This book was one of my favorite reads of 2024. I love KJ Charles' romance novels, and I'm happy to confirm that she is just as adept at crafting a twisty mystery that had me on the edge of my seat until it reached a most satisfying conclusion. The novel's protagonist, Jem, is damaged but strong and determined in a way that made him character catnip for me! The other characters and their relationships with him were equally compelling. Even now that I know the solution to the mystery, I have reread this book several times to revel in the characters and their journey. And the queer romance subplot, which was inextricably intertwined with the mystery, was so much more than I was expecting from a book in the mystery genre. Truly a delightful read!

I loved the premise of a mystery but historical as I haven’t found many that interested me. We have a group of seven students that were all very close until one of them died. A decade after he was found murdered, one of the friends decides that he wants to get to the bottom of what really happened. His death has affected his life and the only way to move on is to find what happened. He goes back to Oxford to the place where it all began. He connects with his former friends to discover which one of them killed Toby.

Again, I loved the concept of a historical mystery set at Oxford. It was slow to start but did pick up in the middle which made me want to keep reading more. A few things that happened throughout the book which unfortunately made me lose interest. I continued to read as I wanted to know how it would unfold but overall it wasn’t the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!
Their group of friends was called the Seven Wonders, and when one of their own is murdered, their lives are never the same.
A decade later, one of the friends decides the time has come to figure out which one of his remaining friends is the murderer, with dangerous results.
This dark academia murder mystery was the perfect companion on a gloomy fall weekend. Great read!!

I was given an audio copy from netgalley but didn’t review it in time for publication.

This has dual timelines and is set ‘in olden times.’ Not sure when exactly but people didn’t have many rights if they weren’t white and male.

I loved this story. The main character is Jeremy (Jem). When they were in college a friend was murdered. 10 years have passed and the killer was never caught. Jem decides to investigate. Not everyone is happy about this and his actions have consequences.

The write was nice and I like how the author gave a voice to certain ‘issues’ faced by some. The narrator had a good voice too.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

4.5 stars

I don't know how to objectively review a KJ Charles book TBH. I will say that I was not sure about this at the start. I wasn't connecting right away with Jem or the story and I was worried it wasn't going to work for me. And I don't love a parallel timeline (even though that was absolutely the right call for this book.) Regardless: by the 20% mark I was in and by 40% I was deeply resenting my life responsibilities keeping me from continuing to read the book. It was great (if somewhat dark) fun and kept me guessing (and hoping!) throughout the rest of the book. The author did a remarkable job of putting us in Jem's shoes - saying too much more about that is a spoiler but let's just say I related with him hard. And while KJC repeatedly warned people this is not a romance, I was super grateful for the romantic subplot/throughline and my romance-loving self kinda needed that angle in there! That said, the way the original friendships were formed and grew over time were so well drawn, along with the sense of place. KJC brings her usual perspective of justice (and lack thereof) to the story that I always appreciate. I'm not sure what else to say - this was great and I look forward to re-reading and finding any little clues now that I know the outcome!

Death in the Spires is atmospheric and vividly described, and KJ Charles manages to create a great feel of the olden days Oxford. The writing is good and engaging but I wouldn't expect anything else. Once the story gets going, it is very captivating and great but my problem lies with the first half of the book.

The beginning is very slow. Jem looses his job as a clerk because his boss receives a letter accusing Jem of murdering his friend ten years ago. Jem decides to finally confront his other friends and find out who murdered Toby as the murder has affected so much his life. One by one Jem visits the people who once were his friends. It is very slow in the beginning and Jem does not make a convincing detective and his reasoning feels weak. It is not until half way mark when the story gets going and it seems like there's threats to Jem's life because he won't give up on finding.

Once the story gets going, it's fast-paced and keeps going until the very end. The resolution of Toby's murder and everything else is interesting. Maybe not wholly satisfying but the reasoning behind it is solid enough for me to be satisfied with the overall story.

What causes a glorious group of Oxford misfit friends to not simply implode, but scatter? The murder of one of their own that was never solved. KJ Charles has been lights out as a historical romance writer dancing on the edges of mysteries and suspenses for a while, but I was jazzed to see the latest is a full-on historical mystery.

Death in the Spires is a standalone historical murder mystery set in late Victorian to Edwardian era. Written in a style of two timelines with the 1909 present and alternating flashbacks to ten years before. The point of view is all from one of the insiders in this Seven Wonders group, the underdog working class scholarship guy, Jem Kite.

At first, Jem’s dreariness and misery were palpable and oozed off the page and only worsened as he learned that not one of his old friends was particularly happy or had moved on and, turns out, his life hadn’t been the worst, by far. I liked seeing with the progression of the case how Jem’s outlook progressed as well. Oh sure, he floundered a lot and actually felt like an amateur at detecting unlike other times I’ve read and thought the character didn’t feel like an amateur at all- or were pretty lucky. Jem’s not lucky, but dogged. He gets there in the end by stubbornly sticking to it.

The rest of the characters are fleshed out as Jem’s memories and then encounters made them come to life. Even the long-dead victim was given solid character development. They were all complex, flawed people and turned out that all had motive. I only worked it out not long before the reveals started coming in and, even then, there were a few clever twists to still come. There is a whiff of romance, but this is not really a romance.

All in all, Death in the Spires was an abso-fab murder mystery with fantastic historical detail and I hope KJ Charles fires off another one at some point in the future.

