The Supper Club Murders by Victoria Dowd

The murder crew is back at it again. All five have been invited to a safari dinner (I know it as a progressive dinner) from a former bookclub member who is now the wife of a baron. Some people look down on Lord Black because he bought his title but it is a title nonetheless. And the safari supper will take place in the village, Greystone, surrounding their castle, Black Towers. It's a new place with some familiar characters though relationships have shifted dramatically - there is not nearly as much fighting between Ursula and her mother.

There are also new faces with some familiar names -- Scarlett Bradshaw, Joseph Greengage (a plum), Mrs. White, Reverend Vert (green), etc. And, while it is one of them that will die, one of their own will as well.

I really sort of slogged through the first book in this series (and I would still recommend reading it and the second books because they set up so much back story) but liked this one a lot. The characters are growing, infinitesimally but growing. The murder and solution aren't any less bananapants but even the new characters have depth that makes them interesting to read about.

Four stars

This book came out September 16, 2021

Follows Body on the Island

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Body on the Island by Victoria Dowd

I didn't particularly like the first book in this series but I had already borrowed the second and third from Kindle Unlimited and the premise for the third had looked interesting on NetGalley so I went ahead and started the second book. I still wasn't impressed but read the last chapter (sorry to the people that hate this but it's what caused me to not DNF this book.) Like the first book (which I don't think you have to have read but I would highly recommend it even though I didn't enjoy it) this is told from the perspective of the narrator who has fictionalized names in order to keep people protected. This time, our narrator Ursula Smart has signed up herself, and her aunt and mother for a survival course. Of course, her mother's friend Mirabelle ends up coming along as does Bridget who no one had talked to since the events of the last book but who reads about it on a group chat.

There is still a lot of quibbling and fighting among the group but we actually learn some things in this book that were only danced around and alluded to in the last book. Other characters are annoyed by the fighting and it actually causes them to get onto the wrong boat in the morning. But no one realizes it until they are already out at sea with a storm raging around them. And then the boat goes under and Ursula witnesses a murder. There are two others who don't make it to the nearby island alive and everyone else are left with no food and very little shelter. But then the body count starts piling up...

Three and a half stars

This book came out February 23, 2021

Follows The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder

Followed by The Supper Club Murders

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder by Victoria Dowd

I got this book because the second one looked interesting and I figured I might as well start at the beginning. But... I really didn't like any of the characters in this book. Between that and the looooooong descriptions, I sometimes felt like I was slogging through but it was an interesting premise and there are definitely a LOT of back stories that need to be told.

Everyone's book clubs go to an old manor house to discuss their current reads, right? Especially a book club that mostly only reads "Gone Girl." 

Narrator Ursula Smart (she notes, however that this is not her real name), is going along on the trip. Even though she isn't a part of the group nor does she like any of the people in the group or particularly want to be at that location. She apparently only wears one outfit and goes to great pains to hide exactly how much she is drinking. As the book goes on, we find out that she has some trauma and that affects her even to this day.

Her mother doesn't treat her well (at least from her point of view)  but Ursula still clings to her in times of stress. Not as welcome? Her mother's best friend, Mirabelle, who, at least in Ursula's eyes, does nothing but try to take her mother away. 

Also on the trip are Aunt Charlotte (who Ursula's mother barely seems to stand) and Joy who Ursula calls Less (Joy-Less). Joy is on the search for a new rich husband but is full of platitudes and other people's property. The biggest surprise is that Joy is the second to die. The first is a fortune teller who, perhaps, saw a little too much.

Three stars

This book came out May 5th, 2020

Followed by Body on the Island

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own