Made In Chelsea meets Afatha Christie. An entertaining novel with good characters and plot. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

I took a chance on The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell and it didn't really pay off for me. But that's the thing with books - they don't all appeal to everyone.

This book was meant to be satirical but felt too much like the author was actually "part of the set". Highly cliched and did meander rather with insignificant detail. Non likeable characters. Just not for me

An incredible debut novel that centres on Detective Caius and his team who are investigating the murder of London socialite and social media influencer Clemency O'Hara who is found dead the morning after her boyfriend Rupert's 30th birthday dinner.

This is one that will appeal to a wide range of readers . It’s clever, lighthearted and a fantastically amusing story one that is destined for the big screen!

Thank you NetGalley, Faber and Faber Ltd for the opportunity to read and review this brilliant ARC.

Summary: Witty, satirical and a murder mystery to boot!
The Other Half is one of the most impressive debuts that I've read in recent years as it combines a witty and satirical look at the world of the British class system and those in the upper classes, while investigating a murder that impacts their cosy world.
Our investigator is one DI Caius Beauchamp who, along DS Matt Cheung and DC Amy Noakes is responsible for the investigation into the murder of Clemency 'Clemmie' O'Hara. Clemmie is a member of this select and influential group of London society. A group that are determined to protect to themselves and their image at all costs, even if this means obstructing the police investigation.
Vassell provides the reader with a reader with the opportunity to view and experience this rarified world, while contrasting the views of the inhabitants with the 'real world' views of the police officers. This novel will have a widespread appeal.

This is an astonishing debut and clearly great things are in store for Charlotte Vassal. This Other Half is a real mash up. Satirical and witty goes hand in hand with a gripping murder mystery. Many snooks are cocked at the upper classes and those with a sense of privilege and entitlement, Rupert hires out the upper floor of a McDonalds fir a party, with butler service, champagne and the works. The opening scenes are intriguing and hook the reader immediately into a glitterati works where nothing is quite as it seems. Following the party, one of the guests is found dead, was a Hooray Henry responsible and why were they killed?

It’s a book with a cast if characters who bounce off one another. Very strong sense of location, London and a plot that’s skilfully crafted as the investigation into the death unfolds. I loved this murder mystery with a difference and will be keen to see what comes next from this new voice.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Lots of twists and turns and some laughs along the way too. I found it really easy to read and it just flowed so well, I can't believe how quickly I read it! I was working things out as we went and it's safe to say that I didn't get it right! Fab read.

🚨 EXCITING DEBUT ALERT!! 🚨

🍾 'The Other Half' is an absolutely BRUTAL murder mystery which opens with the death of the insufferably posh Clemmie, and follows Detective Caius Beauchamp as he tries to get to the bottom of it.

🍸LOTS of social critique in this which really sets it apart from the majority of books in this genre. Nobody gets away unscathed!

🥂 The suspects are delightfully horrible. You will hate ALL the characters in this. The suspects are all insanely rich and powerful, and I loved how they're shown to use this power to try and escape the fallout of the murder. I also thought it was very clever how you still ended up having zero sympathy even for the characters who ended up being innocent.

🎨 I really liked how the author brings in her expertise on art and art history - it gave the novel a really clear thread which weaves through the whole story. Felt like I learned things too which is always a good thing!

👮 My only issue with this novel is that I couldn't really get my head round the character of Detective Beauchamp. It felt a bit contradictory how he was desperate to claw his way into that world (reading Ovid, fancy food, learning French etc) but he also seemed to detest upper class people and all the trappings of a rich lifestyle. This conflict didn't feel fully explained and left me a bit confused.

💛 Really enjoyed how the intensity and complexity of the crime escalated throughout the story into this huge web of deception. These are my favourite types of murder mysteries - the ones where all the incidents and characters are interconnected!

📖 Overall, a sharp & witty debut from Charlotte Vassell - I'll be crossing my fingers for more books from her!

🗓️ OUT ON 19th January 2023

💕 Huge thanks to Netgalley for my advance reader copy!

- Katie

(Review to be posted on @katiespencebooks Instagram today, and on @katiespencey Twitter on Friday)

I was excited to get approved to read this arc and I found it quite hard to get into at the start, I also found it a bit over the top at times but it would not put me off reading another book by this author. It could have been just me but the book wasn't for me. Thanks to Netgalley for sending me this arc in exchange for my honest review

This was a funny one to review. Whilst I enjoyed the main story, I thought there was a lot of unnecessary pages to bring you back to the story of which a lot didn't feel relevant. It made the book challenging to read at points as it seemed so far off course.

