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My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⋆ (3.5 stars)

I had a bit of an epiphany while reading this book. You see, I have a challenging time getting into books and have had years where I couldn't even read one page besides children's books read to my kiddos.

I'm a stay-at-home mom to a blended bunch of 4 home school kiddos. There isn't a day that goes by where I'm solving some kind of kid mystery/drama. I'm constantly ten steps ahead of who did it, what did they do, and where were they. From missing toys to who made those messy fingerprints, I'm always on the detective case. (My assumptions are about 95% correct in most of my daily scenarios)

So, Mystery novels have become my newest book interest, and I can clearly see why. They help train my detective skills even further. (Luckily my day-to-day mysteries are very tiny in comparison!)

Enough about me already...on to my thoughts on The Murder Club...

The Murder Club is part five in the Pike, Wisconsin series by Alexandra Ivy. Having not read the first four, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to follow it very well. The only downside from not reading the first books was that I wasn't sure of the characters. There wasn't too much information as to who these characters were or if they were in any of the other novels, but the main storyline overall was easy to follow.

In my opinion, to really get a grasp of the characters I would recommend starting the series from the beginning, which I fully plan on doing.

So why the 3.5 stars? Well, being that I have such a difficult time having books grab my attention throughout the entire book, I had to at least say that I did enjoy reading this.
It was a fairly easy read and easy to follow. It had my detective skills on high alert. But what I didn't enjoy was the romance.

✹Spoiler alert✹: So, the main character (who loves to solve murders) decides to stay at some new attractive guy's house that she barely knows while living in a town with strange murders happening...while getting strange texts about solving a murder... and being accused of murdering for money... (Yes, I know..a bit confusing) I had a huge red flag pop up in my head and instantly thought how dumb she was for doing that. He could have been the murderer...duh! She falls in love with this hunky guy and the romance/spice department was a bit on the cheesy side. Oh, and they really loved eating pizza.

The mystery aspect did keep me on my toes and was enjoyable.

Overall, I'm glad that I gave this book a try. I enjoyed Alexandra Ivy's writing am intrigued enough to begin reading the series in full.


Special thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nurse Bailey joined a online murder club that investigated real crimes. When a anonymous member starts sending her disturbing messages she gets out of the club. The stalker starts killing people and contacts Bailey to solve the crimes before he kills more. Dom Lucifer. Omens to town to house sit for a friend and reconnects with Bailey. The two work together to solve the crimes as their relationship grows. This was a good mystery

When Kayden from book fours best friend Dom Lucier comes to Pike he’s there to housesit but when he sees Bailey across the street at the local bar the bait and tackle he immediately rushes over there to say hello. Ever since Aaliyah and Kayden‘s wedding where he met Bailey he could not stop thinking about her.
Bailey Evans Riley wasn’t looking for love but when she realizes that’s what Dom wanted something more than a one night stand she wasn’t exactly against it she even tells him about the strange text messages she’s been getting about joining a private murder club and she has no idea who’s sending them. They start spending a lot of time together especially since she’s been fired from the old folks home but when people start getting murdered he doesn’t want to let her out of his sight. There’s also a strange guy in town who staying at a rented cottage and saying he is the Artist Ford Smithson Who at the very least is strange but he is just one of many very good suspects
It’s not just dumb who is worried about Bailey however her cousin Zach, the sheriff it’s also concerned. People are dying she gets fired for stealing from the resident at the old folks home and a local resident gets caught stalking her Bailey has a lot to contend with the wind they tell Bailey dumb is a Serial Killer she is just baffled and doesn’t know what to think. These books are so good they read like thrillers Pike Wisconsin is supposed to be the serial killer capital of the world and true to form it seems every book there’s one a foot this is the first book I have read from the series but it will not be my last I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed this book as much as you can enjoy a book if you love action mystery romance then you’ll definitely love the murder club book 5 in the Pike Wisconsin mysteries I totally absolutely did and I definitely recommend it! I want to thank Kensington Books and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Thank you Netgalley and Zebra/Kensington Books for the chance to read The murder club by Alexandra Ivy. While this is the 5th book in the Pike, Wisconsin series, I believe you can read it as a standalone. I had read the 1st and 2nd book of the series but have not read the next two, and I did not have any problems following along. I really enjoyed reading this romantic suspense story and was a fast read for me. Bailey and Zac had great chemistry together, and I loved the addition of the dogs, Bert and Ernie. I was intrigued by the title, and premise; Bailey receives an invitation to join an online group, The Murder club and starts off enjoying finding clues and solving real life crimes but decides to quit when it becomes a bit too creepy. However, someone in the group does not want her to quit and turns it into a real Murder Club.
I recommend this book and series for those who enjoy reading Lisa Jackson, and the late Beverly Barton. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

The Murder Club by Alexandra Ivy
This is the fifth book in the Pike, Wisconsin series.

