Lucy Score brings her usual humour to this one! It’s witty and silly and full of over the top hijinks! I do love Riley and Nick and their merry bands of misfits. I do, however, feel like the book was way longer than the story needed to be. It was a bit too drawn out and that pulled me out of the story a little bit.

Thank you for my advanced copy!

this is book 2 in the Riley Thorn series. now i want to preface this by saying i have not read the first one, so i kind of jumped in head first to this without any idea of what i was getting into. and i have to say... this was such a fun read! there were some lines i think would have made more sense had i read the first book, but it didn't distract or confuse me from anything. anytime i catch a book with hilarious banter, i will devour. this had me actually LOL-ing a few times. while there is romance in this, it's not a focal point. it's more of the main characters attempting to solve a murder mystery and the chaos that ensues in their journey.

i love that you also get a good amount of quirky characters that add so much to the atmosphere in the book. like, without each and every one of the side characters there would be something lacking. the author let's every single character stand out & shine without making it drag on whatever is happening in the moment. and i think that just makes Lucy Score's writing all the more wonderful!

i don't even know what else to say except i definitely recommend this! it does end in a cliffhanger and gives a sneak peek into the third book, so i'm looking forward to that. i just have to go back and read the first book to really immerse myself in the whole Riley Thorn storyline. haha!

thank you to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for allowing me the amazing opportunity to read this book as an ARC. i leave this review voluntarily.

This one was a fun, cute and quirky read! Lucy Score always delivers and this one was no exception! I absolutely loved this! This book has romance, mystery, humor and some paranormal elements. I highly recommend The Corpse in the Closet.

I enjoyed this read a lot more than the first book in the Riley Thorn Series; Lucy Score’s humor really shines through in both novels. Just like in book 1, Mrs. Penny & Gabe remain to be my favorite characters. That old woman kept me laughing throughout both books! I thought the book really picked up for me when Riley got the glitter bomb. that’s when i actually sat up in my seat and was like “okay now we’re getting somewhere”.

This book was so much fun!! From the laughter and banter throughout, the dry humor & wit, the mysterious side & all the quirkiness!!

The 2 MC’s were great!! And the side characters as well! This world Lucy has written is a great adventure!

I love all of Lucy’s books, & I look forward to what she has up her sleeve next!

Recommmended by me! 5/5

I cannot get enough of Riley Thorn and her mixed bag of family & friends! Great, unique characters that held up in book 2. I can’t wait to read book 3!!

This book is the second in the series and was so much fun! It picks up right where the first book left off, Riley Thorn and The Dead Guy Next Door, with Riley and Nick teaming up to solve another murder. All the hilarious secondary characters are back along with the introduction of Nick's family and Riley's grandmother. I loved watching Nick and Riley's chemistry continue to blossom as they also grow individually. The cliffhanger at the end, while not surprising, set up for the third book perfectly!

Tropes: Dual POV, Paranormal Rom-com mystery, Reverse grumpy/sunshine

Thank you Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Riley Thorn and her private investigator boyfriend, Nick, are back for another adventure. Riley has been asked to assist the police in their investigation after a corpse was found in a closet. Nick is worried about her safety, but Riley is determined to help. Meanwhile, Nick is working on a case to find a missing dad for his ex, who needs to find him before she can go on vacation. Along the way, Riley is also working on honing her psychic abilities with the help of her family and grandmother. She even gets to meet Nick's family. This book is a fun and refreshing romantic mystery, full of laugh-out-loud moments and charming characters. Lucy Score has done it again, and I can't wait for the next installment. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for my ARC. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

The Corpse in the Closet is another fabulously ridiculous and amusing book in the Riley Thorn series. Riley and Nick are back along with the hilarious crew from the elderly housing mansion, the serious Detective Weber, Riley's muscled and warmhearted psychic mentor, Gabe, Riley's pompous ex and tv news anchor, Griffin Gentry and his vapid tv weather person fiancée, Bella Goodshine, Riley's off-the-wall psychic family, her best friend, Jasmine, and Nick's oversexed work buddies, Brian and Josie. We also get to meet Nick's crazy family, as well as a new bunch of oddball people connected to several murders in the city. Burt, the large, super active, ever hungry dog and Daisy, the spite cow are back too!

