A cozy murder mystery about Suzie Tuft, a textbook writer who gets caught up in a murder investigation when she inherits a small fortune from her ex-boyfriend and finds the body of said ex’s attorney near her home. With the help of a dreamy detective, her loyal best friend, and her very protective dog Suzie is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder & Mayhem is a) a really awesome title and b) doesn’t quite live up the the hype the title promises. If you are a big fan of this genre I’m sure this will be a good way to spend the afternoon. The story is sweet and simple and has a couple fun twists. But overall it was a bit lackluster and some of the language choices feel very stiff. My biggest qualms are that the titular bookclub plays a very minor role and that Suzie makes so many odd and clearly ill advised choices that it starts to become a bit much. But there are some funny moments and I would read this just for Hunter, Suzie’s dog, and the description of the various baked good eaten during the story.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Harbor Lane Books, LLC, and Bethany Barker for the #ARC in exchange for an honest #review 💜

Loved the storyline of this although it wasn’t totally about a book club. The main character bothered me a bit with how brazen and stupid she was sometimes. But did enjoy the twists and mystery

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder & Mayhem
: by Bethany Barker

What a great entry into this promising new series! This book was a fast paced nail biter with great characters, suspense, a little romance and a sweet protective dog named Hunter. While out walking with Hunter
Textbook writer Suzy finds the body of an estate lawyer who she learns was from the firm handling her late ex boyfriend's will. To her surprise, her ex left her a large hunting cabin, valuable antiques, a boat, and an SUV. He was always broke so she wonders where he got his newfound wealth. She also has to deal with the extreme hostility of her ex boyfriends crazy live in girlfriend, his deadbeat brother, and his hulking hunting buddy who are all angry at her. This book kept me glued to my kindle until the end. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

The story is told from Suzie's point of view, Suzie finds a body in the woods close to her home whilst on a walk. Suzie learns the gentleman was on his way to visit her to inform her of the death of her ex-boyfriend, Mike Hansen. They hadn't spoken for 2 years, since she caught him cheating on her with Samantha. She has also discovered Mike has left her a log cabin, with a considerable amount of land and all it's contents in his will. Why Suzie, and what trouble will this bring.
Unfortunately, I didn't like any of the characters, especially Suzie and Jess. I found them both annoying and lacking in common sense. I mean during a scene Jess is being tailgated on her way home, so Jess drove past her house not wanting to give away her address, sensible I though, until she drove straight to Jess's home and knocking on her door, with the car still on her tail, potentially putting her in danger. Why not go to the police station?!
The story was repetitive and unnecessarily detailed at times, Bre, being a fantastic baker was mentioned a few times word for word, but it seems that is all that could be said about her. Considering Suzie is part of a book club with 5 friends there is little information about 3 of them. I can't recall their names, but scenery and antiques were overly descriptive.
The story was easy enough to follow, even if it was unrealistic and predictable at times. This is the first book in a series, but unfortunately I will not be seeking further books.

Thank you to Negalley, Harper Lane Books, LLC and Bethany Barker for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

#ABookClubsGuidetoMurderMayhem #NetGalley is an interesting cozy mystery by a new to me author.
Suzy is a text book writer who receives an inheritance from her ex boyfriend. This leads to a lot of problems and most of them include getting rid of Suzy to acquire the inheritance.
There are several people who feel they deserve the money and properties, but Suzy is determined to settle things her own way.
This is an interesting story and it took a bit to really get into, but once it caught my attention I enjoyed it very much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

As a member of a thriller bookub I was so excited for a book with 2 of my favorite things: bookclub & a good mystery.

Suzie's ex leaves her his getaway cabin (and many secrets) after his death. But there are strings attached. His attorney is murdered while on the way to deliver the news and a whole cast of characters come out of the woodwork to lay claim to Suzie's new property. But Suzie doesn't have to solve this mystery on her own because the bookclub ladies are there to help. This story certainly kept me on my toes and trying to guess whodunnit. Such a fun read!

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder & Mayhem follows Suzie Tuft, a textbook writer who discovers a stranger’s body while on a walk near her wooded home. It turns out this dead stranger was an estate attorney who was coming to give her notice of a huge inheritance from her deceased ex-boyfriend. How did her deadbeat ex-boyfriend come into all this money to leave her enormous inheritance? Why did he leave it to her after over 2 years of no contact? Who had the motive to kill his estate attorney to prevent her from getting the inheritance? Suzie’s life becomes pure chaos as she has to figure out these mysteries. Luckily she has her book club friends to rely on and it doesn’t hurt that a cute police officer is investigating the murder and seems to take a liking to her.
May contain spoilers:
I enjoyed reading this book but constantly found myself rolling my eyes at all of Suzie’s decisions. It was utterly bizarre to me that she wouldn’t get a hotel or stay with her friends and instead insisted that her dog would keep her safe. She constantly would go about town and her life as if crazy people weren’t constantly harassing her and didn’t want to bother Detective Pagarelli by calling him and reporting all of the harassment. When being tailgated by a mystery car, she drove by her house and went to a friend’s house instead of the police station which drove me insane since she was supposed to be smart! When the book club stakes out motels, they didn’t partner up and instead each person was alone, which didn’t seem to fit if this case was super dangerous. I also don’t remember when she went from keeping parts of the investigation a secret from most of the book club members to telling them. However, despite my criticisms- I breezed through this book and thought it was very entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley and BookBuzz.net for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Very dry writing. It read like a textbook almost. I just couldn't get into the book. Dnf. I would not recommend.
2 stars

Textbook writer, Suzie Tuft, discovers a body near her rural home and learns he was an attorney from the estate of her deceased ex-boyfriend, who bequeathed her a small fortune. Suzie's life is thrown into chaos when she is threatened by the ex's crazy live-in girlfriend and his unsavory friends looking to recover nearly a million dollars from a con they executed him. Fortunately, Suzie has her book club friends to help her unravel the mystery, all while falling in love with the handsome detective investigating the murder!
This wasn't just your average cozy mystery! It had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, some hot romance, it was funny and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my kindle! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!