I almost didn't request this novel as the cover put me off a little but I read through the blurb and decided to ask for it. I'm so glad I did. This is a really original crime novel with a wonderful detective in the self-improving Caius Beauchamp. His sidekicks Matt and Amy are perfect too.

Rupert Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham - a wonderful touch) is an upper class tosser who you will love to hate. The book starts with him taking over a McDonald's for his thirtieth birthday party and generally behaving in the sort of way the Bullingdon Club do, that is, denigrating ordinary people and thinking money will compensate for their yobbish behaviour. He's impatiently waiting for his girlfriend Clemmie to arrive so that he can chuck her and pass on to the delectable Nell . Nell however has come to the party to tell him she will never speak to him again. The next day someone is found dead and Caius, Matt and Amy are on the case.

It's the characters that really make this book and I'd love to see a TV series based on these detectives. There is surely going to be a follow up to this book. It can't be a one-off. It's witty, smart and satirical and I loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected from the cover and the blurb. It is a caustic, witty dissection of class, race and murder in London, whilst also managing to be a page turning whodunit! Bravo Ms Vassell - looking forward to the next one.
Thank you to netgalley and Faber and Faber for an advance copy of this book

Charlotte Vassell writes a savagely funny satire on the British class system, set in London, creating a monstrously dislikeable set of characters with names like Araminta aka Minty, Euphemia and where the most odious of of them all, Rupert, has a the same surname as DI Caius Beauchamp, but, of course, pronounced differently. Rupert has organised a black tie dinner, his birthday party at the Kentish Town McDonald's, overflowing with cocaine, champagne and, unsurprisingly, bad behaviour. Caius is struggling to get over his break up with Heloise, now in Paris, he is focusing on his personal development, improving his diet, his literary knowledge and jogging in Hampstead Heath, which is where he stumbles across the body, wearing a ball gown, of well known influencer, Clemency 'Clemmie' O'Hara, Rupert's girlfriend of a decade.

Caius and his hardworking team of DS Matt Cheung and DC Amy Noakes find themselves having to navigate their way through their boss, the grand pooh bahh, and a group of suspects from Rupert's party, all of whom naturally appear to have alibis. Helena 'Nell' Waddingham is an emotionally scarred woman who had been a close part of Rupert's circle at Oxford University, she attended his birthday party with Alex and every intention of blowing Rupert out of her life for good, leaving the celebrations early. However, matters and feelings are far more complicated, with a manipulative Rupert intent on doing whatever it takes to have her in his life, including marriage. Caius and his team sift through Clemmie's life and social media presence, an investigation that takes them through the Classics, art galleries, Auction Houses, a supposed charity 'Help for Hippos', encountering a upmarket drug operation, rape, art smuggling, and other connected murders.

Vassell paints a deliciously dark picture of the class system, a callous and obnoxious Rupert, unhampered by either morals or a conscience, with a sense of entitlement that allows him, and others like him, think that they can have whatever and whoever they want, using any means necessary. Misogyny and racism run deep in a world view where anyone who does not belong is considered an 'oik', it's no wonder they have such perspectives as they are well served by an establishment that allows them to get away with anything, including murder. This is a fun and terrifically entertaining crime read, where class, gender and race inequalities are integral, all accomplished with style and wit, and there is a fabulous police team that has to work a case under the threat of having it taken away from them. I think this will appeal to a wide variety of readers, highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

The very upper class Rupert and his “chums” get together for Rupert’s birthday at McDonalds (I know, but stick with it, it’s so worth it!). The birthday boy is a little put out that his girlfriend Clemmie doesn’t make an appearance, but as he carries on with every female in sight, it doesn’t put him off too much!! When a body is discovered by DI Beauchamp, the tangled web that has been woven has Rupert and all his cronies answering some very difficult questions.

What a debut! And what joy to read. So very tongue in cheek, but with a good, solid plot line, lots of secrets and lies, brilliant characters and a new dazzling duo in Caius and Matt, more of them please!

This book is witty and absorbing, an excellent first, and as there are a few loose ends, hopefully more of the same to follow!

Thank you NetGalley.

