This is a tough review to write because I enjoyed the elements individually but not together. I liked the murder mystery; it was very clever. I liked that the romance was unique: it's about a lesbian couple going through a hard marriage and trying to make their relationship work again. But something about this book just didn't do it for me.

For starters, it's just... Silly. Ridiculous. I know this is Alexis Hall (I loved Boyfriend Material!!) but the humor felt too over the top here. Like, despite being a murder mystery, there is only so much suspension of disbelief I can handle. I understand it's also meant to be a satire, but then you have a weird experience with reconciling the tone... Are we meant to laugh or be horrified...

It didn't help that certain very important side characters really annoyed me. I was fine with our MCs individually but I honestly didn't understand why they were together? And yeah, the point of the book is that they're trying to remember too, but it doesn't make that a compelling romance.

Despite my lukewarm feelings about the first half, the second half redeemed itself and it's the reason I bumped it up to 3 stars instead of a 2. Again, I enjoyed the mystery aspect but everything else was just very meh.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This fun, frothy murder mystery is basically perfect for people who aren’t super into serious murder mysteries on account of the grimdark vibe of, y’know, all the murders. People who enjoy a good whodunnit but would prefer not to have to feel awful about people getting murdered really rather frequently. I.e., people like me. It’s a cosy, quick read with a great, appropriately dramatic and atmospheric setting. It’s witty and sparkly, it draws you right in, and the only thing it asks of you is to roll with the murder plot and for god’s sake don’t try to take it too seriously.

In the midst of all the whacky murdery fun, though, you can absolutely take the main characters seriously, which I thought balanced the story out beautifully. I loved Liza and Hanna and their extremely rocky relationship, which was handled with care and empathy. Among the cheerfully Cluedo-inspired game pieces that make up the side characters, they stood out as real people with real problems, and their struggle to save their marriage (in between trying not to get murdered or framed for murder) brought some wonderful emotional depth to the story. They both have legitimate issues with the way things are going, but they (mostly) try to communicate like adults and work on finding solutions rather than lashing out at each other, which was lovely. Did I occasionally wish that there was even more of a deep dive into their relationship and their issues as a couple? Sure, but that’s because I know how excellent Alexis Hall is at emotional deep dives, not because it was a lack in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know the feeling, when you reach the end of a great mystery, and you have the urge to go back and look at all the moving parts to see how they fit together? Yeah. A bit of that.

Alternating between delight over a perfect turn of phrase and wondering what chaos would happen next, Alexis kept me guessing right to the end. And when I thought I’d figured it out, he proved me wrong again.

What a messy and hilarious game of Cluedo this was.

*3.5
This book was okay, I felt as though there were a few too many characters to keep track of but considering six of them died it makes sense. I think that the romance aspect of the story would have worked better if they had just met that weekend but maybe that's just me.

I received a copy from netgalley.

This, as I've come to expect from Alexis Hall's books, was clever, delightful, and incredibly funny. I highlighted SO many quotes.

I don't normally go in for the cozy mystery genre, despite my younger self's love of the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Mandie, and the Hardy Boys. I took a chance on this one because of the author and I'm so glad I did because I loved it. Especially the witty and cheeky references to Clue.

I also really love the way Liza and Hanna's failing marriage was portrayed, from the cold bordering-on-hostile relationship at the start of the book to their increasing closeness as the guests were killed off. One might expect a series of murders to drive people apart rather than bring them together, but in this case one might be wrong.

The characters were so quirky and the crimes so tangled that it was just fun to watch Liza play detective for real, not just for her podcast, to try to brazen her way through it to a solution.

All in all a delightful read.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Kobo Originals for providing an e-arc for review.

This was such a fun book! Despite there being a lot of murder going on throughout the whole book, it was still a light read.
I haven’t played Clue in YEARS (I’m thinking 25 years? like, when I was 12yo?), so it took me a minute to notice that all of the OG characters are in this book. I was trying so hard to figure out whodunnit, but it kept me guessing until the end. I freaking LOVED the chapter titles, they were just so perfect. And despite this definitely being a cozy mystery, which I usually don’t read, it still had all the goodness of an AJH novel, which l am 100% here for. Also, I’ve been craving porridge brûlée ever since I read about it in the book, and then immediately googled it (how is it even possible to crave something I’ve never even had???).
So, one of the plots in the book is ‘a marriage in trouble’ and I actually really liked how that whole storyline was written. I really liked that they got to a better place by just realizing that they’re not in the same place they were when they met or when they got married and that’s okay. I really connected with that, because I think my own marriage is pretty similar to that; we are definitely not the same people we were when we met 22 years ago.
Overall, very much fun, highly recommend.

This was such a fun read! I loved the remote setting and the over the top characters that were the perfect personification of the characters from Cluedo. I kept wanting to read more to see what was going to happen next, and to see if they would turn on each other. Liza & Hanna were great; through the story, we see the status of their marriage & how they work on it. And as many true crime fans can agree with, we are glad to have loved ones that think our obsession with true crime is weird, but they love & support us any way.