Recently published, A Book Of Murder by Victoria Dowd is the fourth of the Smart Woman's Mystery series. Ursula Smart and her mother together with her Aunts Charlotte, Bridget and friend Mirabelle comprise the Smart Woman’s book club. This time they are attending the Old Bailey Court to witness a murder trial. The narrative moves between flashbacks to a book launch where the author was murdered and the now resultant criminal trial hearing. As their role in events is revealed, Ursula questions the evidence and queries if the accused is guilty after all. With its gentle humour and benign characters, fans of the series will really enjoy this tale but as a standalone read, it’s only a three star rating. Having no knowledge of the characters’ previous adventures and the ghost references was somewhat off putting and lessened the enjoyment factor. With thanks to Joffe Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

What a fun read!
This is Victoria Dowd's fourth book in the Smart women series. I'm a fan.

This book revolves around a trial -- the murder of Anthony Lovell. His fifth wife, Penelope, is accused of killing him in -- what else -- a Dr. No-style murder. It's a plausible poisoning by fugu fish, the Japanese delicacy.

The book is told from the perspective of the Smart women who watch everything come to life from the courtroom viewing gallery. However, our narrator, Ursula, figures out the case and provides the sustenance to lead the reader to think about who the murderer may be.

I've never heard of this series before and I'll want to go back and read the three previous books. I was a bit confused about some of the flashback events since I'm new to the series. I was a bit lost on the references. However, that shouldn't keep you from giving this a try.

A modern Agatha Christie unputdownable read.
i was so drawn in by the characters i wanted to find out their secrets so i could work out whodunit.
The plot was well thought out and the twists were really good.

Victoria Dowd's Book of Murder is a closed room mystery concerning the death of a very popular murder mystery author in jis private fort on an island. Book 4 of the Smart Women series, we find the Smart women (and Bridget) dealing with grief and strangely,not suspects.

Wry, funny, and poignant, this book runs on two timelines - the trial during which the widow faces what seems to be an open and shut case, and the lead up to the murder.

3.8/4

You can guarantee if there’s a book about a party or a secluded island or both then I will definitely be reading and/or buying the book.
This reminded me a lot of Richard osman’s thursday murder club books as it had so much wit and humour tied in with some really good twists and turns. Loved the setting and the characters, the Smarts are great and I really enjoyed getting to know them. Definitely recommend this one!

The fourth in the Smart series. A totally off the wall murder mystery- even more so than the other three. Not all the Smart women are of the Smart family - or particularly smart. If you enjoy a whodunit with a good dose of laughter and sarcasm then this is for you.

Loved it.

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.

Absolutely not what I was expecting! It's not just a who dunnit/ domestic noir type, it's also probably the funniest book of this genre that I've ever come across which was a massive surprise to me. It is so engaging and miles away from the typical "suspiciously isolated event and someone gets murdered" book. The characters are all so well written, woth depth and realism. I was dying to get to the end n find out just what exactly had happened. A really nice change on the typical

AN IMPOSSIBLE LOCKED-ROOM MURDER MYSTERY WITH A TOUCH OF DARK HUMOUR. Hooked till the end… A brilliant and compelling read.

This was an enjoyable book. The cover is what initially caught my eye, and I didn't realize it was part of a series, but I was still able to enjoy it. There were probably some small details that would have made more sense if I had read the previous books. This book kind of gave me Agatha Christie vibes. I found the multiple characters interesting and there interactions entertaining.

The author did a great job building suspense by switching timelines between "before" and "after".And the setting was perfect for a murder mystery - an isolated, island manor (the "before") and a courtroom (the "after").

I think fans of Agatha Christie and classic type murder mysteries will enjoy this one!

I would really recommend this book to anyone who enjoys read murder stories with humour thrown in. A great book in this series.

I really wanted to enjoy this book because it sounded right up my alley, but could not get into it. The writing style was hard for me to read, and the plot didn’t have enough to keep me engaged.

2/5 stars

An enjoyable read, but lacked crispness and context.

In Dowd’s fourth book in the series, the Smart women are engrossed in the trial of the century- the murder of the famous lawyer turned mystery writer, Anthony Lovell. The accused? The fifth Mrs. Lovell, Penelope.

