Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I can't quite pinpoint why exactly, but I had a hard time getting into this book. I even tried the audiobook from the Penguin Random House Audio influencer program and I still thought the story was hard to focus on and it never really grasped my interest. I am dissapointed because the synopsis was so mesmerizing. This book is not horrible, I maybe just wasn't in the right mood to fully enjoy this book. I will try again at a later date perhaps.

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Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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The In Crowd is the second in a series featuring DI Caius Beauchamp, and it is just as good as the first. If you haven’t done so already, I recommend reading the first book — The Other Half — beforehand as some of the same characters figure prominently in both books.

In The In Crowd, Beauchamp is asked to investigate a cold case involving a missing multi-million dollar pension fund by a member of Parliament. Beauchamp reluctantly agrees to do so as long as he can continue to investigate a second cold case involving a fourteen-year-old girl who vanished from a girls’ boarding school two decades ago.

Beauchamp — along with DS Matt Cheung and DC Amy Noakes— investigate these parallel missing person cases, as well as the reasons why Beauchamp was asked to investigate the pension fund case to begin with.

As with the previous novel, Vassell does a brilliant job developing her characters. Caius Beauchamp is smart and funny, with the heart of a “romantic lesbian” according to his gay subordinate Amy. The mysteries themselves are well-plotted and hold your interest. They also deal with socially-relevant issues involving race and class, which is a welcome addition to the genre. I can hardly wait to read the next book in the series! 4.5 out of 5 stars (rounded up). Highly recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advanced copy of this book.

4.25/5 stars

This is the second in the Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp series following The Other Half. I’m really enjoying this series as it goes along, following DI Beauchamp and his co-workers Matt and Amy and their various investigations.

This outing finds the crew investigating two cases; one, a cold case (20 years old) involving a missing teenage girl from a boarding school in Cornwall; second, an embezzlement cold case that resurfaces due to the discovery of a body and the machinations of a powerful government bureaucrat. There are also new developments in Caius’s personal life as well as the reappearance of a former villain in a prior investigation.

I really liked how deftly Vassell interwove both the cases in this book as well as the two books in the series.

Smart, funny and a series I’m looking forward to following.

My sincere thanks to Doubleday Books for providing the free early arc of The In Crowd for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The In Crowd.

I didn't realize this was the second book in the series but it can be read as a standalone.

One morning, the body of a dead woman floating in the Thames reopens a cold case from two decades ago.

Then, when DI Caius Beauchamp decides on a night of culture at the theater, a body is found dead just a few seats away. He soon discovers the link between the deceased rand another cold case.

The mysteries are vaguely interesting, if it weren't for the many subplots and minor and secondary unlikable characters.

Politics and politicians are involved (two subjects I despise the most in the world), adultering shenanigans, sexual abuse, genetic lineage, and entitled, privileged haves thinking they're better than everyone else.

Not to mention the romance brewing between Caius and someone who will eventually be linked to one of the cold cases. I don't care about Caius' colleagues teasing him about his love life, which I thought was kind of silly.

There was too much filler and exposition that had nothing to do with propelling the the mysteries or the narrative forward. For example, Rupert. What a turd.

The writing isn't bad, but too wordy, heavy on unnecessary details and descriptions on what people are wearing, wedding nonsense, and politicos throwing their weight around.

I guessed a few of the twists, and the characters were very cliche; for example, people remarks often how pretty Callie is. And Rupert. And Caius, Only in a book are so many people so pretty.

I didn't mind Caius, he's a decent, competent character who I can believe is a reasonable detective.

I'm not sure if I'll continue to read this series but I appreciate the opportunity to read it before publication.

Truly enjoyed this one! Vassell has such a unique writing style that it did admittedly take me a minute to get used to it, as I jumped right into this book, not having read the previous one in the series.

This book tackles both a mysterious drowning in the Thames as well as the reopening of a cold case from twenty years ago. There's a rich cast of characters that represent both a close-knit group of police investigators and families inhabiting both the highest echelons of society and politics. Full of plot and a bit of romance, this was an engaging and fun read.

While I probably won't go back to read the first in the series, I am looking forward to what comes next for Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp.