4+ stars

An incredibly well suited and booted gentleman with perfect diction to match courteously books the upstairs room in McDonald’s, Kentish Town (North London)which is usually reserved for children’s parties. He places a food order, generously tips the staff for their silence and the lack of CCTV and for what they will clean up next day. Minions sweep in with flowers and high price champers as nothing but the best will do for Rupert Beauchamp’s thirtieth birthday party. As far as Nell (Helena) is concerned this will be a last hurrah and farewell to all Rupert’s nonsense but she’s perfectly dolled up for the occasion as she waits for Alex to accompany her. The party goes as you would expect (think bacchanalia) when shockingly the next day a female body is found on Hampstead Heath ironically or fortuitously by D I. Caius Beauchamp, no relation to Rupert Bear. This proves to be Clemency, the on/off girlfriend of Rupert for the last 10 years. Who murdered Clem and why? Needless to say, all at the bash have alibis, of course they have. The reactions to her murder are odd, is it because they’re toffs, stiff upper and all that or just not bovvered? Can Caius and his sidekick DS Matty Cheung ably assisted by DC Amy Noakes ferret out the truth amongst this Upper Crust list of suspects? As the novel progresses, it takes a very dark turn……

Okay, here we go! Don’t you just love it when you read a delicious debut which leaves you wanting more of Caius and Matty who are just too good for one-offsville. It’s as pacey as a brisk stroll through Kensington and Chelsea, it’s witty in places, laugh out loud funny in others and it has a clever complex plot. What more could you want, oh, maybe some truly horrible characters you hope get their just desserts???

The other half of the title resonates throughout as Caius and Matty wade their way through upper-class entitlement and that is done satirically on point and of course we have the duality of the capital with the haves a lot versus the haves very little. There is a racist element too, it takes a few swipes at Insta self-improvement twaddle (me not necessarily the author!). There’s a very clever literary and Greek mythology element in addition which I thoroughly enjoy. I also mustn’t forget an interesting archaeological and drugs element, which has yet to be fully resolved, hopefully in book 2?? I’ve my fingers crossed.

This is Made in Chelsea meets Agatha, it has definite shades of the Queen of Crime with tangled webs, plot twists, red herrings and all that jazz. Maybe Caius will become the 21st-century Poirot! The ending is a good blend of the dramatic with the OTT ridiculous, which is great fun and highly entertaining. Methinks this is a winner and a new talent has emerged on the scene, well played Charlotte Vassell. Applause from the sidelines.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Faber and Faber for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Witty and extremely funny but with a deeper message about the 'haves' and have-nots' of our society. My first impression was that this was going to be an entertaining whodunit with a different angle and I was right but it's also so much more. As the book progresses it becomes an engrossing thriller with a side order of classical literature and I really loved it. It's definitely not your average police procedural novel but it's still a murder investigation and I entirely failed to guess the perpetrator. Highly recommended.

The night before:
Rupert's 30th is a black tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's - catered with cocaine and Veuve Clicquot.
The morning after:
His girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath. All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally.

Absolutely brilliant, I picked this up over the weekend and ended up reading it in one sitting. For a debut novel Charlotte Vassell has very much excelled. The book has an terrific plot and moves along at quite a fast pace, there is an excellent array of characters that really bring the story to life. They may not all be very nice people but put them all together and it makes for a cracking read. In saying this there are some very close relationships and but the basis of these in many cases is quite twisted but this is what makes this such a great book. Throw in some well developed police characters and it all comes together as one book I will definitely remember for this year. 5 stars and more.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest , unbiased review.

I loved this book! It is a clever, and gripping story, but also very funny with some great characters. I couldn't out it down, and will definitely look out for more from this author.

Absolutely brilliant, a rollicking upper class caper through crime and Classics, I loved THE OTHER HALF. It combines the gaudy glamour of Made In Chelsea with page-turning thriller, Charlotte Vassell is a shining star and a modern day Agatha Christie. Highly recommend if you enjoy Lucy Foley, I raced through this in less than a day! Make sure this is on your 2023 TBR pile, you won’t regret a moment.

Does the title refer to class or part of a relationship, romantic or adversary? This did not occur to me when I started the book, but with all the twists and turns in the story I wonder.
Stick with it, it's a bit confusing at first but opens out into an amazing and multi layered story.
I am almost hoping there will be a follow up, or should it be that I am left wondering what happens next.