In a charming cozy mystery series debut, Leslie Nagel’s irrepressible small-town heroine finds that her fellow mystery book club members may be taking their Agatha Christie a bit too literally—and murder a bit too lightly.

Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success—even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among Oakwood, Ohio’s wealthy elite.

Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.

Intelligent, fearless, and every bit as stubborn as Marc is, Charley soon learns the Agathas aren’t the only ones with secrets to protect. Passions explode as she and Marc must race against time to prevent another murder. And if Charley’s not careful, she may find herself becoming the killer’s next plot twist.

The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel is the first instalment in The Oakwood Mystery Series. And damn that was a super-paced good read, perfect for a bibliophile and a mystery lover!
The story's main character Charlotte – Charley – Carpenter, the owner Old Hat, a clothing store, is part of a reading group focused around mysteries. She joins the rich-women's book club with the ulterior motive of attracting buyers to her vintage shop.
The book opens with the scheduled books to be read between August and December. The group of 8, called the Agathas Book Club, with each member labelled "an Agatha", tackles a book each month. Set in the small town of Oakwood, Ohio, the book also opens with the shocking revelation of a murder.
The Agathas are shocked to discover that the victim is an acquaintance. They also realise that the victim was positioned in a way that reflects the murder of the book they were reading. Soon after, another dead body emerges, also linked to the book club members.
"Most of the Agathas seemed to be enjoying themselves, as if the poor woman had been killed for their entertainment. Be honest, Carpenter. You're just as curious as the rest of them."
Each character in the novel has a role to play: corpse, amateur sleuth, killer, suspect, police officer, helping hand.
The detective investigating the killings is not-an-old-friend of Charley, but her high school crush Marcus Trenault. As soon as they meet, old love and trouble are rekindled. As the two suspect that the killings are done by a woman, Charley suggests that they are likely to have been committed by an Agatha and convinces Marc to use her as an informant to infiltrate the Book Club.
"Don't be fooled by the expensive armour, most of these women are scared to death, usually of one another."
Charley is a fun, slightly sarcastic character. She smart, brave and passionate. She's also realistic and down to earth. At one point, she faces Marcus and tells him: "You owe me an apology."
I felt that The Book Club Murders was more crime and sleuthing than plain cozy mystery. I loved it nonetheless and would definitely pick up the next books in the series. I also enjoyed the romance aspect of the novel.
The imagery and emotions in the novel were well-written, with lots of "show don't tell".
I absolutely loved the mystery-book references and how the author brought in published mystery novels and used them in the murders. This book will have me picking up several mystery novels and adding them to my lengthy – possibly never-ending - to-be-read list.
"No one is going to believe that for a second. Look, this is the twenty-first century. Everyone watches CSI and Law & Order or whatever. If you start asking questions about who left when, and did you notice anyone acting suspiciously, how long do you think it's going to take before people figure out what you're really up to?"
And the mystery… that was plain wicked!

Note: I received a free advanced readers' copy (ARC) of The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel as part of a blog tour via Lori Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fine. It was a little too cheesy and at times the dialogue was hard to figure out who was talking.

I just finished A Whole Latte Murder and that one made me much more critical because it was so good.

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group – Alibi for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley, in exchange for an open and honest review.

So, I have finally gotten a chance to read this book and it was so worth the wait! Well written, well mapped out, good strong characters and the right smattering of red herrings to get we mystery lovers all aquiver! :-)

Okay, I will admit I found the array of secondary characters a bit too similar and confusing the start with - the Agathas – but I put that down to the fact I started reading ‘The Book Club Murders’ while I was still finishing off another book and so was confusing myself. Not the writer’s fault at all. As, honestly, once I devoted myself full time to this book all the characters became easy to identify and remember as individuals.

I think the thing I really loved about the story is it handed you the clues as it went in such a casual way that not all of them even appeared to be red herrings… while also giving you info that you recall at the end as being important with a “duh, the book did tell us that!” I loved it! I do love a good mystery that tells a story, gets to the point, doesn’t pad things out too much and doesn’t try and drown you in so many red herrings you smell fishy for weeks later. ‘The Book Club Murders’ didn’t do any of that and so was a great read.

