Amy among serial killers has a lot of really witty writing, but it truly isn't a standalone at the end of the day. I dropped in cold without reading the others and felt like I was lacking the world. Which is my own fault- not the authors. There's no info dumping like in other books of the same vein, which I greatly appreciate, overall, it's a cute book.

Thanks for the ARC!

AMY AMONG THE SERIAL KILLERS by Jincy Willett is the third book starring writing coach Amy Gallup. I have not read the previous books, and while this can be read as a standalone, I think it will be best enjoyed by fans of the series.

In this installment, a serial killer is terrorizing San Diego, and the killings are seemingly connected to Inspiration Point, the popular and profitable writing retreat operated by Carla Karolak, a former student of Amy Gallup.

I loved that this took place in my home town, and I did love the writing. It's funny, witty, and quick. But the story felt occasionally jumbled and a little drawn-out. There are multiple characters who are introduced quite late in the story who end up having larger roles than I anticipated (a bit odd to do that in a mystery/thriller, in my opinion). There's a mystery at the core of the story, but it's surrounded by a lot of character development and backstory, and long passages of short stories that the characters are writing. Since this is a book about writers, I think readers who write will appreciate it best.

CW: sexual abuse of a minor (described in flashbacks), narcissistic parent, parental death, descriptions of blood and gore.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this eARC. I've posted my review to Goodreads and will share the book on my Instagram (@mysterymanon) closer to its release date.

This was an interesting read! Not what I thought it was, but funny.

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

I fell in love with Jincy Willett immediately when I read "The Writing Club", and I am so excited to see Amy again. I knew this would be brilliant before even reading it, so happy to see I was right.

Jincy Willett is a great writer capable of blending humor into a muder mystery. Her previous Amy Gallup books have captivated audiences. It's been a while since we have heard from Amy, so long, that this is almost a stand alone novel!
Less of a murder mystery and more of a character study of Amy and a previous ancillary character Carla, we learn much more about both characters, their daily lives and their backstories (thus not necessary to be familiar with books #1 and #2)

In AATSK, Carla is making bank by running a "writer's retreat" out of her home. Instead of the retreat model, Carla employ a prison model and writers are able to rent a monthly cell (no window, no furniture, no internet!). Writers pay a premium and agree to spend x amount of hours in the cell writing. I kind of like this model, and would be interested in running my own!

At the start of the novel, one of the writers is murdered inside the retreat. Carla is overwhelmed and contacts her old writing teacher Amy. Amy sweeps her away to her house and the characters from the other books stop in to help comfort Carla. Lots of interesting characters and stories at work as we get to read some of the snippets that the budding authors are writing.

The question is, where has Amy been and what has she been doing. More importantly, is there a serial killer in San Diego and are any of them next? If you like your murder mysteries witty and comedic, then Amy Among The Serial Killers is for you!
#Stmartinspress #Netgalleyreads #AmyAmongTheSerialKillers

I've tried multiple times to make it through this book but at 50% I'm giving up. I have had this on my kindle from 2 months and it just sits there. It was inconsistent and choppy and hard to follow. I found out after the fact that this is a series but was told it can be read as a stand alone. I will say, I am not intrigued enough to read the prior books to see if it is better with that knowledge.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher of this novel for the E-Arc copy. I am rating this book based on my own personal opinion and was not given anything in return. I am not leaving a entire review because I read so many at a time that I physically cannot right now.
#AmyAmongtheSerialKillersJincyWillet #NetGalley

I was not aware that there are other "Amy" books, that would have been helpful to know/read beforehand. However, the book can stand on its own. I really enjoyed the story of a serial killer being on the loose! Amy and Carla were great characters, as were the rest of the wacky ones introduced throughout the book.
Was a bit slow in the beginning, but I got more into it as it went along.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Publishers and the author for giving me the opportunity to view this title.
Amy Among the Serial Killers
The writing style is smart and witty. I haven’t read Jincy Willett before, and know this book is part of a series. Which if I read the previous Amy books I’m sure I would’ve had a more seamless transition into this story. All that aside…I can tell the characters are quirky and unique, which I love. I’ll definitely read more of this this author books.

Perhaps if I knew that this book was one in a series and read the preceding volumes, I would like it more... characters confused me and the writing was inconsistent. Read the whole way through.

Nothing to see here... just a serial killer loose in the area. A murder smack dab in the middle of the Birdhouse, Carla's writer's retreat, turns her safe haven inside out. Amy, Carla's former mentor and instructor, comes out of seclusion and reconnects when Carla needs a trusted friend most.
Everyone has a theory about the local serial killer and it seems even more of them have a serial killer book concept they're diving into. Well, true crime IS de rigueur...

