While this was a fun and interesting murder mystery, I didn't realise it was part of a series and I definitely felt like I was missing out on not having the full context for the set up. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of a locked room mystery and this was an interesting take on it. Dark but very funny, it was a refreshing read although it really hits its stride the further you get into it.

The Supper Club Murders is the third instalment in the Smart Woman's Mystery series, set in and around Dartmoor National Park, a vast moorland in the county of Devon, in southwest England. Dartmoor ponies roam its craggy landscape and the area is defined by forests, rivers, wetlands and tors (rock formations). Ursula Smart, her mother, Pandora, and Aunt Charlotte have been invited to the opulent and magnificent Greystone Castle by its proprietors and dwellers Lord and Lady Black (aka Lord Elzevir who bought his aristocratic title before marrying Marsha Mould) as Marsha Black had once been a member of their book club. The intrepid amateur sleuthing pair had never seen anyone killed by a cannonball, nor a body wedged in a priest hole, and they had definitely never seen someone undergoing medieval waterboarding. It was to be a weekend at the castle on Dartmoor, which looked down on everyone else in Greystone, the quintessential, picturesque English village. But behind the chocolate-box beauty and seeming tranquillity simmers a pot full of jealousies, resentments and greed. But most of all, those drystone walls and country cottage gardens hide secrets. All manner of secrets — some darker than others, some long since forgotten, some that refuse to die. When further details are sent about the visit it is billed as a ‘safari supper party’ and they are requested to take warm clothing and sturdy boots. It'll be a welcome break for Pandora from writing her true crime blog Death Smarts.

They begin to show their guests around who somehow end up being held prisoner in the gatehouse. Later, they can't help but remark on the absurdity of the night featuring witches, magicians, cannon fire and drunken lords in the iron maiden. They certainly know how to party at Greystone. The group later return to the castle from the village to discover the portcullis down, and the Midnight Gun lowered, something that would happen each midnight. Inside they discover Lord Elzevir dead on the hard stone floor. In the darkness, his face was frozen in a look of anguish and a dark stain was spreading outwards from his head. It had the unreal nature of a stage set, the final scene Lord Elzevir distinctly dead and everything perfectly placed — the blood, the body motionless behind bars, the lights faded. This a compulsive and enthralling locked room murder mystery from start to finish, and I loved the unique atmosphere of bleak beauty and isolation. It’s the perfect place for a mystery, set in a small, quaint village where festering resentments and long-held grudges quickly surface. But it also explores the tales of spirits, foul play and hauntings the area has given rise to and features myths, legends and tales from Dartmoor including Hound Tor and Lady Mary. The whole landscape is littered with burial mounds, stone rows, stone circles and ancient settlements making the story intensely creepy and thoroughly atmospheric. A compelling, absorbing and multilayered mystery complete with trademark snarky humour. Highly recommended.

This is the third book in a series of mystery novels but functions perfectly well as a standalone read if you are fine with allusions to previous adventures. The main character, Ursula Smart, finds herself at a dinner party in a giant house in a small village that turns into a classic locked-room murder mystery. The reader is introduced to an eclectic cast of characters at the party and in the village and as the book progresses, more of their dynamics and connections are explained.

The tone of this book is quite funny even though it's about dark subject matter including murder, relationship trouble, grief, and trauma. The humor felt very British and I appreciated the glossary for American readers to "translate" the British English. I think the book will appeal to readers who love a traditional murder mystery with a light-hearted attitude and quirky characters. Readers who have enjoyed the first books will probably get more from this than I did because they will understand all the references and jokes about previous cases!

I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the beginning, especially as the sleuthing and accusations picked up steam. I felt like the first half of the book was just waiting for the actual murder to occur for a long time. The first half would have been a nice time to get to know the characters better, but unfortunately, none of them were very likeable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Dowd, and Joffe Books for a chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The supper club murders is book 3 in the series of Smart Woman's Mystery..... I thoroughly enjoyed it, darkly comic, with references throughout to Cludo!!!! It was extremely well done. An old fashioned whodunnit brought bang up-to-date. Ursula Smart and her mother Pandora are fabulous characters, it had me guessing or trying to work out who had dunnit!!!! right till the end. I'm going now to get the first two Smart Women's Mysteries.

WOW Smart Womens Mystery book three, gripping twists murder mystery.
Starts in the village of Greystone, Blacks Towers with an S not the wine!
Lady Marsha Blocks castle is on Dartmouth and is holding a safari supper party, the invites have been sent out to Pandora Smart her daughter Ursula and sister Charlotte and are all excited for this fun and mystery murder weekend, here they come these women are always around a lot of murders, death is never that far away.
I love these books that give so much entertainment to readers with plenty of plots and humour. Lets bring out more from the Smart Women in more books to come and Males will enjoy them too. BRILLIANT

I love how the story unfolds and how well it all flows together. This is a really great series and definitely a page turner. Highly recommend.

A Big Barrel Of Dark Fun….
The third book in the Smart Woman’s Mystery series finds Ursula Smart and mother Pandora invited to, of all things, a supper safari at Greystone Castle alongside their inimitable bookclub . It may not be exactly what Pandora was envisioning but hey, it’s bound to be fun. Isn’t it? Needless to say, not all goes according to plan and death is never far away. With a seemingly impossible death and the body count rising what will these women do next to extricate themselves from yet another bizarre situation. Hugely entertaining and a big barrel of dark fun. A worthy addition to the first two in this series and perhaps the best yet.

The Supper Club Murders, by Victoria Dowd, is a zany, tongue-in-cheek murder mystery.

Writing comedy is a difficult thing to do, and since this novel is set in England, it is possible that some of the humor washed over my American head. There were some funny moments, though, and a few times I thought that the dialogue might be funnier if it were acted out.

Since I hadn't read the first books, and did not know the Smart women, I had to learn certain things about their characters along the way. Pandora and her daughter Ursula Smart are a couple of women who are so strange, I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to invite them anywhere. However, the rest of the characters at this dinner party were even stranger, some of them downright mean, creepy, insane, or all three. In short, I did not care what happened to any of them. These people don't even enjoy each other.

As this dinner party progresses, we meet the joyless villagers, and hear their resentments and bickering. Some of the conversation was amusing, but I was waiting for the murder mystery, which did not begin until almost halfway through the book.

When the dead bodies are found, the plot suddenly moves faster. There are secrets learned and a mystery solved, but in the end, nothing was very surprising.

Thank you, Netgalley and Joffe Books for this interesting opportunity.

Didn't finish. This book is unfortunately just not at all my style. The characters are almost universally unlikeable, and really mean to each other in a way that seems like it's trying to come off as snarky and clever, but actually just seems unkind. The plot follows our main character Ursula, her vain status-obsesses mother, and her slow-witted aunt who never gets any reference or any joke. They go to a dinner party at a local castle, owned by a "friend" of theirs who married into the aristocracy, Martha. I put friend in quotes because Ursula doesn't seem to actually like this woman, and more seems to regard her as uncultured new money. The rest of the cast includes Martha's rude husband (I found myself picturing Hugh Laurie as House), an old friend of Ursula's mom who they've all fallen out with, and the friend's new friend who they all detest. All of these people are completely obnoxious and they all seem to hate each other.

This book almost comes off as a parody of the genre, except it's not funny at all. The jokes are heavy handed and the references to other classic mysteries are thrust forcibly in the reader's face to make sure we don't miss them. For example, Martha's husband and all his neighbors are named like Clue characters, a little tidbit that could serve as an Easter egg for a sharp-eyed reader except for the fact that Ursula immediately points it out to the other characters.

I hit the 20% mark and couldn't go on any further without physical pain. Absolutely unbearable.

Smart Women's Mystery #3

The phones are out. The roads have flooded. There's no way out. And the murders have begun.

Ursula Smart and her mother, Pandora, are invited supper safari at Greystone Castle, with their ever-adventurous book club. Their hosts are Lord and Lady Black, who bought their titles and have taken up residence in the castle at the edge of Dartmoor Village. Ursula and Pandora sense all is not well at Greystone. When the midnight gun fires, their suspicions are proved right.

I really like this series and in my opinion, this is the beat book so far. We get a murder mystery with a little bit of humour thrown in. There's plenty of twists and clues in this in this well written story. There's a lot going on but it's easy to follow if you have read the previous two books. It's also multi-layered and atmospheric. The characters are well developed and a mixed bunch.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #VictoriaDowd for my ARC of #TheSupperClubMurders in exchange for an honest review.

This was a DNF for me. In fact I couldn’t get past the first chapter. I just could not connect with the tone, and the multiple references to Dowd’s previous book (which I have not read) threw me off. I will probably go back and read the first Ursula Smart book, then give this one another try. For now, a 3-star for me.

Ursula and her mother, Pandora, are invited by Lord and Lady Black to their castle. What takes place there involves this ancient castle, a priest hole, murder hole, and a ducking stool, which was used to detect witches. Lots of diversion in this book and twists that kept you guessing. A really good read, however I think I should have read the first two, as a lot of things were referred to in the book which I had no clue about.
Thank you NetGalley for providing this copy for my unpaid, honest review.

First book I’ve read in this series and it’s a bit hard to follow along if you haven’t read any of the previous books first. A lot of stuff is mentioned and I could only assume it was from previous books as no nothing is brought up to clarify things. That said, the mystery was very intriguing! Everyone goes to the country manor and a murder occurs; lots of clues and running around and red herrings abound. Then the reveal! And the twist! And another twist! It reads serious, but in my head I just kept seeing it like the movie Clue. Overall enjoyable, but perhaps read the other books first before starting this one.

The third in the Smart women series and just as grim - and funny - as the first two. They really are murder magnets these Smart women. Lies aren't worth it, they always come back and bite you.

Loved it. Made me laugh and made me cry.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

Mystery with a lot of pluses—and a few minuses
I enjoyed the characters and the wittiness of the writing. A great locked room mystery was offered. I didn’t enjoy the lead character’s interaction with a ghost, nor the very weak motivation for the second and third murders. But overall an enjoyable, if lengthy, read

Set in England, this book drips with atmosphere, wit, lies, secrets and insight into human nature. Layers of mystery enshroud dysfunctional characters. Ursula, her mother and her aunt visit Greystone Castle for a special dinner as a book club. Lord and Lady Black own the castle with its medieval touches such as dusty priest holes, moat and heavy gates. They have a reputation among the villagers who are not exactly bland, either. Lashings of rain flood the village, making escape from the creepiness impossible. Throw in murder and you have mayhem.

Locked room mysteries grab my attention instantly. I love that the mystery is actually mysterious (some aren't!) with clever details. Another of my favourite aspects is that the book is not all charm and fluff but has oomph and depth, a certain meatiness to mull over. It is obvious the author is a student of human nature with her marvelously apt quotes. Many of the characters are fascinatingly dark and most of us know an Aunt Charlotte!

Do read this series if you crave something different and original.

My sincere thank you to Joffe Books and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this fun yet thoughtful book.

A crazy humorous murder mystery. Certainly something different. I thought it wonderfully written, very imaginative and creative.
I am finding this series gets better and better as we get to know and understand the Smart women. Its like combining modern day trauma with gothic tragedy. I am looking forward to reading more adventures from the Smart women.

I love a good locked room thriller and this is a comically fast paced mystery romp. Book 3 in the Smart Woman Mystery series starts with Ursula and her mother Pandora Smart receiving an invite to the a supper at the Greystone Castle. They, along with members of their book club will participate in a "supper safari."

As they meet various characters that sport color related names much like a Clue game,
There are several mysteries at play here, including an interpersonal issue between the book club members. Ursula's own long deceased father also makes a few appearances.

The dialogue is witty and entertaining. There is a hint of madcap that makes me want to see this as a Netflix movie! I enjoyed the ending which tied up all of the loose ends. No read the earlier books to enjoy this mystery, but I will surely go back to read them now. If you like locked room mysteries, quickly moving biting dialogue and a fairly cozy ending to it all then this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #TheSupperClubMurders

Perfect book for a rainy day. This is a great mystery story takes place at a mansion during a storm. I left all the characters and I really love the mystery element as well.

In the last few days, I binged through all three books of Victoria Dowds Smart Woman’s Mystery and have to say ‘The Supper Club Murders’ is so far the best one.

A lot of my mentioned problems were fixed, and I could enjoy the book much more.

First off, the story itself was fun to read, the setting was great, and the mystery was a mystery for the most part of the book. I got a lot of “Murder she wrote” vibes. It sucked me in right away.

The characters are still mostly unlikeable, but in my opinion the focus wasn’t so much on Ursula and her ‘illness’ as before, which made this a lot better. There still was fainting but not so much. Aunt Charlotte also seemed nearly likeable during this one and not as clueless as before.

The writing got so much better. While I struggled to most of the first book, I felt that it was such a pleasant read with this one. Maybe I just got used to Dowd’s writing style, but I doubt that. Within the first pages it felt like coming home and made me enjoy the book even more.