C+
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
CW: One instance of homophobia, one discussion of racism, some tragic events around accidental death, challenging relationship with a parent
I don’t enjoy reading women’s fiction and this book is women’s fiction, so please keep that in mind when you read this review. I shall do my best to correct for my preferences, but it’s best to be upfront about these things.
So why on earth did I pick it up? Well, it was the premise you see. It totally sucked me in. I was so curious how this set up would unfold because this novel has a very good blurb – it accurately sums up what you’re about to read.
When thirty-four-year-old Cath loses her mostly absentee mother, she is ambivalent. With days of quiet, unassuming routine in Buffalo, New York, Cath consciously avoids the impulsive, thrill-seeking lifestyle that her mother once led. But when she’s forced to go through her mother’s things one afternoon, Cath is perplexed to find tickets for an upcoming “murder week” in England’s Peak. A whole town has come together to stage a fake murder mystery to attract tourism to their quaint hamlet. Baffled but helplessly intrigued by her mother’s secret purchase, Cath decides to go on the trip herself—and begins a journey she never could have anticipated.
Teaming up with her two cottage-mates, both ardent mystery lovers—Wyatt Green, forty, who works unhappily in his husband’s birding store, and Amity Clark, fifty, a divorced romance writer struggling with her novels—Cath sets about solving the “crime” and begins to unravel shocking truths about her mother along the way. Amidst a fling—or something more—with the handsome local maker of artisanal gin, Cath and her irresistibly charming fellow sleuths will find this week of fake murder may help them face up to a very real crossroads in their own lives.
Witty, wise, and deliciously escapist, Welcome to Murder Week is a fresh, inventive twist on the murder mystery and a touching portrayal of one daughter’s reckoning with her grief, her past—and her own budding sense of adventure.
I’ve never read a story that features a ‘murder week’ like this one does and I really enjoyed it. The mystery elements are really well-plotted and I found it very satisfying to read. One potential downside is that because the murder was fake, the mystery plot presented only an interesting puzzle to solve and not a source of tension. There were hints of competition with other teams, but as Cath and her housemates work on the mystery, the competition doesn’t really feature much at all.
The source of tension comes from elsewhere and that is, as alluded to in the blurb, unravelling ‘shocking truths’ about Cath’s mother. I won’t discuss them here as when the truth is revealed it is genuinely shocking. However, this particular plotline only emerges later, so for the first stretch, there is no tension to speak of.
The romantic subplot is kind of flat. I had an echo of butterflies in my tummy, but ultimately the romance did not deliver for me. Now is this a feature of the lower importance placed on romance in women’s fiction? Is my struggle with this particular book or with the genre? I can’t say for sure. But do not read this if you need a deep, abiding romantic connection at the end and a tension-filled journey to that HEA.
As this is women’s fiction, I feel it is only right that I indicate whether there is a HEA. Click for the reveal.
There is a happy ending, but there are no big declarations of love or intentions to be together forever. I’d say it’s a HFN with a positive outlook on their future.
I can’t help but feel that there would have been much richer, more nuanced emotions if it were a romance. Alas, it is not. But again, that’s not the book’s fault. Lara, let it go!
Just one more point on the emotional side of things: the shocking truths, when they are revealed, are very shocking and because we don’t have that rich emotional depth in the build up to that reveal, Cath’s coping with the shock is kind of flat emotionally. There are tears, yes, but in a few paragraphs it’s all neatly tidied away and sorted. But could this be a feature and not a bug? It’s hard to say for sure. I was surprised at the heaviness of the reveal. It’s a tragic series of events (historical) but at the start of the story,
Cath is, at best, ambivalent about her mom’s passing. So perhaps a tragic tale related to her mother wouldn’t undo her all that much.
With the mystery element being pretty wholesome, the romance being a bit one-note, and the ‘shocking truths’ coming late in the story, much of this novel could be categorised as ‘low stakes’ with the entirety of it being described as ‘cosy’. It does not strain the nerves. This week, I wanted that intense tension; at other times, this cosy story would be exactly what I’m looking for.
Just a note on the comparisons drawn between the States and the UK. It comes up relatively often as Cath and her housemates are American and the action takes place mostly in a small English village. I can honestly not say either way if the stereotypes/characteristics discussed are true, annoying, false, offensive or just silly. I’m a Zimbabwean living in South Africa so I’m a hopeless judge of it.
Back to the grade though. At another time, this would have been great for me. I would advise picking this up only when it meets your current needs around tension and intrigue – also as long as you don’t mind the romance playing third fiddle. As a cosy bit of women’s fiction, it’s great.
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I agree – this wasn’t quite a romance and wasn’t quite a mystery. It feels like Cath was ambivalent about every relationship in her life, which seems consistent with her ambivalence about her mother and how that probably influenced her life. (Cath does mention that her relationships with men are fleeting and arise more out of convenience than anything else.) The only tension seemed to be in what was going to happen with her budding relationship with the gin guy, but that tension was wrapped up just a little too neatly in the end.
It was a pleasant enough story but not such an engaging read that I couldn’t put it down. (In fact, at one point, I almost put it down for good.) As one books blogger I follow says, “Passed the time just fine.”
As someone who has lived in both of the major conurbations bordering the Peak Park/District, with friends living in the Peak District, one of whom works for the Peak Park (a National Park) I don’t think I have ever heard anyone refer to it as just Peak. Parts are referred to as High Peak, White Peak and Dark Peak,but just Peak? No, the whole point of the name is there are a lot of fairly small peaks (many of which aren’t so much peaks as highish, flattish moor. Also being situated between two of England’s largest conurbations, with a third not that far south, the Peak Park’s problem is more too many tourists than too few. Grump grumble grump. Just that is enough to put me off without the rest of the review.
@Jazzlet–I wondered about that too! I checked the blurb on another site and it does say “Peak District” but then comes a colon.
I’ve noticed that sometimes a colon and the word before it get deleted when blurbs get ported to this site. @Amanda, have you guys spotted that?
I, too, am intrigued by the book’s premise. Despite the lack of romance or more emotional depth, I will still give it a try because mystery (even a little). Thanks for your review.
@Theresa R: Unfortunately, it’s an issue with Goodreads, which is where we pull the book description from. Nothing we can do on our end except proof every single blurb.
This sounds like a book I would read if it were in front of me, but not one that I would seek out. For me, that’s a tier of books.
I learned a new word today, thanks, Lara. Conurbations. Now to remember it.
Theresa R and Amanda ohh, thank you, well that’s not so bad then. Though it’s still true that all of the cute villages are overrun. But that reminds me that the blurb refers to the place as both a ‘town’ and a ‘hamlet’ which are very different sizes of settlement.