A Pen Dipped in Poison cover art

A Pen Dipped in Poison

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

A Pen Dipped in Poison

By: J.M. Hall
Narrated by: Julie Hesmondhalgh
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Retired schoolteachers and amateur sleuths Liz, Pat and Thelma have another mystery to solve in this witty tale – perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Robert Thorogood

Curious white envelopes have been delivered to friends and neighbours. Inside are letters revealing the deepest secrets they have tried to hide.

As one by one, careers are ended, marriages destroyed and no one is beyond suspicion, the three friends decide enough is enough. They must take matters into their own hands before more damage is done.

But as they work to uncover the truth, they begin to wonder just how far someone will go to silence this poison pen…

Could a murderer be in their midst once again?

The second totally addictive and page-turning cosy mystery featuring these very unlikely sleuths. Fans of Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders will be hooked from the very beginning.

©2023 J.M. Hall (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Amateur Sleuths Cosy Detective Fiction Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Mystery Small Town & Rural Women Sleuths Women's Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Charity Shop Detective Agency cover art
A Spoonful of Murder cover art
The Bingo Hall Detectives cover art
The Dinner Lady Detectives cover art
The Cornish Wedding Murder cover art
The Village Hall Vendetta cover art
The Cherrywood Murders cover art
Death at the Auction cover art
Murder at the House on the Hill cover art
A Murder of Crows cover art
The Bookshop Murder cover art
Murder at the Dolphin Hotel: A Gripping Cozy Historical Mystery cover art
The Last Supper cover art
An English Garden Murder cover art
Braver cover art
Murder in Merrywell cover art

Critic reviews

‘A charming read with a cast of characters you’ll really connect with’ Faith Martin, author of A Fatal End

‘The ingredients for the perfect modern cosy crime: intrigue, characters you care about and a good dollop of humour' Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants

‘As delightful as it is deadly, A Pen Dipped in Poison is a feel-good, fun and fabulous cosy mystery that had me utterly gripped from page one. J.M. Hall proves once again he's one of our very best cosy mystery writers. I absolutely loved it’ Jonathan Whitelaw, author of The Bingo Hall Detectives
All stars
Most relevant  
Thoroughly enjoyed the first book of the series . Had this on pre-order .
Sadly it’s overlong , and rather confusing . Felt the author was drawing it out and lost the momentum.
Found too many characters hard to follow . First book I’ve given up on in a long time .

Disappointed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the nods to local Yorkshire places and even knew of the Cornish references which made me smile.
The story flits from one character to the next and sometimes it was hard to keep track of the plot, but it was narrated so well and the main characters feel so comfortable and familiar that I binged this audio book in a couple of days!
Looking forward to book 3 in Autumn 2024

Excellent narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Totally captivating, humourous but very poignant in places. A true and heartwarming reflection of the pressured but equally joyous world of teaching. A celebration of friendship and true Yorkshire grit with an engaging and compelling mystery. I loved every minute. It was definitely enhanced by the fabulous reading by Julie. She made the heart warming characters come to life.

Superb- wish I could listen to it for the first time all over again!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book and the conclusion was so clever.

It was great to meet our 3 ex-teacher detectives once again and get to know more about them and their families.

The storyline about poison letters was intriguing and clever. There were lots of plots and sub plots to get you confused and red herrings a plenty keeping the listener on their toes.

Once again, a great listen which was beautifully narrated.

As a teacher of many decades now and still clinging on to life at the chalk face, I absolutely loved the cheeky, thoughtful and real reflections on life in education.

Right...I'm off to download book 3 while I've got the time in the Summer holidays!

PS Please write book 4

Exceeding expectations!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Was rather disappointing, this one, and even rather good narrator could not save it for me, became bored and fractious at repetitive, overly flowery style, was simply less witty than book 1 and over 30 minutes of acknowledgements and overtly, mutually appreciative adoration society made me jump to fast forward.
In short: prefer not to increase my ‘binge’ session of future additions to this series.
It all felt too contrived.

Truly sorry, but won’t be back

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Cosy detectives! I wasn’t a huge fan of the first book but this was much more my style- poison pen letters!
We get to know the characters a lot more, felt like I was on the case with the girls. Great narration- properly Yorkshire.

Great second book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the book for the narration- Julie H is outstanding, bringing variety to the voices and life to the characters. The story is bonkers, and in the real world it would have been handled differently, but it’s a story, it was fun and made me want to get to the end and for the book to be longer at the same time!

Narrator is top quality

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story with wonderful characters, and superbly narrated. Thought I’d guessed whodunnit but hadn’t! Thoroughly recommend.

Another great story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this audio book, hopefully there will be another. Love these characters and getting to know them better

Another great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Oh thank you, thank you! At last we had book 2 and I devoured it on dog walks, whilst doing dreary chores and driving to and from work. I am bereft now I’ve finished it! I hope very much that there will be further books in the series - keep writing them please 🙂

A wonderful listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews