Another murder mystery for me. Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle. This is my third book from Tom and whilst I loved A Fatal Crossing, the more I read these stories the more predictable they seem to get. Or maybe I'm getting better. DI Wulver!

One happy couple.
Two divided families.
A wedding party to die for.

On the private island of Castello Fiore - surrounded by the glittering waters of Lake Garda - the illustrious Heywood family gathers for their son Laurence's wedding to Italian influencer Eva Bianchi.
But as the ceremony begins, a blood-curdling scream brings the proceedings to a devastating halt.
With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over.
Everyone is desperate to know . . .
Who is the killer?
And can they be found before they strike again?

I've been drawn to Hindle's work for a while and whilst this isn't my usual genre, I do find that these stories are intriguing and descriptive.... to a certain point and that's where Hindle loses me. About halfway through, things drop and whilst the plot itself is complex it really needs to do more to up the ante.

I did enjoy this more than The Murder Game and thought it was a welcoming and positive entry to Hindle's work. The Christie-esque comparisons against the contemporary setting is something that is popular amongst these mysteries, but Hindle really does have this down to a tee. The characters themselves were unique and interesting and different from what Hindle has written before but the dynamic between the rich grew stale.

The final third ramps up the pressure and whilst this is a satisfying result, I felt that it needed more than. I will continue to read Hindle's work as this is good fun but I'm wondering if I need more than a whodunnit to quench my narrative thirsts.

This was my second time reading a Tom Hindle book and I really enjoyed it.

I loved the setting of the book. The description of the beautiful environment provided a lovely and historical backdrop against which the murder takes place. I also liked that it made it a closed loop mystery, which I always enjoy.

The multiple POV was handled very well. It gave you insight into the secrets and lives of the different guests, with most of the cast of characters being largely unlikeable. However, it still provided us with a main protagonist, Robyn (Laurence's brother's girlfriend) for us to follow and root for.

The book was well paced and slowly revealed the secrets of the different guests. This kept me gripped to the book and I read it within a couple of days.

The only reason this wasn't a five star read for me was that as someone who reads a lot of murder mystery books, it was a little predictable. I had guessed who had committed the murder from very early on in the novel. However, this didn't take away from the fact that it was an enjoyable read.

This book will be released in January 2024 and I would definitely recommend this book for fans of murder mystery fans. It's a quick and enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tom Hindle, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Century for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Plenty of secrets and well developed characters, mostly selfish and unlikeable, with a clever plot and several dark sub-plots all on a collision course for some very dramatic reveals. The main character, Robyn, was the most normal and likeable of the wedding guests. The story started off really well and had a very eventful five star ending, however, it dipped for a while in the middle, losing momentum, with multiple POVs and some repetition. The wedding is set in an old castle on Lake Garda and there is a building called a 'Casermetta' or little barracks, which is repeated too many times for me. I would have preferred if the rooms were mentioned more, such as the museum, the office, the kitchen, the lobby or hall or even just gone inside the castle or function area etc. I enjoyed the whodunnit and whydunnit aspect with plenty of suspects and it was very satisfying to work out whodunnit before it was revealed. Fans of Agatha Christie novels should love this author and I expect he will write plenty more suspenseful mystery thrillers. Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. An interesting enough concept of a marriage between an Influencer and a more affluent "Face of the business" playboy, in a beautiful setting with periphery characters that create the narrative. A slightly predictable plot, but captivating enough that I read until the end, with sufficient twists, past events that keep you guessing and rivalry to hold your attention.

A great story with so many twists and turns to keep you guessing! Thoroughly enjoyed it and the suspense that was lingering throughout the book.

Another entertaining whodunnit by Tom Hindle. Set in another one of Tom’s trademark isolated locations, why not transport yourself to sunny Italy this winter!

An expertly crafted mystery with a collection of characters who all have something to hide.

It should be a wedding with added celebrity sparkle. Castello Fiore on Lake Garda is the ideal location for a shindig, as the Heywood family gathers for Laurence to wed Italian influencer Eva Bianchi. It’s picture perfect, until a scream before the ceremony alerts the guests to something that’ll mean the wedding won’t take place. They await the police – what is taking them so long? – and as grief bubbles over, so too does family secrets, money worries, expectations and lies, lies, lies. Will the killer be found before they strike again? Clever and crafty, this feels like a locked room mystery but with a devilish twist.

The author was new to me but I’d definitely read more by him. This was a fab murder mystery set in a beautiful location. The characters, whilst not all likeable, were believable and well written. The story had plenty of clues and twists and turns - a well paced and gripping read

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoyed the authors other books and this was just as good. A real mystery in the Agatha Christie style of writing. Loved it.

Laurence Heywood and Eva Bianchi are getting married. The wedding planner has everything arranged, it will take place on a private island surrounded by the lake. The caterers, musicians, photographer are all ready, all the wedding guests family and friends, have arrived by boat.
All the guests have explored the island and the castle, they are waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle and the ceremony to begin. They wait, and suddenly hear a scream. On investigation, they find the bride dead.
The guests are trapped on the island waiting for the police to arrive.
Family secrets and lies begin to come to the surface as distrust between the guests grows, and old resentments are aired. The killer has an agenda, how many more bodies will be discovered before the police arrive?
This was a great read, a plot that twisted, and I suspected every one in turn. 5 stars.