While someone (or something) at the Birdhouse is stirring up painful memories from Carla's past, we get to know a ton of colorful characters, some of whom evoke groans and rolled eyes due to how well they're painted. You're a liar if you tell me you don't want something terrible to happen to John X Cousins. But that's the charm of the book!

I went into this not realizing that there were other Amy books and worried I might be missing some key info but quickly became invested and didn't feel like I'd missed a beat. This took me on quite a trip and I'm eager to go back and meet Amy in the previous novels.

Early on, there were some clunky sentences and I'd occasionally get a little mixed up on who was being referred to. Those didn't catch me up later in the read and I'm unsure if that's because I became more used to Willett's writing style or that it developed as the book went on.

Willett introduced a number of story components and dug into many characters but I didn't feel like I was being taken on a goose hunt just to mess with me. Purposeful and engaging, this is a trip I'd love to take again.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC.

Enjoyable book. Started a tad slow for me but it def got better as I continued to read. Will be on lookout for more by author.

3.5⭐️

Thirty–five–year–old Carla Karolak runs a successful writing retreat, “Inspiration Point”, renting out “cells’” to aspiring writers so that they may work in solitude for a fixed number of hours per week. She is also a writer but has been suffering from writer's block for a long time for which she seeks help from Toonie Garabedian, her therapist who also rents a writer space (she is also working on a book) in exchange for her sessions with Carla. Carla finds Toonie murdered in her writing cell and the ensuing police investigation is complicated further when she gets to know of a string of murders in the area. A shocked Carla reaches out to her retired writing instructor Amy Gallup who she considers a friend and who has had similar experiences with a killer on the loose in the past. Carla's friends from her previous writing group and Amy who had been their instructor all offer to help Carla through the traumatic events. Carla, upset with the death of Toonie also fears that the publicity will affect her business adversely by instilling fear in her other residents. When more women are discovered murdered and butchered, the case attracts the attention of the unpleasant John X. Cousins who writes about and researches serial killers but also appears to have a hidden agenda involving Carla’s business. The police, Amy and Carla rush to figure out whether Carla and her writers’ retreat has any connection to the murders and when a series of events points to someone trying to frighten Carla in her own home, she begins to fear for her own life and the safety of her friends and fellow writers.

With dark humor, an interesting cast of characters, murder and serial killers, <i>Amy Among the Serial Killers by Jincy Willett</i> is an entertaining read. I enjoyed the mystery element of the novel though it was not completely unpredictable after a certain point. The novel does have its share of gruesome and thrilling moments without becoming too heavy or overwhelming. I enjoyed getting to know Amy and her canine companion Lottie. I found Amy to be a smart, straight-shooting, witty and well-rounded character and there are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments in the narrative that are truly amusing. However, for a novel with the term “serial killers” in its title, the narrative is quite slow-paced and it took me a while to engage in the story. The narrative picks up at about the 40% mark which I feel is a bit too long to drag the reader through in order to establish the large cast of supporting characters. Much of the novel follows Carla and Amy in their daily lives and we learn quite a bit about their respective past and present lives. We also get to read segments from stories that are being written by a few of the characters. Perhaps fewer distractions from the main plot would have been better. Overall this was a pleasant read but not quite as gripping as I expected. I would, however, be interested in reading more stories featuring Amy Gallup.

(Please note that I have not read any of the previous books in the Amy Gallup series. Therefore, I have treated this as a standalone novel which was not too difficult to do because the story does give us a brief idea of the events that occurred before the events described in this novel.)

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing the digital review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

After a few wholehearted attempts to get through this book, I have surrendered & given up. The main reason is this is just not a book that engages me as a reader. After seeing the title & reading the description, I was intrigued with the novel & how the story would unfold but after getting a little more than halfway I have decided it’s not worth it. The writing style is very choppy at times with multiple *new* characters interjecting over each other throughout every main conversation that takes place. As someone who did not read the first two books in this series (which to be honest I’m not sure how this is even a buildable series - it seems that each book is just random story of the character, Amy), I was thrown into an environment with little to no background information or explanation of who is who. For the better half of the first quarter of the book, I didn’t even know that Amy is the focal character. I don’t think I’ve ever read a sequel or series book that did not explain the flow of the scene. To conclude my review, this could be a great book but it’s not a great book for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC: 3.5 rounded up. I am a huge Jincy Willett fan and have read all of the "Amy books"--this book was a lesser work from a very good writer. Amy is a unique and wonderful character, while Carla--her faithful student-- is the center of this book. I'm not sure if a reader hasn't read the previous books that this book will be easily understood. It's a book about a former child actress--Carla-- who establishes a writers' colony and while dealing with a serial killer, deals with grief, establishing a career, relationships and more. Amy is an older woman, a former writing teacher who is a delightful misanthrope with a skilled sense of humor and she is an ancillary character in this book--to its detriment. I'd advise readers to read the other books about Amy. This book was enjoyable, ultimately, but took quite some time to gain momentum and characterizations were lacking. Jincy Willett is a great writer, but this isn't her strongest work.