Murder and secrets seem to go hand in hand in Pike. When Dom heads to Pike to relax and get to know Bailey better he didn't factor in a possible stalker and murderer in the mix. But really, anything is possible in Pike.
Bailey is shocked when she's accused of killing one of her patients. She became a nurse to help people and to have that turned against her might be her last straw. Then weird texts start showing up and she's equally glad that Dom is in town. She can use a friend as it seems that everyone else around her is suspect and the strange clues keep piling up.

The Murder Club, is the fifth book in Alexandra Ivy’s new Pike, Wisconsin series. It is an action packed, romantic suspense story with great, well developed characters and a fantastic storyline. The story is written in third person from the point of view of the heroine, Bailey Evans and the hero, Dom Lucier.

Bailey joined the online crime solving group, The Murder Club, as a simple way to add excitement to the monotony of her life. She never expected that when she left, a killer would turn his sights on Bailey, and do everything to draw her into his web and destroy her budding relationship with Dom. Together Dom and Bailey battle the danger and their sizzling attraction while searching for clues to solve the mysterious deaths in and around Pike, Wisconsin. Can they discover the identity of the killer before Dom and Bailey become the next victims? Read it and find out!

This book is part of a series but can be read as a standalone. While a few events and characters from the previous books are mention, Ivy does a fantastic job providing an explanation and summary. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

I am assuming this book is part of a series, which I obviously haven’t read, but it was easy to read this book by itself. If there was stuff that would have been good to know from reading the previous books, then I didn’t know it and still really enjoyed this book anyway. I enjoyed the relationship between Bailey and Dom - you could feel the tension in the air!! There were a range of suspicious characters, but I didn’t guess who the culprit was and it was nice to have that surprise at the end. I will look for more of this series to read and see if the author has any other books. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a good mix of romance and a thriller. Bailey Evans lives in Pike, Wisconsin, known for serial killers. She was in an online true crime group but leaves because she gets creeped out. After that, she starts getting texts from a random number about the group and that’s when it all begins. At the same time Bailey meets up with an out of town man she barely knows from her best friend’s wedding and the romance starts.

This is a pretty quick read but it was just ok, neither the romance or the mystery aspect were very interesting. I would give this 2.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

The Murder Club🔪

Bailey is a long time resident of Pike and has been there through all the serial killers that their town has become known for. In her down time, due to boredom, she joins a Murder Club - to help solve cold cases…unfortunately, she attracts the attention of a killer who tries to get her to join in.

Dom knew when he met Bailey at Kaden’s wedding, she was someone special. He’s now returned to Pike to get to know her better and stumbles into these murder puzzles with Bailey…trying to figure out how to keep her safe, while trying to solve whodunnit😳

A great read, pieces started falling into place towards the end for me though…I wasn’t as onto it as previous books unfortunately😢 I received an advanced copy via Netgalley and willingly leave my honest review❤️

Bailey Evans loves a good cold case. So when a friend invited her to join an online club, that solves cold cases, she contributed her medical expertise, and enjoyed it. Once she no longer felt, the club was able to capture her free time, however, someone’s decided to throw a new case. Unfortunately, it’s not a Cold case, but rather a super hot case with murders occur to specifically point her towards clues.

New relationship in the works, and the sheriff as her cousin, has all the help. She needs to help protect her from this twisted person. But will be able to help stop the murder and solve the case before belly becomes a statistic.

That was a super super read. It was filled with clues that you didn’t always capture and understand until something else popped up and there was just enough keeping you from finally figuring out who done it until the very end. This was one I could not put down And devoured in an afternoon.

I was looking forward to reading this book but it really didn’t live up to my expectations. It also wasn’t made clear that this was part of a series until I started the book.

The Murder Club is the 5th volume of the Pike, Wisconsin series by Alexandra Ivy. I have, of course, read all the previous volumes, and overall, it's a good thriller series. However, not being a fan of the genre, there are some volumes that I liked less. The fact that the author is Alexandra Ivy encourages me to continue because, in any case, I find all the ingredients in it that make me love her books.
The murder club is one of the less dark in the series, even though there are still murders, and consequently, it is one of my favorites.

