I have to admit I skimmed through this book in a very short time because there was just so much uninteresting extra bits that the story didn’t need. Because you hear of the murder in the first few pages all you are waiting for is a name. The ending did provide the closure it needed to but too much dross along the way.

A psychological family drama all set within a day, with flashbacks.

Nadine Walsh is throwing a 60th Birthday party for her mother, who is a famous author.

The book starts with a death, then the reader slowly gets snippets of who it could be, and why. Several to choose from and red herrings along the way. It kept me guessing.

Written from the pov of Nadine, who is an unreliable narrator! As the story unfolds, we discover secrets of the past. Lies, cover ups, an affair, complex characters, what more could you ask for?

A slow burner but overall, a good solid read.

I was gripped from the start, when the story starts with Nadine waiting for a man to die in her basement while a party goes on upstairs.

I had to know why! Then, the story rewinds to the start the day, with Nadine on edge as she party preps for her mother’s 60th birthday. There are other issues lurking, including the anniversary of her aunt’s odd death and feeling shaken from falling down the stairs. Her family are worried about her increasingly fragile behavior and rumination.

As the day continues, things go downhill fast and weird things happen. Or do they? Are they in her head or is something else going on?

This is a fab thriller with a twisty plot. Highly recommended.

Unstoppable momentum with Nadine anxious all the time trying to keep secrets whilst protecting various members of the family. I enjoyed racing through it, thinking of all the possibilities, but felt it ended rather suddenly. A good novel -full of emotional tension and atmospheric.

Nadine is throwing a 60th birthday for her mother, a famous author, at her home and the story is told from her point of view with flashbacks. But she's an unreliable narrator as the reader tries to guess who the dead person mentioned at the beginning, is. The characters are all well described from Nadine's willing but unhelpful husband, Paul, to the man she had an affair with and her teenage son and daughter.

A Death At The Party is an engrossing psychological family drama that takes place over one single day. It kept me fully engaged. Many thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The story begins with the narrator, Nadine, feeling for a pulse as the victim lies dying. There is no clue as to who the victim might be, except that the person is male. By about a third of the way through I had already identified four men as the possible victim. I then started to doubt whether Nadine had in fact murdered someone, or did she just discover the person? The possibilities were almost endless.

The present day action takes place on a single day, the day of the party. Nadine is throwing a 60th birthday party at her home for her mother, a famous author. But there’s a lot of backstory to be told, both from Nadine’s childhood, her more recent history, and stuff going on in her two teenage children’s lives.

Nadine is a complex character, a bit unstable mentally, and she has a suspicious nature. I started to become as suspicious as her as secrets and partial secrets are revealed. I came up with some weird and wonderful theories, as the morsels of secrets are drip-fed to us along the way. A few red herrings, too, I feel. I was thoroughly gripped, while at the same time cogitating my own theories.

Despite my overactive imagination trying to work out the final revelation, I failed to get it right!

A solid suspense thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

I enjoyed the characters and felt engaged from the beginning.

I will definitely look out for Amy Stuart's next book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From the first page, we know that Nadine Walsh's party will not end well. The victim - a man - is dying when we first meet him and Nadine consciously makes no effort to call the ambulance he so desperately needs. What we don't know is who the man is or why Nadine prefers to have him die. I'd better give you a little more background so that you can understand what's happening.

It's not that long since Nadine had a bad fall - despite being only forty, she smashed her hip - and she's still not fully recovered. She's determined to put the last year behind her (it includes her affair with Lionel Robinson - something her husband, Paul, still doesn't know about) and she's determined to throw a party for her mother's sixtieth birthday. Mother is Marylin Millay - the famous and successful novelist and a woman with quite a family history which Nadine does all in her power to protect.

We come into the story on the day of the party and Nadine feels as though she needs to be in several places at once. Paul's being no help: he's not the practical kind and her two children, seventeen-year-old Isabelle and fifteen-year-old Damian have their own concerns. In fairness to Isabelle, she's been spending all the time she can at the hospital bedside of her best friend, River Dunphy. River took an overdose and it was Isabelle who found her friend. River's mother, Sherry, hasn't left her daughter's bedside. Sherry's separated from River's father, Seymour, who's also Paul's partner in their law firm. Seymour pops in to see River when he can.

Complicated, isn't it? At the beginning, it feels as though there's a cast of thousands all piling in at once but you're in safe hands with Amy Stuart: she handles the characters with aplomb and they all come over as individuals. It wasn't long before I had them all sorted in my mind. Frankly, there's quite a list of people you can imagine Nadine might want to have out of her life. The bravest move by Stuart is that Nadine herself isn't that likeable and some of her actions (even before the day of the party) are, shall we say, morally questionable.

It is a cracking read though - I couldn't put it down. My one reservation is that I would have preferred a different ending but that's me being very picky and more than a little bit moralistic. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag. As well as reading the book, I listened to an audio download (which I bought myself) and which was narrated by Kate Handford. It was a good and very satisfying listen and I'd like to hear (literally) more from Handford.

If this book appeals to you, we think you'll also enjoy Liane Moriarty.