This book is laugh-out-loud funny, absurd, wacky, adventurous and full of eccentric characters. Both Riley and Nick have crazy, unusual families, and the dinner scenes with them are fantastically comical and entertaining. People's names, physical descriptions and the situations they find themselves in are uproariously funny. Despite the murders and other serious crimes going on, Score manages to keep the story light and fun. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, The Dead Guy Next Door, but I think I like this one even more. And the ending leaves the reader with a surprising new bit of information that will hopefully be addressed in the next book in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the digital ARC.

This is the second book in the Riley Thorne series by Lucy Score and continues with the story of Psychic Riley Thorne and another murder mystery..
A rom com Full of wit, humor, romance and enough mystery to keep you guessing. I just loved the characters and the banter. Such a fun hilarious read that just leaves you wanting more!
Thank you to Lucy Score, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom books for the ARC.

I loved this book! Such a fun read! Thank you NetGalley and Bloom books! Lucy Score is one of my favorite authors so I am so happy I got this ARC. Can’t wait for the other books!

📚 ARC Review 📚

The Corpse in the Closet⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Riley Thorn is back at it again with another case on her hands. She uses her psychic abilities to find possible leads and clues to take the investigation forward. After what happened last time, her boyfriend, Nick isn’t too happy that she’s helping out again. He worries a lot about her safety, especially when they realize they have a serial killer on their hands. It doesn’t help that Riley also had a “vision” to either back off the case or she’ll be next.

Just like the first book, this one had its hilarious moments with the banter and sarcasm between the characters. It’s more like a whodunnit murder mystery with a little romance thrown in. Overall, I enjoyed it!

This book republishes tomorrow, April 16, 2024. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for my advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

2.5 ☆

ok so if you like quirky romcoms with a great humor and wacky characters, this one’s for you! i might be in the minority here, and i’m not saying i hated it, but i just didn’t feel that invested in the story. i like the characters, LOVE the hilarity of their lives, but there’s just so much i can take. i didn’t want to gaslight myself into liking this because i knew part of my lack of enjoyment was a ME thing instead of it being the book. <i>the dead guy next door</i> was very middle-ground to me and like that one, this book seemed to drag as well.

maybe i shouldn’t read multiple romcoms in a row. balance is key and all that.

thank you netgalley for this arc in exhange for a review.

Great book! The characters are perfectly described that it was easy to grab their personality I did love grandma with her old roots and strict spiritual teaching. This book was funny entertaining and had a mystery plot that had me stuck in the book! I loved it

This book was laugh out loud funny. Is there a category of comedic mysteries? Because that’s what this book is. Psychic Riley is working with her private investigator boyfriend Nick when she is asked by Detective Weber to help on a police case. Nick’s missing person case overlaps with Weber’s case as they all work to solve it. Add in Riley and Nick’s crazy housemates and families and you get lots of fun.

This is my first book by Lucy Score and I really liked it. It was a twisty read with silly characters that kept my attention. I liked the murder mystery and the way the characters interacted with each other. Thorn and Santiago were a sweet couple There were some parts that felt slower than others but otherwise it was a pretty fun ride. Definitely want to check out the next book in the series. Even though I didn’t read the other book in the series I was still able to get up to speed. I’d say it was a funny, romantic, murder mystery. 3.75 rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