The story features Bailey Evans, the best friend of Lia Porter (Desperate Acts) and cousin of Zac Evans (Unstable), and Dom Lucier, a friend and associate of Kaden Vaughn (Desperate Acts). We got a glimpse of these two characters in the previous installments, and at the beginning of the novel, we learn that they met at Lia and Kaden's wedding. They were immediately attracted to each other, but at that time, neither took the first step, and they went back to their routines.
The novel begins when they meet again in Pike. The heroine is having a drink with a colleague when Dom enters the bar and approaches her directly. He explains that he has a mission to « watch over his friend's house while he is away with his wife. » That's what he tells Bailey, but readers know that he mainly wanted to see the young woman who left a strong impression on him a few months earlier.
On her part, Bailey was also immediately drawn to Dom, but she didn't expect to see him again, and she never imagined there could be any romantic relationship between them. He had remained in her memory as a fantasy.
The development of the love story is fast - but that's usual for Alexandra, which is why I love her books. Nevertheless, there aren't many hot scenes. There is no doubt about the couple and their future together when closing the book.

The suspense side of the novel is linked to what the author calls a « murder club. » I don't know if it really exists in the USA, but it's like a book club. The members - ordinary people with no connection to the police or any other professional in the field - gather around a suspicious or unsolved murder case to discuss it and find clues that may have escaped investigators at the time. However, it doesn't go any further. The police are not informed of their conclusions, and the media doesn't pick up the case either.
When the book begins, Bailey has ended her subscription to the club. She had joined it in a moment of boredom, enjoyed unraveling cases, but recently, she had been receiving strange private messages, including one asking her to join a secret club, which she didn't want to do. So, she decided to close her account.
Unfortunately, she receives a text from an anonymous sender informing her that she is a member of this secret club, willingly or not. This person then sends her a newspaper article announcing the accidental death of a woman in a nearby town. When Bailey goes to the scene, she realizes there is something to investigate.
At the same time, she is suspended from her job following a certain event that I'll let readers discover, and she is suspected of having taken advantage of one of her patients. She works as a nurse in a retirement home. Later, she receives a suspicious package, and that's when she starts to worry.
Fortunately, at that moment, Dom is already in the vicinity, and he will confirm to her that she is right to be wary, in addition to offering his help. None of our heroes are part of law enforcement, but Zac is the sheriff of the small town, and he is there to help his cousin get out of this situation, which I appreciated. In any case, the investigation progresses rather slowly, and the clues are revealed gradually. I had no idea about the ins and outs of the story, and I was very surprised by the revelations.

Regarding the writing, we can say that Alexandra Ivy knows how to use modern computer tools to handle her story. The members of the murder club only know each other online, and few know each other in real life, each using pseudonyms. Alexandra Ivy has been published since 2001, and she has been able to evolve with the times and new technology, making it easy for a young reader to connect with this book.

To conclude, The Murder Club is a very good thriller/romantic suspense that I recommend. It can be read on its own without any problem, but being a fan of the author, I can only advise to read the entire series. After all, there are only 5 volumes.

A relatively quick read.

Bailey Evans is at a bar with her friend from the nursing home - Kari Wentz in Pike, Wisconsin. They see a very attractive man walk in whom Bailey has met before – Dom. They find themselves getting drawn to each other. Bailey has been a part of a murder club of citizens which checks out cold cases for clues. In the clinic, one of the patients Nellie passes away tragically. She changes her will leaving her son Gage Warren with nothing. Greg is furious and accuses Bailey of foul play. Bailey is sent on unpaid leave. There is a death of a lady Pauline Hartford in nearby Grange town, presumed to be an accident. Her son Kevin had visited a few hours prior asking for money. Bailey gets messages from an unknown sender asking her to rejoin the murder club. She is also getting stalked and stressed, but has Dom’s support as well as her cousin Zac who is the local Sheriff. Though the recent deaths could be accidents, it is also possible that there is a clever killer in town and it is not clear.

I liked the overall plot, though not all ends tie up well. There are quite a few murders in the book, but this is not a serious procedural story. There is a drawn-out romantic track (which I found boring as it was written as you would read in 1000s of other stories) as well. The murder club itself unexpectedly has very little coverage in the story. I liked Bailey’s character but the others are not very well developed. Dom’s introduction is abrupt. I liked the fact that the twists were not too outlandish (as is often the case with many books these days) and the story progressed well. This is an easy read, and that is to its credit.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books and the author for a free electronic review copy.