The protagonist was easy to relate to, as were her friends and family and there was just that nice bit of spice and sexy romance to really cover all the bases of mystery lovers – crime, colourful characters, a strong protagonist, great sidekicks and sexy men. What more could my cosy crime driven heart desire?

However, I do have to say the name of her shop kept giving me the giggles. As, you see, I read a lot of Regency stuff and have learnt a lot of the dialects and cants used in that era. And, well, “old hat” isn’t exactly a polite word to use. Google it if you need to know more. “Often felt” – giggles every time.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes I would, especially as it is the first book in a new crime series and I do love starting a new series at the first book and not coming in it at book three or so… which sometimes happens – you don’t often see those reviews as I don’t like finishing books that I come into mid-series and I rarely post reviews for DNF (Did Not Finish) books.

But yes, lovers of cosy crimes and American Mysteries would love this book and I would indeed recommend it to anyone wanting to try something new.

Would I buy this book for myself?

I think I would. With some series I need to read the first few books before I can decide as to whether I would want copies in my physical or electronic library, but with ‘The Book Club Murders’ I would happily own a copy in my eBooks selection. And I look forward to finding the next one in ‘The Oakwood Mystery Series’!

In summary: A well written little murder mystery that had just the right amount of everything. A great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Great Escapes Tours for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a really fun start to a new mystery series. I loved the backdrop of this series -- a community book club. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

I very much enjoyed all the characters in this book, and was very pleased that Nagel gave some unpredictability to her story!! Perfect for my adult and high school readers!!

This is a great cozy debut series ! With a Agatha Christie book club I knew I would love this series. This is a delight to read, very well crafted, fun and added catnip to readers is the wonderful element of Agatha Christie throughout the story. To me this was a adventurous thrill ride of clues, mystery and interesting characters. I love the protagonist Charley who is smart, brave and very funny. This is a delightful series beginning and I cannot wait for the next in series. Thank you for the advance reading copy .

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Book Club Murders is a debut novel, and the first in a new series. I really liked the premise of this book, and found it very well written. The characters were multidimensional and I was drawn into their world from the start. The plot was interesting, with many suspects but no visible motive, it had me guessing until the end. Keep up the good work Ms. Nagel, I can't wait to see what Charley and Marc get up to next.

Great premise not well executed it was an interesting read but it was dragged out way to long

The Book Club Murders is the first book in the Oakwood Mystery series by Leslie Nagel. Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success, even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among Oakwood, Ohio’s wealthy elite. Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.

The Book Club Murders is a solid opening to a cozy mystery series. I will admit that there were a couple times that I felt like there was a previous book out there, but author quickly gave me the character building that I needed to fill in the blanks. I enjoyed the main characters Charley, partly because we share the distaste for schmoozing and dressing up. She is a smart, witty character and I liked her strong friendships with two important secondary characters. I thought the angst between her and Marcus was a odd though it was eventually explained. I still found it not completely understandable- at least in the path it took. I thought the mystery was very well done, as was the danger to Charley and her friends. There were some real surprises along the way and I enjoyed the majority of the ride. It was not perfect, but it has enough going for it that I will be picking up the second installment, The Antique House Murders, which is schedule for release in May of 2017.

The Book Club Murders is the start of what promises to be a fun cozy mystery series. I like the setting and character build up here, and hope the series only gets better from here.

The Agatha Club meet once a month to discuss their chosen mystery. Most members are society women but Charley Carpenter has managed to be included via her friend Frankie when the numbers dwindled due to the bossy Midge who runs the club.
Charley saw it as an opportunity to gain clients for her vintage shop, Old Hat, and indeed membership has brought about a much welcome increase in sales.

Then a body is found, quickly followed by a second and the Detective in charge of the case turns out to be an old acquaintance of Charley's - and not a very friendly one at that. Charley and Frankie begin their own shadow investigation. leading to the discovery that the murders have a connection to the book club reads.

This was a mystery more than worthy of Agatha herself; all the clues were there, it was just a matter of realising it. A bit of romance, a lot of suspicion and a healthy dollop of danger all add up to an enigma to get the brain ticking over. Thoroughly enjoyable and one I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy a good thought provoking read.