I enjoyed this one more than the previous in the series. These books are for those who like mysteries that are quite stylized with quirky characters and lots of details. I read Dorothy Sayers for the first time earlier this year, and it reminded me a lot of that style but contemporized.

4.5 stars for this sequel to 2023's The Other Half. The In Crowd follows DI Caius Beauchamp gets tapped by a prominent politician to figure out the mystery of the body found in the Thames. It is unclear what the politician's motives may be, but he is insistent that Lynne Rodgers, a suspect in an unsolved embezzlement case, was murdered. Meanwhile, across town, an attractive young milliner named Callie is helping out with preparations for her friend's high-society wedding. That she will meet Caius will come as no surprise to anyone who ever reads mysteries, but the interplay between the two moves the narrative forward in unexpected ways. Vassell, once again, skewers the ruling class and their pretentions exceptionally well, and you will cheer every time one of them receives their comeuppance. There is comedy and suspense and the dialogue is witty and incisive.
The ending is hard to guess at which is always a plus.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for this e-arc.*

Thank you to Net Galley and Doubleday Books for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.
I finished this book, but I had a hard time with it. It was very slow and did not always hold my attention. It is the second book in the series so maybe if I had read the first one, I would have gotten more out of it. This is a DI Caius Beachamp story-he is trying to solve not one, but two, missing persons cases. This was confusing to me because the plot seemed to jump around. Lots of readers seemed to enjoy it, but it was a slow read for me.

This wasn't the right book for me. I didn't read the first book so maybe that was part of my problem. There were a few too many moving parts in a book that I was only half-interested in so I started to lose track of people in the book.

A complex, twisty, surprising, often funny procedural of sorts that I thoroughly enjoyed. Don't worry if you missed the first book- you'll be just fine as Vassell gives you enough info to appreciate DI Caius Beauchamp and his team Matt and Amy, who find themselves investigating two cases- one involving corporate theft and one involving a missing teenage girl. It's told by Caius and by Calliope (Calli) the milliner he meets during a very ill fated visit to the theater. Calli's got her own mystery and her own problems, most of them thanks to her sorta nasty BFF Harriett. This deserves to be read without any spoilers whatsoever as it unfolds in a way that I didn't expect. Caius and his quirks is a hoot but he's also really smart. He and the rest of the characters (even the heinous ones) are wonderful. The atmospherics (the theater! the club! the school! Cornwall!) are terrific. And there are just so many layers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Can't recommend this more highly.

If you like mysteries with the rich behaving badly and the police investigating the murders to be a bit "odd" then you will enjoy the The In Crowd ( the follow-up to last year's fun The Other Half).

DI Caius Beauchamp and his fellow officers, Matt Chung and Amy Noakes, find themselves investigating three separate incidents, two which are cold cases.
A rowing team finds a body floating in the river, possible suicide? Beauchamp's investigation leads him to believe there could be a possible connection to the disappearance of a young girl from a boarding school and a pension fund manager who ran off with the money and was never seen again.

The story unfolds with different narrators in different time frames. There is humor and well drawn out characters. This can be read as a stand-alone, but there are some characters that appear from the first book and there are also a few mentions of things from that book. I am eagerly awaiting the next book with these characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Knopf Doubleday, for an ARC. The review is my own.

First things first, I love the covers of both <I>The In Crowd</I> and it's predecessor, <I>The Other Half</I>. The images are so engaging and intriguing!

Okay, on to the story. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and two deaths being investigated as well as a couple of disappearances, so...It's a lot of moving parts. The plots all pan out beautifully in the end, but I believe they really could've been shaken out into two separate novels and been more effective. Throw in the political character arc involving Caius Beauchamp and you might find your head spinning as you read.

Luckily, the pace is swift thanks to short chapters and Vassell's love for head hopping between characters. Honestly, this was a bit of a beast of a book to read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The one real issue I had was not being able to fall easily back into the story if I had to break up my reading time.