The Murder Club was entertaining enough to get me through an afternoon where I wanted fluffy murder in my book. I enjoyed Bailey's story as she tries to figure out who stalks her. The other murders were well-connected, and I enjoyed the final reveal of the bad guy. Don, the love interest, was just "meh" for me. The romance wasn't bad, but it also wasn't memorable. I give this book 3/5 stars.


Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to review The Murder Club. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Review posted to Goodreads on 1/31/24, see link below

2.5 stars, 1.25 spice

<i>The Murder Club</i> by Alexandra Ivy is a contemporary romance novel with a suspense/murder subplot. I put romance before suspense because I definitely felt like the romance between the main characters was the core of the plot, and the murder subplot was used as a vehicle to develop the romantic storyline, giving the MMC the opportunity to play hero and so on.

This was an OK read, I wasn’t entirely impressed by any of the elements of the story, the romance or the murder plot, so coming all together just made this an average experience. I think this would definitely be better for light readers that don’t want to go into the true nitty gritty of murder and suspense, but want a romance with a little something extra for fun.

I think my biggest area of issue was the fact that I never felt like we truly got to know the characters, or that their personalities or passions truly jumped off the page. This would’ve been a great book to go extra campy with the true crime murder solving online club and have the main character be super into it, but I never felt like the FMC had any passion for true crime, which made following her as she solved the book’s mystery a little dry. We definitely need to see more backstory from the characters, and more emotional depth to them. I don’t feel like I got to know any character better from page 1 until the end.

I appreciate the effort here to come up with a clever murder plot, but I personally think it took too many swings and misses, and with the lack of character development, I never felt there was anything for me to sink my teeth into.

A murder club- for real. Bailey's lived a quiet life in the town of Pike, Wisconsin, a town which those who have had the series would avoid because wow are a lot of murders there! She's a nurse, she's inherited from a patient she's accused of killing, and she's got a gem her old pal Dom can help her with. It's a fast read that mixes mystery with romance, It's also fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was fantastic! Lots of twists and turns and you really don't know "who dunnit" until the very end!

Bailey and Dom have their hands full with murder and the list of suspects is long...but just when they think they have the culprit, the person ends up dead! And this murder stuff is interfering with their romance!

This is a very fast read and very hard to put down! You're going to love it! Alexandra Ivy knows how to do murder!
I can tell you one thing, Pike, Wisconsin is not a place where I'd like to live!

A huge thank you to Kensington for once again granting me the privilege of reading this book!

The Murder Club (Pike, Wisconsin #5) by Alexandra Ivy
Can I only give this only 5 stars? Ivy kept me on the edge of my seat I only stopped reading to eat and sleep a few hours. Romantic suspense is my favorite read and this was outstanding. Bailey and Dom both were dealing with their own baggage but sharing their stories only made them closer. There was angst, danger, murder, mystery, deception, caring and devotion, a visit with old friends and family, some laughs and tears, the "Murder Club" a nosy neighbor, a little heat and lots of suspense to get us to their HEA. Needless to say I read it about a day and LOVED IT!
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Entertaining Scary Action-packed Unpredictable Page-turner Witty Happily Ever After Informative Easy-to-read Tear-jerker Great world building Wonderful characters Haunting Romantic Tragic Twisted.

Bailey was born and raise in the small town of Pike. She has been working nursing home as a nurse for years and is loved by the residents. When she wasn't working, sbelonged to a club who investigated cold cases as a hobby. However, Bailey left the group once she started getting stange messages inviting her to a new more exclusive murder club.

Then one of Bailey's patients at the nursing home, an elderly woman, dies and Bailey is accused by her son of killing her. So she is put on leave from her job and this begins her investigation. As the body's start to pile up, Bailey and Dom (a gorgeous man who is in town for a while and an acquaintance) start to look for answers together.

When I started reading The Murder Club, I didn't realize that it was the 5th book in a series! It definitely works as a stand-alone as well. The writing as always is amazing and the characters feel like you grew up with them in the small town of Pike (where the book is set). I definitely felt an emotional connection to Bailey throughout the book which is rare. Definitely a great mystery with a bit of spice!

3.5 Stars

What I loved.
This was pretty fast paced. I really liked the murder mystery side. I spent the whole book jumping around about who did it. Fun fact: I was till jumping around on my guess till the end.

What I didn’t love.
Honestly the love part of the story didn’t work for me. Granted I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, but it didn’t work if you read this by itself. It was just to instant love for me. Also, while I loved chasing where this book was leading, sometimes it was more jumping around and choppy.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a quick who dunnit mystery.