Kale to the Queen by Nell HamptonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
First in the series.
I liked it, mostly. It reminded me a bit of Julie Hyzy's White House Chef mysteries, in that it's obviously set in a real place where there really is a Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, though in the book they are fictionalized. I think, like Hyzy's series, this series will work best if the Cambridges stay mostly in the background.
It took me a while to warm up to Carrie Ann, but after a bit she kind of grew on me. There were a few little nit picky things that bugged me (tea gets MILK, not cream, in England. My husband is English, and every English person I've ever met, including strangers I waited on in restaurants when I was younger, sent the cream back and/or asked for milk! (A Cream Tea is known for clotted cream and scones, not cream in the tea.), and yes, the Queen herself is said to drink her Twining's English Breakfast tea with MILK (but no sugar, haha).
There were moments where the dialogue made me feel like I was watching a bad gangster film, "Are you going to the coppers with what you know?" Does anyone even really call them "coppers" anymore??
Aside from the little things, I did enjoy it and look forward to the next in the series.
*I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, via NetGalley*
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