Sadly this book didn’t really grab me at all. I really wanted to get into it but I just couldn’t.
Sorry not for me.
I am still thankful for been given the opportunity to read this book

I did not find this to be a very good book. It did not feel like the first in a series and it felt inexplicable that this group of women would choose to be friends, much less spend the weekend together. Not all characters need to be likable, but it’s a problem when none of them are. Maybe this is to other readers tastes, but it was not to mine.

The Smart Woman’s Guide To Murder by Victoria Dowd is usually not really my type of book.
When I started it, I wasn’t expecting much. But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. This cozy mystery with its quirky characters and spooky setting was an unexpected delight.

Ursula joins her mother, aunt, and three of her mother’s friends for a weekend book club retreat. They are just getting settled in the old mansion when the snow starts falling and the murders begin. Will they solve the mystery before it is too late?

This fun, fast, light, easy read is a great pick for anytime of the year. Happy reading!

I love a good mystery and will give books time to grab me. Unfortunately, this book did not grab me either in print or audio. I didn't find the characters appealing (I don't need them to be likable) and the pacing was too slow for me.
Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me even with trying both print and audio.

Downloaded this thinking it was another book with similar title, turned out I was wrong!

please note I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.
leaving a 1-star as NG doesn't allow to move ahead without a star rating

As far as murder mysteries go this one was fine. Pacing was good. Characters were interesting.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced e-reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

The first emotion, after a couple of chapters - Agatha Christie And Then There Were None meets Stephen King Shining. Isolated country house, where is gathering a “book club”, five elderly ladies with the storyteller, Ursula. In the house are two custodians and later comes a fortuneteller. So when they are snowed in, there are ten of them (with the dog :)). And then they start to die and there is music in the middle of the night and in a smoke-free house there lunges smoke and it means a lot. What is going on? Are they really picked off one by one, like they did in Christie's book? Or is there a hostile spirit, like there was in King’s Overlook hotel?

In conclusion, it is a thrilling story, it has its fair share of humor and some ghastly moments (and I do not mean the moments when the ladies are nasty to each other or when they belittle Ursula) and the deliberations who and why would want to kill them was interesting. But the ending … the ending is not at all what you would expect.

This cozy mystery is peculiar, for sure, not at all what you would expect.

A good read!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and entertaining read. I loved the sarcasm and banter from Ursula. I think Ursula is the only character that I actually like but in a murder mystery that's crucial as it means that you think each of them could be capable of murder so it keeps you on your toes.

I got creepy vibes throughout this book which I loved. I also loved the fact that the book included red herring's and several twists and turns. Another one of my favourite parts of the book is that the chapter headers are rules so it really does feel like a guide to murder and catching one.

I don't read many murder/mysteries and I really should read more as I always seem to enjoy them. My problem is that there's so many books and really not enough time.

A well done murder that kept me guessing. I definitely liked the crazy twists and the fun in the story. But the characters really are pretty awful. They typically don't have any thing nice to say, so they are constantly belittling, insulting, swearing or otherwise tearing down everyone around them. It was hard to remember that the MC was 25.....But, when I decided to just ignore most of that, the story sucked me in. I was completely wrapped up in trying to figure out who did what because so many pieces weren't fitting together. I did enjoy the end, even though Mr. Bojangles never got adorable and her insulting her mom, aunt or not aunt or godmother never got funny.

The characters in the book are vividly portrayed but not especially easy to like. It’s hard to imagine a more sarcastic and caustic bunch and their target is usually poor Ursula. They drink copiously and frankly so would I if I had the misfortune to be stuck that lot or I just might just kill them myself!!! The story is very funny at times, it’s highly entertaining, smart and snarky. The killing spree has a Jonathan Creek style mystery ‘how is it done’ element to it which adds an extra element of intrigue as you and the occupants of the house try to figure out what’s going on and why. The murders are as creative as the characters and it’s most definitely in the spirit of an Agatha Christie novel but a darned sight more fun. There’s a Gothic feel to the storytelling too which is partly provided by the house and it’s feel , gloom, mystery and secrets. Each chapter has a rule which are really clever and some are very amusing. The story is well written, there’s a good pace and plot, there are plenty of twists with a dash of suspense and copious amounts of tension between the characters.

Whilst the premise of the book seemed to pique my interest ( I mean we all love a dark comedic whodunnit)
I just found that the story dragged itself along, the characters were all equally detestable (but in a good way).
For me I just felt that something was
Missing within the writing and I was unable to really enjoy the story.