What follows is a seesaw of present and past- the murder trial and the Old Bailey, and the flashback of the events at the Old Fort leading up to the crime- poisoning by fugu fish. While the Smart women watch the scene unfolding in the courtroom before them, it is the narrator, Ursula, who begins to stitch the facts together and take us on the journey of the Smart women on the days of the murder, and the clues to who the true murderer might be. Can Ursula fit the pieces together in time to save the accused?

This is my first foray into the series, and I felt at a distinct disadvantage to the air of sadness that was tangible in this book. Events which much have occurred in a previous novel left me confused as to the present state of the characters, as well as who each of the main cast were in relation to one another. It’s like being told an in joke when your weren’t there to understand the references.

I also find Dowd’s writing style, while fluid and linear, to be overstuffed and excessive at times. Other times, I feel neglect at descriptions of the characters and the scenery that could have rounded out the ability to be completely entrenched in the novel.

I assume, if you read the first three novels, this would be an entertaining addition. But it just doesn’t hold up as a standalone story.

situational-humor, verbal-humor, ghosts, author, mystery, mystery-writer, family, family-dynamics, relationships, relatives, murder, murder-investigation****

It opens with a scene that induces gales of laughter and the fun never stops! The mystery is pretty good, but the hilarity played out in deadpan caused me to only read while in the kitchen in case I laughed out my beverage. Too bad for me that I hadn't read the others in series, but the author did make sure to give backstories so I could catch up for now and want to go back and binge read. I really want to know more about Ursula's father's ghost that is with her at all times!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Murder Mystery Smart Women Book Four.
More sharp and witty mayhem from the smart ladies as they wangle an invite to an authors launch but Anthony Lovell author life is short lived this turns into a murder.
So Agatha Christie style reading from Pandora, Ursula and Charlotte as the main characters with astonishing details, I am loving this series of novels as there is never a dull moment with lots of twisty chapters and a funny whodunnit. Loved it and hope she can bring us more to follow on as I eagerly await. Bang Full Stars from me, this is one heck of a book of murders

Decent book with compelling story! I was a tad lost because I didn’t realize it was the fourth in the series

Let me preface this by saying it was my first time reading and Advance Reader Copy. It took me a little while to get past the spelling and general comprehension mistakes. After that it also took a minute to realize the book is set in England and they do have little quirks with how things are said that took getting used to.

Unfortunately this was a complete miss for me. This is book 4 in a series of which I didn’t read any of the first 3 books so I felt I was missing context at times.

To me the storyline just wasn’t interesting enough to keep me engaged and I wasn’t even able to finish the book purely because I lost interest in the first few chapters.

I would like to try another book by this author to give her another shot seeing as it was my mistake of choosing this book without realizing it was part of a series.

Hope this helps you!!

Three stars only because I didntl know this was 4th in a series and I’ve not read any of the previous books. I think that this would be excellent if you had read the three previous books, but jumping in cold turkey didnt work for me.

I am not going to review this as it would be unfair to do so. As I must put a star rating to press submit I will put as 4 stars as what I did read was written well. When I requested this book for the reasons I sent with the request, I did not know from the information on NetGalley that this was the fourth book in a series. I was scrolling through the NetGalley library and this appealed. I love the cover. I started reading and was wondering about lack of character development and so I googled and realised it may be assumed knowledge. Apologies for requesting as I was not aware. I wonder if it needs to say on the cover that it is book #4.

I seriously loved this so much. It really reminded me of an Agatha Christie book. A huge cast of characters? Check! A killer? Check. And I had so much fun. I love books that take me back to when I was young and fill me with nostalgia - that’s exactly what this one did!

Smart Women's Mystery #4

The Smart Women wrangle themselves an invite to crime-fiction powerhouse Anthony Lavell's latest book launch. a weekend-long bash at his private island home. They're ready for an evening of wining, dining and hobnobbing with the literati. But trouble is never far behind where the smart women are concerned. Later that night, Ursula is awakened by blood-curdling screams. Anthony's been poisoned. By the same rare - and potentially deadly -fugu fillet that was the highlight of the evening feast.

When the person accused of Anthony Lovell's murder stands trial at the Old Bailey, the smart women, Pandora, Ursula and Charlotte are in attendance. The story has a dual timeline and is a little different to the previous books in this series. There's more courtroom drama. I like the authors writing style. there's lots of twists, suspense and drama in this quick and easy to read novel.

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