I wanted to be excited about this book as I love a good whodunit with dark humor. However, I found it hard to follow and the plot did not pick up until a little over halfway. There were some fun quirky and clever moments, but not enough to keep my attention. The ending felt rushed and there were moments of forced dialogue.

With that being said, Ii is a fun take on the obsession with true crime, so if you’re a fan of that and Jincy Willett you will probably like this book.

“Amy Among the Serial Killers” by Jincy Willet is a humorous murder mystery in which a group of writers teams up to solve the mystery. What ensues is all the proof one needs that an imaginative and highly creative group of people trying to solve a murder is either the greatest idea ever or one of the dumbest.

Carla owns a successful writer’s retreat in which people can rent a windowless room and confine themselves away from distractions to finish their stories. Meanwhile, Carla is struggling to write her own. By seeking help from her therapist Toonie, Carla hopes to overcome her writer’s block and finally write her memoir. Except, Toonie seems more concerned with Carla’s lack of love life than anything else. When she discovers Toonie dead, Carla panics and calls someone she hasn’t spoken to in years.

Amy is a retired creative writing instructor who spent her time in quiet solitude until she receives a phone call from a previous student. Life turns chaotic when Amy gets swept up in a murder investigation led by her previous writing students. As more deaths begin cropping up, there’s talk about a serial killer on the loose, and Carla’s band of writers are determined to find out who is responsible.
This quirky, humorous novel will easily draw readers into the drama and strange events that occur as this ragtag group of writers try to uncover a mystery. There’s a lot to enjoy in this story, starting with the wildly unpredictable killer who leaves behind a string of grizzly bodies to the laugh-out-loud moments and the detestable and loveable characters.
Comedic stories aren’t my specialty, and some of this humour went over my head, but I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic aspect of a group of writers trying to bring a killer to justice. As one can imagine, having a bunch of imaginative and talented writers come up with theories as to who this killer could be and ideas on how to bait them into giving up their identity can result in a lot of crazy.

The only trouble I had was that I didn’t care much for the characters. Carla started off pretty intolerable. There were a lot of complexities about Carla that kept me intrigued, but there were a few aspects about her that grated on me. As the book went on, though, she underwent a lot of growth that had me rooting for her and hoping for a happy ending. Amy was probably one of my favourite characters. She had a wicked sense of humour, and her mild annoyance at having to put up with her former students was relatable as everyone has someone (or a group of people) they would rather not deal with.

Readers who enjoy Willet’s work or have a thrill for darkly humoured mystery novels must give this one a read when it hits shelves on August 23rd, 2022!

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a free e-arc and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

Jincy Willett’s third Amy Gallup book keeps you on your toes until the very last chapter. It is not necessary to read the other books in this series to understand the plot in Amy Among the Serial Killers, but familiar characters will delight those who have. The narrative alternates between Amy and Carol Karolac's point of view, which offers different details and insight as the story twists and turns. If you love a good mystery, love reading about writers striving to capture a great story at any cost, or enjoy an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit for a modern era, Willett’s newest effort is definitely for you. Thank you so much for the reader’s copy—I devoured this book in 5 days. If I’m awake in the middle of the night unable to put a book away, you can trust that I am entertained!

Firstly, Amy Among the Serial Killers is a great title.

I love the concept for this story and the melding of humor, mystery, and deep dives into character. Books centering around writing and writers is always such a charming hook for me, and this is no different. Add in some murder and really, what else could a girl ask for?

I did find it took a little while to get into, but once there, I was THERE. This was a nice mid-week read. Interesting and compelling without being too heavy.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

This is my first Jincy Willett book. I am not sure what I have been waiting for! It took me a little bit to get into this story, but once I was in it, there was no turning back! Taking place in California, we meet Carla. Carla is a young writer with writer's block. Soon she starts seeing a therapist, who turns up dead. There are so many characters, plot twists, and humor amidst the drama. I'm not sure I would classify this as a thriller, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.
I find myself wanting to read more Willett's books to really delve into these characters. I can't wait to pick up a hard copy in August, and I hope you will too!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Jincy Willett for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.