Thank you netgalley and to the publishers for the ARC. I enjoyed the story and plot of the book. It was engaging and the dialogue help drive the story. I enjoyed the ending of the story and would totally read another book by the author.

I confess I gave up on this book half way through. While dictionary definitions and etiquette rules might seem like an interesting twist they just didn’t work for me. They pulled me right out of the narrative of the story and I just stared skipping over them. And then it just became too much effort.

Etiquette for Lovers and Killers is a clever and engaging mystery thriller that keeps you hooked from start to finish. What begins as a seemingly innocent curiosity quickly spirals into a deadly game of blackmail, betrayal, and suspense. The small-town atmosphere adds a layer of intrigue, with every character hiding something and everyone a potential suspect. The wit and humor of Billie’s observations provide a sharp contrast to the darker, more dangerous events unfolding, making for a truly captivating read. With its mix of clever plotting, tension-filled moments, and unexpected twists, this thriller keeps you guessing and thoroughly engaged until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Group for the ARC of Etiquette for Lovers and Killers by Anna Fitzgerald Healy.

Healy has writing talent - I want to put that out in the review first and foremost. She has recreated 1960s Eastport, Maine in vivid detail from the houses to the clothing to the cars to the technology. The setting is immaculately well done. The plot and characters have the idea established, but I think they are missing something in execution - but you can see her talent shine through the whole story. This is a debut novel, and I think it shows that Healy has room to further develop her talents, but that the intrinsic core of being a strong writer is there.

In Etiquette for Lovers and Killers we follow 26-year-old wallflower Billie McCadie. Billie lives with her grandparents and is trying to find a job using her linguistics degree but without any luck, so, in the meantime, she works as a seamstress and watches the comings and goings of the tiny coastal Maine summer town with a sense of aloofness. When she receives a letter to her PO Box addressed to Gertrude that contains an engagement ring and a threatening/passionate love letter, Billie is thrust into the world of the uppercrust summer people. Invited to a party where Gertrude is present, Billie is drawn into a world of intrigue and murder when she finds Gertrude's body after seeing her in compromising positions with multiple guests throughout the night. Billie turns her boredom to sleuthing, hoping to find Gertrude's murderer, but more bodies pile up and the Billie soon finds she may be both a suspect and the next victim.

The story started off strong, but once Gertrude is murdered, the story veers off from a simple murder mystery. I think the additional layers placed in the story might have over complicated it, while also being kind of obvious where it would go eventually? Maybe it felt like too much misdirection to get where it was already going in a straighter line? It just seems like the motivations of the secondary and tertiary characters were out of place or greatly exaggerated for effect, while Billie herself seems to be going through a Natalie Portman-Black Swan-esque breakdown/transformation. It's not so much a murder mystery as it is a metamorphosis of Billie through some pretty unhealthy coping mechanism and poor decision making skills. I don't think we're supposed to like her, but I also don't feel like I ever really knew her. We see only her ambitions and no reflection outside of the murders - we are just on the outside watching without some of that extra context.

I also feel a bit tricked by the author or that they/their editor did not do enough research when the term mulkvisti is used later in the book. The book says it means "One I hate less than the others", but a simple Google search will show it translates directly to say "dick" and there are multiple people debunking the "One I hate less than the others" as something that spread on Tumblr a few years ago but was not based in fact. Once I realized that, part of me questioned a lot of the witty linguistic footnotes / whenever characters spoke not English because I'm not unsure if any of it was factual. It's kind of disappointing to have a character with a linguistics background as her dream and have the linguistic parts be wrong.

This story takes place in idealistic 1960's New England, where etiquette and being polite matters over all else (at least for women). But one day a dead body shows up...and it's not the last.

This was a fun and unique twist on a murder mystery, I think setting it in such a falsely picture-perfect era and location really added to the ambience and the eeriness that arises when the bodies do.

I did think it was cool that there were little etiquette lessons at the beginning of each chapter, I thought that was funny and a nice little touch. Little touches like that do make a difference in reading experience, in my opinion.

However, I do wish that this was a little more riveting. I found it a bit slow-paced for my taste in mysteries/thrillers. But overall, I had fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.