I’ve been trying to find the words to tell people why they should be reading Lucy Score. Honestly, her books are a trojan horse of storytelling. See, here’s the thing. When you pick up a book like her newest story, Riley Thorn and the Corpse in the Closet, and you launch into the story, at its rom-comesque surface, it’s seemingly zany. Riley Thorn, the heroine, is a psychic. She’s not thrilled with her gift, so she goes into different situations where people need her to use her psychic abilities, and she begrudgingly agrees. She fights the use of her gift. This leads to all kinds of issues. Add to that an overprotective new boyfriend in Nick, a cadre of senior citizen roommates who are out of control, a family of gifted mystics, a grandmother with an iron fist, trying to control Riley’s use of her gifts, a large farting dog, a strange smell from next door, and the murders of some not-upstanding humans to the mix, and, to me, it feels very out of control. Every turn of the page brings another twist for Riley who is trying to negotiate a new relationship, find some alone time with him, and maintain her autonomy over her gift. This story is heavy with story and characterization; its feel is light. But that’s the Trojan horse of Score’s writing because belying that zany story is a couple of life truths.

For one, Lucy Score uses the murders of internet trolls to highlight the insensitivity and mean-spiritedness between humans. Interestingly enough, Score kills two of these people in the story and she threatens a couple more, and I think you’re meant to consider the ways that we treat each other, especially through the computer. Score presents these deaths in a way that makes us laugh in her fiction, but there is a graver truth to its existence: these unkind characters forgot empathy and compassion for humankind through their online behavior. And we’re supposed to think about that, I believe.

Secondly, Riley is such an interesting character. She’s beautiful, quirky, intelligent, and independent. Since Nick has committed himself to her, and as a consequence of the happenings of the first book of this series, out of his worry, he makes choices that undermine her agency, her ability to make her own decisions. And Riley fights this. In doing so, there aren’t dramatic issues with their relationship in this book; any angst of Riley Thorn… lies in the revelation of the story. What Lucy Score does is create a conversation around Nick’s male instinct to protect Riley so that she can maintain her independence while respecting Nick’s fear over her. These conversations feel important in the world of romance, even rom-coms, when male characters can often undermine the decisions of the heroines.

Additionally, because Riley struggles with the responsibility behind her psychic ability, there is a message about doing your best even when you worry that you will fail. Some of Riley’s insecurities about being a psychic lie in her worry that she won’t perform well. It takes much of the book for her to realize that she has to try first, do her very best, and accept the results.

All of the qualities of Lucy Score’s Riley Thorn and the Corpse in the Closet make for a story that will simply make you smile

Lucy Score is a phenomenal author! She never disappoints! This was a fun filled book and kept me laughing.

What a great read! The humor, the suspense, the little bit of love story, it was all on point. Lucy Score’s writing is so smooth and enjoyable, it makes it so easy to absolutely devour her books!

Riley Thorn has another case on her hands after what happened last time she’s a bit apprehensive but decides to take on the challenge. She’s to use her psychic abilities to find possible leads and clues to take the investigation forward. Her boyfriend Nick Santiago worries a lot, he brought Thorn into this mess while it’s a risky job but she was never supposed to be put in danger. Time is of the essence especially when it becomes clear they have a serial killer on their hands. It all comes to a head when Riley receives a warning. Back off or you’re next.

I would describe this as a mystery, whodunnit novel with a sprinkle of romance. Nothing like the other books I’ve read by Lucy Score.

It’s a bit messy, there are multiple cases going on at the same time. The pov changes without warning and there are a lot of characters to keep track off. It all comes together in the end but it took me awhile to piece it all together.

The psychic angle is so interesting, I’m not sure whether I would trust it as an investigator but it certainly makes for an entertaining book. Riley and her family is definitely the highlight of the book for me. Lots of really unique and expressive characters that puts a smile on your face.

For a mystery novel it’s surprisingly funny, I literally couldn’t stop laughing at one point. However it’s not all that intense, there’s a murderer on the loose but somehow I was never all that worried. That would make me as a reader more invested so that’s a lost opportunity. I also wish there were more romance and steam, that’s something Lucy Score excels at.

The corpse in the closet will be rereleased tomorrow with this new cover. I’m so glad I got an arc and I’m officially invested in seeing what happens next in this series.