I’m slightly mixed about this one! The title and opening chapter reveals what is going to happen ‘a death at the party’ but I feel this isn’t necessarily needed.
The whole book is centred around one day, with flash backs to the past, so you feel like you are just waiting to get to the end to see who it is that is going to die!
It engages you enough to want to keep reading, but I do feel it was a slow burn. The end picks up pace a little, revealing interesting facts, but then it just ends! I felt another chapter would have been good to ‘finish off’ the story, but maybe it is being left open for a sequel?

The most amazing thing about this enthralling book is that it takes place over a single day. OK, so there is the odd flashback to previous happenings, but I was flabbergasted that author Amy Stuart could keep me totally gripped as I read 400 pages about one solitary day – the day of the party. That takes great skill! I totally related to Nadine, who’s throwing a party for her famous mum’s sixtieth birthday. The prologue totally intrigued me – right from the start we know that Nadine kills someone at the party. We just don’t know who. There are twists and turns, throwbacks to another murder at another significant birthday and surprising revelations – all of which add up to a great read.

The book starts with a death at a party as in the title.
The party is being organised by Nadine for her mum Marilyn , it’s her sixtieth birthday.
From the death at the beginning , the story then takes us back to the start of the day of the party .
The story is very slow paced and lost my interest half way through .
However , I persevered and I’m glad I did because I found the ending was a satisfying conclusion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph , Penguin Random House.

This was such a great story, it started with the murder, of who we don't know yet, then worked through Nadine's story, to find out how it got to where it started. And by that time, you're glad of who it is! The reason behind it and how everyone connects together was brilliant. I really enjoyed it and was guessing right until the end.
Thank you to netgalley, publisher and the author for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The prologue teases us with what is to come later that night. The title also tells us. But I really think the lead up to the party would have been more effective without that knowledge. We don't know who dies, and there are titbits revealed which mean it could be a few different men. I also guessed the big secret Marilyn revealed at the party a long while earlier. I would have liked to know who Nadine's father was. A lot of strands of this story where hostess Nadine is throwing a party for her famous author mother, Marilyn's, 60th birthday. At Marilyn's last birthday party thirty years previously, her young sister Colleen was found dead by 10 year old Nadine. Nobodu has ever talked about this, but a recent accident suffered by Nadine has brought past events to the forefront of her mind and she becomes obsessed with them. And is there any link to her own daughter's best friend taking an overdose a few weeks ago and lying in a coma ever since? Quite the mystery, and so many facets to Nadine's recent behaviour that it could be any number of men lying dead in her basement. #netgalley #ADeathAttheParty

I really love the cover and the title of this book. I usually quite enjoy books that begin with a murder and I was hoping for something similar to The Guest List by Lucy Foley. This opening line gave me hope "It takes some digging to locate a pulse" but unfortunately it went downhill from there.

The rest of the book takes place over the course of the day of the party, with Nadine and a seemingly never ending cast of side characters running last minute errands. The plot stagnates as it's mired down with minutia and couldn't seem to move forward. I almost gave up on the book when at 77% Nadine is still faffing around in tshirt and leggings when the party is almost about to start.

I don't think it helped that Nadine isn't a particularly endearing character. She has a supposedly happy marriage but cheats on her husband. So I couldn't root for her at all. Other side characters aren't given a voice so there was no connection there either.

When the twist came at the end I felt it was messy and rushed. It was a good twist but it left me feeling unsatisfied.

So I don't think I would recommend this book or read from this author again. I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy to read and review.

A slow burn domestic mystery set on the day of a famous author's birthday party. I felt the narrative dragged partly because many of the elements leading up to the denouement were blandly uninteresting. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Nadine is organising a big birthday party for her mum. There’s a lot of back story that gradually comes out and is masterfully told but scary. It kept me reading.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this lovely book!

The fact this book starts with someone standing over a dead body in their basement got me hooked immediately!!!

The book runs over just one day that changes everything! A series of events that lead to a murder, with a side story to keep the momentum going.

It revealed the killer from the start alittle like a Colombo episode which I loved!

The only thing that lost it one star was I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!?!?!?

The book ended on abit of a cliff hanger, does her husband find the body or not? And what happens next?

Hoping there is book 2 maybe?

Overall great read and I can’t wait to read more by this wonderful author

We are straight into Nadine narrative

#Adeathattheparty #netgalley
I really like how you begin by knowing that Nadine killed someone but not who or why. It delves deeply into what would motivate a murderer.

There was so much more to the narrative than you initially realise, which is why I found the family secrets to be so compelling. Because each character contributed something unique to the story, the multiplicity of characters worked wonderfully.The occasion is also Colleen's 30th death anniversary; Colleen was Nadine's older cousin with whom she adored spending summers when her mother and she lived on her grandparents' property. Nadine, who was 10 at the time, was the one who discovered Colleen's body, but over time, Nadine's mother has grown more reticent to bring up Colleen. Why?.

This is a tense, twisty book all about female relationships, especially mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces.Nadine has complicated relationships with her mother, daughter and aunt and their history is revealed and many secrets are unearthed in the lead up to a big party ( which begins the book).
Ultimately we learn just how far Nadine will go to protect the ones she loves. The female characters are strong, witty and loving and make this book.an absolute joy to read.

I found A Death At The Party to be an OK read. It was a little slow in places and also a little predictable. I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it either.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.