Tea ladies. Amanda Hampson. 2024.

Tea lady Hazel Bates is the only person who moves across the invisible social divides within Empire Fashionwear, manufacturers of fashion and textiles. Her rattling tea trolley is a welcome sound all the way from the managing director’s office down to the factory floor. She’s cool-headed and reliable, always ready with a scalding pot of tea and a plate of biscuits (two each).

But when evidence of a kidnapping, arson and even a dead body turns up out of the blue, it’s time for Hazel and her friends to put down their teapots and take up the cause.