I can't remember which bookstagrammer turned me on to KJ Charles, but I am sure glad I picked up one of his books. I've now read several and they are so good. It begins in 1905 but the mystery surrounds events that happened in 1893 at Oxford University when one of a group of friends is brutally murdered. Jem, one of the friends, is now investigating the never-solved murder and must reconnect with the other five friends. One of my favorites by Charles so far.

Spectacular suspense. Loved the historical details and fresh cast of characters that added such depth to this story.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the digital ARC!

Death In The Spires is a big departure for author KJ Charles, who is known mostly for her historical romances (mainly M/M). She has succeeded beautifully with this historical mystery. As the author has posted, “It's your classic Group Of University Friends Reunite With Murder set 1895/1905...It's also whatever the opposite of a love letter to Oxford University might be.”

A group of seven friends became known at Oxford University as the Seven Wonders. They seemed an unlikely bunch of friends: four upper-class young men, one of whom is Black; one working class young man on a scholarship, who also limps due to a club foot (Jeremy/Jem, the main character who drives the action); two women, one of whom is the twin sister of one of the men, and one who is poor and on scholarship. Toby, one of the men, is murdered right before their final exams. No one has ever been charged with the murder and ten years later, Jem is getting threatening notes accusing him of murder, losing his clerk job as a result.

The book is a bit of a slow burn mystery, but it pulled me in once Jem started to take an active role in uncovering what really happened ten years before. His life has been a mess since the murder, starting with him not being able to complete his exams. As he gradually interacts with the other remaining five of the original friendship group, he finds out that he’s not the only one who has been getting these anonymous messages. The six remaining friends haven’t been in touch with each other over the years and any of them could be the murderer. I kept changing my mind about who it might have been.

There are interesting observations about some things that were illegal at the time in Britain, mainly abortion and same-sex relationships. Both of these things impact the story in a big way. I also found it interesting that although the two women attended colleges at Oxford, they were not able to be granted a degree at that time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this shift in genre by K J Charles. I’ve read several of their fantasy books and enjoyed them all but this worked really well. I read it almost one sitting. I didn’t really find the characters terribly compelling but all in all I think the author should give us more!

I really enjoy everything that KJ Charles writes. I did find that this particular novel had a different feel to it. I found that the mystery was a slow burn (which is good), but I wish the mystery had a few more twists and turns. Overall, I read it in one sitting and did enjoy the read!

Death in the Spires was a bit more melancholy of a story than I'm used to from KJC, but no less enjoyable.
I really felt for Jem, life was so heavy for him and I hated that. I understand why he so desperately wanted to find out what happened to Toby.
There were a lot of twists and turns as the story unfolded, and I was just as anxious as Jem to figure everything out.
Ms. Charles really did an excellent job weaving this tale, and getting me all up in my feels.

When I began reading this book, I felt that it wasn't for me. However, I was quickly drawn into it, in fact I couldn't put it down. The story is told from Jem's perspective as member of the Seven Wonders looking back a decade at the group. Why was he, an outsider pulled into the group? Why was he now receiving letters threatening to expose him as a murderer. The story is set in ths early 1900s so life was different at Oxford University then, than now. The characters have been very well written and itbis easy to feel sympathy for Jem and Prue the poor relations in the group, but it gradually becomes clear that they all have something to hide as the search for the murderer brings them together again.
This is the first book that I have read by K J Charles, but I shall look out for more.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth. Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer? As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger? What a gripping mystery! I could not put this down once I started. Highly recommend!

I absolutely tore through this. I thought it was superb. KJC literally cannot write a book I don’t love.

‘Don’t ask me to remember all the golden times and how wonderful it was. It’s such a lovely lie, and it makes everything worse now. Stop dreaming about the spires. It was a dreadful place and those were dreadful people, and you and I got caught in their games and paid for it. And you may not want to remember how much we hurt each other, but Toby is rotting in the ground to prove it.’

I was predisposed to like this book, because it featured a group of people reuniting to try to figure out which one of them is a killer, but it exceeded my expectations. Set in the early 1900s, Jem, a clerk from humble beginnings, receives a letter accusing him of killing his Oxford classmate, Toby. Jem is only sure of two things about Toby's murder: the killer must be one of their friends, and it wasn't him. He decides to try to track down the real killer to put an end to the speculation, but the secrets he uncovers about all of their pasts might be dangerous.

I enjoyed so much about this book, but especially the way it asks questions about justice, especially in regards to marginalized people. The mystery was thrilling, but it's also not the only intriguing mystery in the plot, and the end felt incredibly satisfying. An excellent historical murder mystery.

4.25⭐️ - I really enjoyed the vibes in this book! The whodunit was interesting, and I loved how everything played out in the end!

A masterfully written mystery that kept me up long past my bedtime. I would fight endless battles for Jem, he deserves the world. My only minor complaint is that I’m accustomed to KJ’s romances and wanted a firmer happy ending for Jem, but both the mystery and Jem’s story arc end on a distinctly hopeful and (mostly) satisfying note.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this book since I read the ARC — so of course I bought both the ebook and the audiobook in the span of a few days and began rereading in both formats. One of the best things about KJ Charles’s mysteries specifically is how much fun they are to revisit, once you’re in on the mystery and can pick up all the clever story breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout.