Murderpalooza is a premier mystery and suspense writer conference. It is a massive event that many top writers of the genre regularly attend. Kristin Bailey is a best seller and it comes as a huge shock when she is found dead in her hotel. Her competition is everywhere so there are plenty of attendees with a motive. But, what better group to try to solve this murder than this group of expert murder book writers.

I really enjoyed I DIDN’T DO IT! The storyline is very clever and bravo to Jamie Lynn Hendricks for executing it perfectly. It reminded me of the Clue and Knives Out movies immediately. I am a big fan of those types of murder mystery movies for sure. This book kept my attention and kept me guessing the whole time. I highly recommend it and will read more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scarlet for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

I really liked this book and the more I think about it, the more I start to love it. Welcome to Murderpalooza, a premier mystery writer conference, and the setting of the murder of top-writer, Kristin Bailey. A conference full of mystery writers who write about murder, are accused of murder, and possibly targeted for the next murder? Yes, please!

This was such a quick-read! The book is told from the perspective of the four suspected murderers and Kirstin Bailey (pre-murder). Each character has his or her own quirks and secrets. Secrets being possible motive, of course. I honestly had NO idea where this book was going and who murdered Kristin.

This read was perfect parts of light suspense and author satire/humor. Some scenes had me creeped out one minute and then laughing the next. The cliffhangers ensured I kept reading just one more chapter (or three thanks to the swapping perspectives). I highly recommend picking this one up when it is released in May!

Thank you @netgalley and @w.w.norton for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This a Wickedly fun story and you will be sure to devour it.
There’s a murder at murderpalooza and many authors seem guilty. Who did it and why?
This was brilliantly written and takes us through the perspective of numerous authors and their thoughts.
Highly recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you for the ARC, the book was entertaining throughout and each character kept you guessing. I did catch on that something wasn’t right as a murder investigation would never be handled by a hotel representative. Loved the idea of a suspense writer convention and someone gets murdered. Jaime Lynn Hendricks does a great job in telling the story and it was really well written.

I was lucky enough to get this ARC from NetGalley. A huge thank you for offering it to me as I absolutely LOVED Finding Tessa.

Murderpalooza (why is this not a real convention for us murderinos?!) is an author convention full of our favorite genre authors, discussions, workshops etc.

The story is told from 5 authors points of view all in attendance at Murderpalooza. One of the more famous authors is found dead in her hotel room, and no one knows who did it or why. The killer has 4 authors at his/her beck and call while he/she toys with them all before the big reveal at the award ceremony. Before the weekend is over, another is found dead and the whole place plus the social media universe is ablaze with what is happening.

I absolutely loved how I got to know the authors from their points of view. Mike was my favorite followed by Vicky. I wish their books were real I’d read them. Lol.
But every chapter left me wondering which one did this and how they are involved and I believed at one point that they all were unreliable narrators. The setting was spot on, and if there was a convention like this filled with my favorite thriller writers I would be in seventh heaven.

I truly did not figure out the who, what and why even with the little hints and a few red herrings which I always appreciate.

I do not have any complaints about the book except I finished it and want more. This was a really fun, good mystery/whodunnit with a very different setting and plot. I needed a change from all the domestic thrillers I’ve been reading lately.

Thank you again to Jaime Lynn Hendricks and NetGalley for offering me this one. Truly enjoyed it and I will share in my book groups that this is a need to read.

Alright if I wore earrings, this is where I would take them out to get comfy and tell y’all about this book. I don’t know why they only let me give 5 stars because that’s NOT ENOUGH for Ms. Jaime’s writing! Let’s get it out of the way that I love the first person perspectives in most chapters. Then we go into before the murder and after the murder… I’m already hooked!!! I’m so obsessed with the way Hendricks writes a whodunit like a freaking professional. I have no idea how she manages to write so many characters’ voices and thoughts!
If there is one book you read this year, let THIS be the book!!!

I Didn't Do It is a 2023 thriller written by Jaime Lynn Hendricks, a new author I found on NetGalley and decided to read. The premise was intriguing - a group of writers are accused of killing a fellow writer at a conference in NYC. As we get to know each of the characters, it's clear they have secrets and a history with the newly deceased colleague. But what's unclear is who setup the new Twitter account to essentially blackmail each of the possible culprits. Tagging along are significant others, spouses, literary agents and editors, each of whom also has or had a grudge against the dead writer and the still alive ones. Plus, something happened 6 years ago to another author who somehow connects to the current plot. What's really going? Bordering on a comedy (lightly), this is a true pun on the suspense industry and associated awards but in a completely enjoyable way where it's just enough to be soap opera-ish drama and a true thriller with intense twists and a major revelation at the end. All in all, it served well to entice me to the writer's style and voice, and I will read more from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for this ARC. What a fun and wild ride this book was! I really liked this whodunit murder mystery told through the POV of 4 suspected authors. I liked how each character had their own voices and quirks that added to their stories. And the big reveal? I loved it. This book was a fast paced and hilarious popcorn thriller!

To be honest I ALMOST DNF this book because of one of the characters (his attitude just irked me - but I think that was done intentionally).

This is a perfect whodunit novel. Anytime I thought I figured out the killer, I was wrong.

Also I couldn’t get enough of the last few chapters. The suspense! The reveal! A total twist that got me off guard.

In the end, I’m glad I pushed through.

I Didn't Do It
by Jaime Lynn Hendricks
Description
A murder at a suspense writer convention makes everyone a suspect—especially the victim’s literary rivals.
Murderpalooza, the premier thriller writers' conference, is meant to be an exciting celebration of the genre and its preeminent writers. But when bestselling author and industry favorite Kristin Bailey is found dead in her hotel room, four rival authors—a mid-lister, an egomaniac, a has-been, and a newbie—also get targeted by an anonymous social media account and wonder if they’re next.