Looking forward to reading what's next for Beauchamp, Amy, and Matt.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Doubleday for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on August 6, 2024.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the In Crowd more than the first book in the series, The Other Half. Don't get me wrong, I liked The Other Half a lot, but now that we've gotten to know the characters, their adventures are just a little more fun. I enjoyed the main mysteries that comprised the majority of the plot but even more than that, I liked the thread of something bigger that's going on almost in the background.

If we think of this series as a tv show, there's the up-front, mystery-of-the-week plot line - the body discovered by the early-morning rowing team and the cold case disappearance of a schoolgirl - and then there's the season-long (or series-long) mystery that's doled out in little pieces. The mysteries-of-the-week are great, but the longer-running one is what will keep me coming back to this series.

Whew. that was kind of a convoluted way to say that I'm so glad I requested this book. I hadn't read anything by Charlotte Vassell before now, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her books in the future. I can't wait to read the next installment in the DI Caius Beauchamp series.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

I don’t remember how I came across Charlottes Vassell’s book The Other Half, book #1 involving DI Caius Beauchamp. All I know is that I found it to be full of everything British that I love. Mostly the dry wit and figuring out British terms I didn’t understand.

The In Crowd is book #2. DI Beauchamp and his team are tasked with solving 2 cold cases. They involve the disappearance of a young boarding school girl and a missing man thought to have stolen a corporate retirement fund.

I found the procedural aspect of crime solving to be well written. But it really is the time spent the funny and quirky team that I enjoyed the most.

I got a copy of this from the publisher via Netgalley.
Published date is August 6, 2024.

Look for this one on August 6th! Thank you @doubledaybooks for the e-galley.

This book is the second in a series about DI Caius Beauchamp. It gives more cozy mystery vibes and I just love the characters.

The team isn’t actually investigating any crimes as the book starts out. But someone in high places wants them to look into what has been deemed an accidental drowning. They also get assigned to a cold case that might just involve the same people. I didn’t guess the outcome of either crimes and I love that for me. This is definitely rich people doing absolutely ridiculous things.

I wouldn’t read these out of order. Some of the characters from the first book are in this book and you will want to know their background. I can’t wait for the next one.

The writing style is not my favorite, too wordy for me. The story line is fine but it gets lost, I kept just wanting to get to the point and move on.

Charlotte Vassell’s last book, “The Other Half,” skewered trendy, selfish, stupidly rich, amoral, young upper class London and presented us with a murder mystery. The very title “The In Crowd” tells us to expect more of the same.

Returning is earnest, hapless, and lovelorn Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp of the Met Police, who was just stood up by his Tinder date prior to attending an awful play (which concluded abruptly when an actor vomited over the audience). He meets fellow single play-goer, sweet, habitual hat-wearing Callie (a self advertising milliner) as a result but also discovers a dead body, who may have been an amateur sleuth investigating a long ago missing school girl. This is the second dead body in the novel, since in the prologue a corpse was found in the Thames. Unfortunately, Caius eventually finds out that Callie is acquainted with one of his suspects and well as the MP pulling the strings on his investigations. And the same-named-but-differently-pronounced other Beauchamp (“Beecham”), the scoundrel of “The Other Half,” has also returned. “The In Crowd” is a bit of a sequel, although it can be enjoyed as a delightful standalone.

DI Beauchamp is such a wonderful character (he was surrounded mostly by insufferable snobs in the last novel), and I’m thrilled he’s back and can potentially be part of a series. He is a sharp detective teamed with equally intelligent partners, DS Matt Yeung, and DC Amy Noakes. Caius gets some insider knowledge about the body in the river (not accidental, but a murder) and his reward, as he solves the circumstances of that case, will be to open the cold case of the missing girl simultaneously.

I liked this novel more than the first — mostly since I was now confident that DI Beauchamp was a competent and reliable character. Being so consistently charmng as he investigates a pair of mysteries has drawn me in again — 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO No green eyes, but lots of rolling eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But Callie’s silk flowers for her straw hats are chosen according to their meanings in Kate Greenaway’s “The Language of Flowers.”

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

The In Crowd examines two cold cases as they are investigated by Caius and his fellow investigators. True to form for a mystery novel the cases become intertwined and quite involved making for a fantastic novel with a satisfying ending.