The Tea Ladies

The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson is set in Sydney in 1965. Hazel Bates is the tea lady for the firm Empire Fashionwear, manufacturers of quality fashion for women. Hazel and a group of friends regularly meet for a cup of tea or something stronger in the local pub. When Hazel briefly notices through an office window a woman who appears to be in distress in the deserted building opposite the factory, she and her friends decide to investigate. 

However life becomes more complicated when in the middle of the night there is a fire in the deserted building. Hazel and Betty, like most of the neighbourhood go to watch. The door to the Empire building is unlocked so Hazel and Betty check inside and discover the body of staff member, Mr McCracken.

The tea ladies now have a number of crimes to investigate. Who was the lady in the deserted factory and who kidnapped her? Who lit the factory fire and why? Who killed Mr McCracken and why? Hazel also has a more private concern to investigate. Her husband, Bob, has been behaving strangely and, when Hazel discovers that a private investigator has been tailing her, she wants to know why.

Empire Fashionwear has other concerns to sort out caused by the publicity that followed the visit of English model, Jean Shrimpton, to a race meeting in Melbourne. Within the factory there is a strict hierarchy of staff with those upstairs wanting to maintain the status quo in fashion design while younger staff members wanting the firm to manufacture more 'with it' garments.

Having worked, in the mid 1960s, in a building that had a tea lady as well as being well aware of the changes in women's fashion that occurred at that time, I enjoyed reading about the day to day activities and concerns faced by the characters in this story. Of course there was also a series of crimes to investigate, especially as the police did not appear to be anxious to find out the cause of the crimes.

Amanda Hampson has written a fun cozy crime novel incorporating a group of interesting and enterprising characters who are determined to investigate these crimes that have occurred in their neighbourhood.