Wow, a great mystery/thriller and a tell-all in one. It was fun as I tried to find out among the suspects and their secrets which one killed the writer. Almost chose your own killer among writers. I had to read this one and the pov from each suspect until DAMN, I had a gotcha in the end. Fun, original, and a great story.

I wanted to love this book, but I had a lot of mixed feelings!

I was so excited for the ‘thriller-genre-meta’, but, and I hate to say it, it was campy to the point of cringey. The beginning was technically rough—an overdose of telling, all the backstory, pages and pages of characters’ thoughts and connections before we knew who anyone was. It was very hard to keep track of who was who, until about halfway through the book. Additionally, it felt like the book captured the author-scene from maybe ten or fifteen years ago—the loads of money waved around at the authors (definitely something more of the past), the way the agents/editors fawned over them, the over-the-top celebrity status of an author after one big hit. It felt less like I was reading about modern-day authors, and more like they were Hollywood actors, especially with all of the drama and ridiculous amounts of money they apparently made. Another note is that nearly all of the names seemed very dated—maybe a generation too dated, for the ages of all the characters. A couple would make sense, but it was more than just a couple.

That said, I loved Suzanne’s character—she was by far the most compelling, and I loved the ending with her.

No one’s more sad than I am that I had a hard time with this one! Still, I’m very grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Thank you Penzler Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 5 stars for DNF as I cannot comment on the overall quality of the book.

The premise sounded sooo juicy!! I was very excited to be approved for this. Unfortunately, the writing was extremely basic... almost elementary. The uninspired writing didn't hook me. We're introduced to several characters in the first 10%, and each are written as cariactures.

This definitely has potential, but ironically (one of the characters loves to "self edit" her inner monologue), this needed a serious edit. It felt very rushed.

This is already one of my favorite books of the year. Nothing is what it seems and everyone has a motive. I read this is in a weekend and definitely had one of the best twsits I've ever seen. There was one particular instance where my mind was completely blown. I will definitely be suggesting this one to all my bookish friends!

I loved the premise of this book! A murder at a thriller writer convention? Fantastic.

I was able to very easily guess the twist, but that's okay. It was fun and made me giggle a few times. The POVs changed very quickly back and forth and sometimes I had a hard time remembering what was happening with each. But I also have ADD, so what do I know? Haha

Thank you for the advance copy!

Wow! To say I flew through this book is an understatement. This was such a fun & twisty ride and I couldn’t get enough. Hendricks has such a way with her character development & really flushing out every detail. I also admire the way she can take a daunting task, like getting to know a lot of characters and making it easy for the reader.
There were a lot of “oh!” moments and it kept me gripped! Even those last few chapter twists had my jaw dropped. If you haven’t read anything by Jaime, take this as your sign to do it! (not to be a Suzanne) But I can’t rave about this book or her writing enough! Easy 5 stars!

Thank you kindly to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers, Scarlet for the eARC!

Okay, WHAT! This. Was. Amazing. 👏 Easily one of the best whodunits I’ve read in literally (𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦—delete 😉) years. From the character development to the engrossing—and oh, so realistic—plot, all the way down to the titillating prose and metaphors that were so on point I couldn’t help but highlight the crap out of them.

The dual first person POVs were so captivating—and this cast of “characters” disguised as thriller authors?! At a Thrillerfest-esq Murderpalooza? Come on! So. Fricken. Clever.

Well done, Ms. Hendricks. Well. Fricken. Done. 𝑰 𝑫𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝑫𝒐 𝑰𝒕 pubs May 23, 2023!

This was my first book by this author. A thriller about a bunch of thriller authors at a thriller convention and one of them is murdered? Has there ever been a cooler plot!?

Hendricks’ abilities in developing characters and making you feel like you are quite literally talking to them through the POV story telling is unparalleled.

The douchebag characters are cringey, the bitch ones you already know what they look like bc you’ve met the same types in person, the has beens, the never ares. We all know the types and she hits them spot on.

Where the story started to go flat for me was the big twist about 40 pages from the end. I let it sit with me for a while and thought to myself “ok I can live with that as long as the last few pages are really killer”, pun intended. But the ending was so disappointingly predictable.

With that bit aside, I absolutely loved 90% of the book. I will check out other books by this author.


3.5 stars rounded up

#IDidntDoIt #NetGalley
A fun read. 4.5/5 ⭐
Murderpalooza, the premier thriller writers conference, is meant to be an exciting celebration of the genre and its preeminent writers. But when bestselling author and industry favorite Kristin Bailey is found dead in her hotel room, four rival authors—a mid-lister, an egomaniac, a has-been, and a newbie—also get targeted by an anonymous social media account and wonder if they’re next. First, they find themselves bonding to try to find out who’s behind it. As the account taunts them, it slowly reveals secrets that each of them have connected to Kristin—secrets that make them a suspect in each other’s eyes. Soon, they are turning on each other and silently accusing each as a killer. With time running out until the awards ceremony where the social media account has promised a big reveal, the only thing they know for sure is that no one is better at both creating and solving a mystery than the people who write them for a living.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for giving me an advance copy.

3.75
Fun and fast paced, if at times a bit over the top. The characters were a pinch either underdeveloped or outright silly, but that's mostly forgivable given the nature of the thing/the way the twist played out.

Jaime Lynn Hendricks has once again written a twisty dark thriller that will you keep guessing! This one is based, of all the incredible settings, a thriller writer convention... plenty of people who know how to plot a murder (and get away with it!). When an award-winning author dies (gasp!) hidden motives emerge, and soon everyone is suspecting everyone else. You want to read this book! It's so good!