient Express".

I liked the tour information, seriously it was like being an armchair traveler without photos and I like the extra bit at the end (the conclusion).

What took this down 1 ★ for me, was the beginning when being introduced to Lucy, she was whiny... I hate that.

I may or may not read another, but between this & Agatha raisin, I was able to read 2 books in 1 1/2 days. ( )

The setting was wonderful but the mystery itself was very far fetched. I felt like the author just wanted to write about a trip to London (which I did't mind!), and the plot was an after thought. ( )

This was a great book that had me stumped until the end! I had to laugh about how Lucy and her friends could never find an open tea room in, of all places, England! ( )