A cozy crime set in the 1920s in the jazz era but all other likenesses to The Great Gatsby were missing. It’s ok if you like a basic whodunnit but didn’t really float my boat.

I wanted to like this and was excited to receive an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley but I'm DNFing at around 15%. Rating 3/5 because I didn't read it all and don't feel it's fair to give it anything other than an average rating.

I went into this expecting a murder mystery set in the world of The Great Gatsby, that revisited locations and places from the original novel. I was curious to see how it would integrate itself into the events of the original novel and how the timelines would overlap.

Unfortunately the answer is that they don't. The author has basically thrown out any idea of 'canon' here, so that this really has very little to do with The Great Gatsby at all other than using the names of the characters. The guest of Gatsby who dies at the beginning of this novel is Tom Buchanan, a fairly important character in The Great Gatsby who survives to the end and outlives Jay. If we're killing off major characters from the novel and in the process ignoring the actual events of the novel then I'm not really sure what we're doing here, because it has very little to do with The Great Gatsby itself.

Once it became clear that this was basically just 'AU' fanfiction I lost interest entirely, and I won't be finishing it. I would much rather have read a jazz era murder mystery that had nothing at all to do with The Great Gatsby.

Also, a minor nitpick to end things: at one point Greta buys "that new Agatha Christie novel" and wonders if Christie must be well-traveled, because her stories take place in "such exotic locations". If this takes place in 1922 (which it must do, because Jay Gatsby is alive and has just fired all his staff) then Christie had only published two novels at that point, and they're both set in England.

I absolutely loved this! The idea of a new book set around a story, and characters, we all know and love is great.

Felt like I was picking up a familiar friend given the setting and the familiarity with the key characters in this story.

It moved at a great pace and kept me guessing. Highly recommend

It was an average read. I was attracted by the twenties setting and being absorbed in Gatsby's world again. But the middle half of the book had little happening. There is no real sense of intrigue. I think the author may have got away with it, if the characters had been drawn a bit deeper, but they came across as wooden. The book did redeem itself in the later quarter, as the plot is poured out of the perpetrator's mouth at brace neck speed. So I think the story as it is revealed was good enough for a decent book, but needed a bit more oomph with the writing. I'd like Grace to have another drama to absorb herself in and I'd be keen to give that a shot.

GIFTED a free e-ARC from Dialogue Books via @netgalley Publishing date 3 April 2025

The reviews and book cover made this novel appealing but I’m not convinced it lived up to my expectations. The heroine of this thriller, Greta, came across as a young, slightly immature, dreamer who risked her life and high-society reputation to solve a murder. A fairly straightforward novel without the thrill of twists and turns. To its credit the story did flow well and the characters were quite engaging with the final historical notes very informative.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Dialogue Books for this ARC in return for an honest review.