*Review* All-Butter ShortDead by H.Y Hanna

Synopsis:

Gemma ditches her high-flying job and returns to Oxford to follow her dream: opening a traditional English tearoom serving warm buttery scones with jam and clotted cream... Only problem is--murder is the first thing on the menu and Gemma is the key suspect! And the only people Gemma can turn to for help are four nosy old ladies from her local Cotswolds village - not to mention a cheeky little tabby cat named Muesli. Who was the mysterious woman Gemma met on the flight back from Australia and why was she murdered? Now Gemma must find the killer, solve the mystery and clear her name if she's to have her cake--and serve it too.

This PREQUEL to the OXFORD TEAROOM MYSTERIES includes BONUS CHAPTERS FROM "A SCONE TO DIE FOR" (BOOK 1). It is slightly shorter than the rest of the series - which are all full length novels - and can be read as a standalone, before or after any other book in the series.

THE OXFORD TEAROOM MYSTERIES:
All-Butter ShortDead (Prequel)
A Scone to Die For (Book 1)
Tea with Milk and Murder (Book 2)
Two Down, Bun To Go (Book 3)
Till Death Do Us Tart (Book 4)

My Review: 

4 out of 5 stars

★★★★☆

This prequel is set up perfectly to lead you into the first book of this series. We get to meet Gemma, her parents, her friend, and the "Old Biddies" (who are hilarious, by the way!) as well as seeing Gemma solve her first murder mystery. I really liked getting the backstory of how the Tearoom came about and what Gemma had to go through to get to that point. There were a couple of British and Australian terms that I wasn't sure of the meaning of, but the author has put a section in the back of the book that lists all of the terms used along with their definitions for anyone who might not know the meaning of them. I thought that was really neat. I loved the descriptions of the different areas that Gemma visited while trying to solve the murder as well as the area where her Tearoom will be located. Each of the characters brought something unique to the story and I am looking forward to continuing on with the first book of the series.