After reading book 1 & 2 a while ago, I was a bit worried how it would be starting this one. But I found it easy to enjoy this one as a standalone while it gave gentle reminders of what had already happened in book 1 and 2.

This was the first one I did as an audio and it was wonderful! I loved the smooth cat, the dinner members like Clue, and the little moments that made me chuckle. I was surprised by how many funny parts there were - forgetting how good this author's humor is.

It was very entertaining with an interesting mystery! I'm looking forward to the next one in the series!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

A very well done triller/mystery story that will leave you guessing until the end. The cast of characters in this one is diverse in personality which makes for a good read.

DNF - I found none of the characters to be likeable and by 20% in I found myself bored at how slow of a pace it was. I enjoyed the placemaking but it was drawing it out and I couldn't find it in myself to carry on when I didn't like or connect with any of the characters.

This one was not for me.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A good mystery thriller novel. Recommend

You know a book is going to be great when it’s a locked room mystery set in a castle. Add in that the owners of the castle are the philandering Lord Black, (who, by the way, bought his title), and his wife, the insufferably obnoxious and odious Lady Black.

Ursula Smart and her mom Pandora, the latter an irrepressible amateur sleuth and true crime blogger, are invited to a dinner party at the castle. The women are very appropriately named. They’re intelligent, savvy, and share a delightfully sarcastic sense of humor.

The soirée is interrupted by a murder and the Smart women commence an investigation. Unfortunately for them, it is complicated by the dark and gloom of the night, disabled phone lines and flood waters preventing anyone from leaving or entering the castle.

The Supper Club Murders is the third in the Smart Women’s Mystery series but is the first book I’ve read. Nonetheless, I was able to read it as easily as if it were a standalone. Dowd is a master at creating great characters and plots which twist and turn smoothly. I look forward to reading the first two books in the series as well as any future ones.

I've been trying to expand my reading tastes and I was a little nervous about reading. So glad I took the chance. This was a fun and enjoyable experience. This is why books were created. To provide the chance to experience a different world. This was a solid good read. I would highly recommend this to others. The writing style was smooth and easy to read. I found myself getting into this world quickly. While I didn't always agree with the decisions made, in the end, I understood their choices and liked the way things played out.

#THESUPPERCLUBMURDERS #NetGalley

This was an interesting mystery. I did like the characters and the way the pl.ot moved but there were times when some of the bits and pieces to make sense for where the book was heading.

This was an unusual book for me: typically if I don’t like the characters, I have a hard time getting into the plot (the old “what do I care about what happens to these characters” trope), and thus don’t like the book.

However, for the Supper Club Murders….I really enjoyed the book even though I really didn’t like the characters. It had a unique take on the locked room mystery, and a creepy, Gothic atmosphere. I think it helped that I read the first book in the series, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder.

Highly recommended.I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.com and voluntarily chose to review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

THE SUPPER CLUB MURDERS by Victoria Dowd is a delightful murder mystery set at a castle. The story revolves Ursula and her mother Pandora, who are invited by Lord and Lady Black to Greystone Castle in Dartmoor village. Unfortunately, this isn't just any regular dinner party. Soon after they arrive, people begin dying one by one. Can the Smart women discover who the murderer is before they become the next victims?

Here is a captivating excerpt from Chapter 1:

"I acquired a taste for secrets from a very young age. The thing about secrets is that each has its own distinct flavour, no two are the same. Some can be thrilling, others even poisonous. Your secrets will always taste different to other people's - sometimes they can be used in ways you never quite imagined."

Overall, THE SUPPER CLUB MURDERS is a lovely murder mystery that will appeal to fans of Clue or Agatha Christie. One highlight of this book is how similar it is to the classic murder mysteries. I'm sure that readers who enjoy that genre will enjoy this book. I took off 2 stars, because I'm not a huge fan of books with large casts. By the midway point, I no longer cared about any of the characters. I know that many readers won't mind that though. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of mysteries in general, you can check out this book, which is available now.

Unfortunately I was unable to read this because I couldn't download the app on my ancient ipad. I have since bought a Kindle but this title has been archived.

Book club night meets Cleudo. Suspense, drama moving between homes in a sleepy village. Who is safe and who is not? It took me a while to take on all the characters but i might look out for more on this series

a bookclub meets in a castle. it is a storm and the roads, phones, and there is no longer a way in or out.

dark secrets and discontent simmer throughout the evening leading to a murder.

in the style of Agatha Christie, everyone has a motive and the group is shut off and must solve the mystery themselves.

Light and entertaining cozy mystery set in a spooky old castle.

Although set in a decidedly 21st century context, there are shades of Agatha Christie with a hint of P.G. Wodehouse. Or do I mean E.F. Benson? The humour is sharp-edged, bitchy and funny. People die, nobody much cares as they muddle towards the final scene where the identity of the killer is revealed.

For all this, Dowd has her own voice and writes well. I enjoyed the first book in the series rather more than this, but the series holds promise, with interesting characters and nice pacing.

It's a good read.

Well, I'm a pretty smart woman, so that series name appealed to me (smart intellectually, smart mouthed? Either sounded intriguing), and I read this galley hoping that I'd find a second new-to-me series to add to my TBR pile. The book and author were described as being along the lines of an Agatha Christie--a supper club in a lonely, deserted part of England is stranded during a terrible storm, the roads are flooded, the phones are out, and then, someone is murdered. Sounds like perfect reading material. It was not. The reader is immediately thrust into a series of conversations amidst the protagonists (the smart women) that revolve around what happened in previous novels with little to no explanation, so the reader is left confused and bewildered. Now, that might work to an author's advantage as a deliberate plot device to increase tension, if we were supposed too identify with the main protagonist, but I could never get a real handle on the protagonist, Ursula, and what happened to her and why she was reacting as she was, and there was no elucidation that alleviated my confusion. What the heck happened with Mirabelle and how does it relate to these women and why won't someone tell me the reader what the heck is going on? I should be drawn into caring for these people; instead, I started to be heartily irritated by Ursula, Pandora, Aunt Charlotte, the hairless cat, everyone. This made me very testy as I read on. The writing style was unusual: "The whites of his eyes had a dirty, tarnished color to them, as if they'd see too many things they regretted." An attempt at noir, maybe, it just reads as dreadful. "Torches cast only moments of light into darkness." "Threads of water made their way down my neck..." Rivulets of water, streaks of water, trickles of water I can see, but threads of water? The rain "...typed with fast efficient fingers on the stone cobbles." "The room was so taut I could hear the high note of tension ringing in my ears." Sorry, but these descriptions are laughable, although I don't think they were meant to be. There is a paranormal element to the story, and I dislike paranormal mysteries, so I was unpleasantly surprised by his appearance. The book did not live up to its description, and though I didn't hate it as much as the few others panned over the years, I will not be reading any others in this series.

I enjoyed this book and found it well written with enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for my copy. This is a fun, locked door mystery where nothing is as it seems. The setting is Christie like as the characters are introduced and the murder occurs. This was an entertaining and gripping read.

This is a very intriguing book with many twists and turns and red herrings that the reader has to keep turning page after page all the way to the shocking ending.

Ursula, her book club and her mom are invited to a supper club at Greystone Castle in the winter months. A storm ensues and the group is cut off from all help and communication. A dead body shows up - can Ursula find the murderer and save the group from imminent danger?

I wanted to like it more than I actually did. These weren’t characters that I felt completely invested in. Therefore, it fell flat.