This is a new author to me and I only chose the book because I have been to Malcesine on Lake Garda. An influencer is getting married in an idyllic setting - an old Italian castle. Two families -each with secrets which will spoil the day if they get out. There is intrigue, family tension, murder, betrayal, theft and the Mafia.
The story is told from different characters viewpoints and there are a lot of characters! I thought sometimes the narrative got too complicated, constant repetition of key points by several voices. Lake Garda didn’t really play a big part in the story - it could have been set anywhere. I will look out for another by Tom Hindle to compare. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a prepublication ebook in return for an honest review

"Murder on Lake Garda" is a pacy, well-written murder mystery with a "locked-room" or "Country House" style plot. Most of the characters are unpleasant, and there are enough red herrings for the reader to suspect the majority of them! But, with hindsight, there are enough clues for the careful reader to work out who was the murderer. A quick, and enjoyable read.

I really enjoy Tom Hindle’s writing. The characters are interesting and I find myself getting invested in the murder mystery. And this time we got to travel to my favourite country! Brownie points right there!

An entertaining story, with some good characters. It never really rang true though, and a fair number of the characters were very black and white, almost to the point of cliche. I felt the book conjured up the atmosphere of Lake Garda very well.

Delicious…
A wedding on the private island of Castello Fiore, in the middle of the glorious Lake Garda, should be an occasion of joy and bliss. Particularly given the stunning location. Not everything goes to plan and the nuptials are soon to turn fatal. A pacy plot littered with red herrings and misdirection galore and populated with a deftly drawn cast in an atmospheric, glamorous and well imagined setting. Another satisfying and contemporary murder mystery with a distinct Golden Age feel - a compelling, complex and entirely delicious whodunit.

A brilliant whodunit set in the breathtaking scenery of lake Garda.
Robyn and her boyfriend Toby travel to Italy for his brother's wedding. There are rifts in the family and secrets, leading to tragedy on the day of the wedding.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and finished quickly as I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend.

Rating: 3.2/5

This is my second experience of Tom Hindle's writing, having previously read "The Murder Game". Although the plots and settings of the two books are quite distinct, they do share some very similar traits.

I was originally drawn to Tom Hindle's work by the fact that he cites Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz as his two main influences - and they just happen to be two of my favourite authors. As in "The Murder Game" there is clear evidence of the influence of these two aforementioned wordsmiths in "Murder on Lake Garda". Albeit that the time frame is a contemporary one, the backdrop and cast of characters is very much reminiscent of the kind that you might have expected to find in one of Dame Agatha's murder mysteries. Once again, Tom Hindle creates a well thought-out, but nonetheless complex plotline, which is very much a trademark of Anthony Horowitz.

I can definitely say that I enjoyed "Murder on Lake Garda", but another aspect that it shares in common with "The Murder Game" is that the pacing loses its way in the middle of the story. The opening third is quite "Christie-esque" and sets the scene well, while the final third clicks into gear again and provides a very satisfying unravelling and resolution to the mystery, but in the central block things become a touch stymied and overly pedestrian. Nonetheless, the overall impact is a positive one and I dare say I will return for Tom Hindle's next offering too.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

A quick moving and easy to read murder mystery. A wedding is about to take place on an Italian island but the bride is late…..

Thee are a lot of rich guests on the island who are unpleasant, to say the least. And there is some kind of secret. And mafiosi.

It quickly becomes dark and dangerous for the main character, Robyn, who is attending with her boyfriend, Toby. Toby is the brother of the groom but is very much the black sheep of the family as he does not want to join the family business, the source of all the wealth. His family are all horrible characters so who would blame him?!

An enjoyable read. I did guess ‘whodunnit’ but not until near the end. I read a copy provided by NetGalley and the publishers but my views are my own.

I loved this author’s previous book, so was looking forward to this and I was not disappointed in any way. Tom Hindle has brought the plotting of the Golden Age up to date with this one being a clever take on a country house mystery, with a limited set of suspects. Plenty of sub plots and red herrings to keep you intrigued. I loved the protagonist and enjoyed the nastiness and self absorption of the other characters.

Tom Hindle's mysteries ( Fatal crossing) follow Agatha Christie's plot structures and are great fun to read. His latest, Murder at Lake Garda, which is coming in January 2024, is just as clever as Fatal crossing was, if not more so.

The Heywood family are celebrating their son's Laurence wedding to Eva, an influencer with a troubled track record and a bitch with an attitude, on island Castello Fiore at Lake Garda . Toby, his estranged brother and his girl friend Robyn get caught on the island with other guests when the wedding ceremony is cut short by a scream. Needless to say someone was murdered. Until the very end I had no idea whodunnit which is rare. Really enjoyed  the chief protagonist Robyn, a perfect escapist mystery.