Thanks to the publishers, author and Netgalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is a darkly funny murder mystery which features predominantly unlikable females and one male. When Ursula (who advises us early on that she has changed her name) tags along to her mother's book club weekend retreat at a country manor she has no idea that she is about to be snowed in while the household inhabitants are murdered one by one in grisly fashion.
Ursula's only friend, her father, died when she was 13 and her aloof mother immediately shipped her off to boarding school to deal with her grief alone.
Meanwhile her mother has gathered her stuck-up, nosy and strange friends around her, seemingly oblivious to Ursula's pain. Years later, at the manor house, Ursula is forced to ask herself if she knows her mother, her father or herself at all!
Hilariously satirical and entertaining - I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Enjoyed the premise of the plot but I felt it lost its way a little after the big reveal. Possibly because I was expecting a different reveal. It moved at a good pace though and the characters were interesting.

A weekend retreat for a bookclub gone wrong.

When 6 ladies converge on a country estate for a weekend, murder is far from their minds. At least literally speaking. Until the next day when they find the dead body of a fortune teller they had met the night before. But with the snowstorm, there’s no way to get to the village and get help. And with no phones in the house, no way to communicate with the outside world. They’re cut off. But the fortune teller isn’t the only one that meets an untimely death and now the group has to wonder who’s picking them off one by one.

What a fascinating mix of characters! They weren’t all likable, in fact I wanted to smack most of them half the time. But they each had distinct personalities that stood out and mixed/clashed well with the others. I was confused about who could have committed the murders because I thought they were all capable.

The book did drag at times but it had a creep factor I enjoyed. Overall, it had enjoyable/hateable/interesting characters but I wasn’t too keen on how the book progressed and tied up at the end. The culprit wasn’t who I thought it was and the reasoning given just didn’t feel right.

Thank you to Netgalley and Joffee Books for a copy of the book!

I have a thing for books featuring any trapped group of people. Lock everyone in with some dark secrets, a twisty mystery and a killer who could be one of the group and I am totally captivated right along side the characters. I just can't put this type of story down. The chemistry, or should I say animosity, between these characters just crackled with life. The best part of The Smart Woman's Guide To Murder was how reminiscent it felt of older/classic mysteries. I think this kind of country manor house mystery is revisited by writers and readers because it works so well. As a reader I know what to expect, and I like that. This book had enough of the typical elements to make me feel that it was part of this older mystery legacy, but still had enough of a fresh modern take on the format to keep me interested. I find myself really moving toward wanting to read this sort of locked murder mystery as the weather grows cold. I want to like the fire, brew some tea and read well into the morning, and this book didn't disappoint. I really like that the book had some funny bits to break the tension, and I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.

A classic 'whodunnit' story. The Author has a truly unique style of writing, but unfortunately this book just wasn't for me. Having said that, I can certainly see it being an enjoyable book for others as the characters were great, and the general plot to the book was well thought out.

this was a really interesting mystery, the plot was different and I really enjoyed reading this. I liked the characters and thought they were interesting.

Ursula was there when her Dad died and is left traumatised. She lives with her domineering mother, Pandora. They set off to a Book Club retreat at a mansion house in the middle of nowhere along with Joy (nicknamed Less), Mirabelle, Charlotte (Pandora's sister), Bridget and her dog named Mr Bojangles. They arrive to be met by Mr and Mrs Angel an elderly couple who are employed by the missing owner.

The 6 women don't really like each other which brings humour to the story. Bridget is expecting the book club retreat to involve discussion of the book but the women don't seem to want to do that. The first evening's entertainment is a fortune teller which doesn't go down too well with some. As the snow begins to fall the women realise they are stranded in a house in the middle of nowhere with very strange hosts and no way of communicating with the outside world - then they find the dead body of the fortune teller who is revealed to be someone Pandora and Ursula know from their past.

In a twisty turny journey the women try to work out who killed the fortune teller. It has to be one of them or the Angels. Then there is another tragedy.

Book Retreat Turns Dark....
Modern telling of a whodunnit bordering on a parody. A country house book retreat, cut off by snowfall, a group of guests and, soon, a body. It’s a twisting tale with some very witty dialogue and an eccentric cast of characters, dark atmosphere and dark humour,

"The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder" sadly wasn't for me. This book just dragged and I found myself bored with it. It did have a few (grim) comedic moments but that was the only thing it had going for it. Maybe some other folks might like it but I barely finished it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.