I think Jude Deveraux is a tremendously gifted writer whom I’ve enjoyed reading for over 40 years.
However, I just wasn’t feeling it with this book.
I thought there were too many story lines, like trying to keep several plates in the air at once while juggling. I got lost with who was with whom and who had cheated on whom.
The most interesting part was finally the development of the relationship between Jack and Kate.
But even that I thought got lost in all the other story lines and was a bit lukewarm.

Jude Deveraux is an accomplished author with many books under her belt; however, this is the first book I have ever read by her. It was about time I read one. I had been under the impression she wrote romance novels, but found out she also writes historical fiction and mysteries. I also found out she curently resides in North Carolina, as do I.

Description:
Sara Medlar may be retired as a bestselling author, but her career as an amateur detective is facing one final mystery—and it’s a killer.

Retired romance novelist Sara Medlar has been comfortably sharing her large home with her niece Kate and her “honorary grandson” Jack. It’s a convenient arrangement given the Medlar Three, as they’ve become known, are often working closely together to solve mysteries in their small town of Lachlan, Florida. But when real estate agent Kate announces she’s been given the listing for the town’s storied Lachlan House, it sets off alarm bells for Sara and Jack. The infamous house has a dark history, one that’s certain to haunt them all.

With little memory of her childhood, Kate doesn’t understand what the fuss is about—until the trio visits the house and makes a grim discovery. Flooded by memories of the past, Kate realizes she spent time there as a child. But stumbling upon a skeleton dressed in a rotting tuxedo—a murder victim with connections to her father—causes Kate to wonder if the childhood she can’t remember might be one she’d rather forget.

As Sara, Kate and Jack delve deeper into the dead man’s history, they learn he was last seen at a party held at Lachlan House in the late nineties—a swanky soiree attended by his many enemies. With more than one motive in play, every partygoer is a suspect, and Sara is determined to find the culprit, even if it means digging up past secrets she’s worked hard to keep buried.

My Thoughts:
This book is the fifth in the Medlar Murder series, but it is easily read as a stand alone. I enjoyed the history of Lachlan house as it began to be revealed. The 'skeleton in the closet' was a shocking find and a setup to all that followed. Kate's triggered memories were revealing. The reenactment of the party at the house the night the man was presumed to have been murdered led to quite a few secrets being revealed. The characters were an enjoyable group.

The romance between Kate and Jack was interesting too. Since they had always been friends growing up together and living in the same house, treating each other as brother and sister for so many years, it seemed to surprise both of them when they started to feel differently. Sara was one of my favorite characters, and she had a secret of her own that is revealed. This is a good mystery as well as a romance that I would recommend to friends.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing MIRA through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I am normally a huge Jude Deveraux fan, but this book was very disjointed. The book begins with Sara, who is a retired romance writer and Kate, her niece and Jack. Kate has hidden memories involving a shady house where they find a corpse. It was hard to follow because it has been a while since I read the first one. I really did not enjoy this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Mira for the chance to read An unfinished murder by Jude Deveraux. When I requested this title, I did not realize that this was a series. I decided to read the first book, An unwilling murder first. I enjoyed it and the characters, and continued with An unfinished murder. The story dragged a bit, and I found there were too many characters but overall it was a good story. I recommend reading the series from the beginning.

An Unfinished Murder by Jude Deveraux. Apparently this is a series however this is the first one the series that I've read and find it doesn't make a difference. The group of three main characters that are good at solving mysteries are also great characters and you will like them! Sara, Jack, and Kate are working together to solve an old crime. They found a skeleton in a closet of an old mansion that Kate has been hired to sell. Now they want to recreate the party that ended in murder so many years ago. During the recreation more trouble arises and Sara has memories return that were long forgotten about that night when she was just a small child that can help.
I found the characters likable and interesting but the amount of introduced participants could get confusing. The story was fun and light but dragged a bit in the beginning. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for this eARC this is my honest opinion.

For one, I binge read all 5 books at one time and now I miss my people (Sara, Kate and Jack) and have the worse book hangover EVER! Once again the Medlar Trio is back to solving mysteries this one just happens to be a very old mystery that happened at a party Kate attended when she was just a young girl. She doesn't remember a lot about the party but begins to have burst of memories as they begin to investigate. The Medlar Trio gets to the bottom of the murder mystery and get a few surprises in the love department along the way. However, Sara finally opens up to Kate and lets her in on the reason she left town and never married Jack's grandfather. I love this series and now I need more of this amazing group of characters.

This story begins when Kate is given the listing for Lachlan House. When she, Sara, and Jack go to look at it, Kate is overwhelmed with memories of having spent time there as a child. Trauma had erased many of Kate's childhood memories so this ease in Lachlan House rings alarm bells for Sara and Jack.

Things escalate when they find a skeleton sealed up in a closet in the playroom and escalate more when they find one of Kate's toys stuffed with jewels in the skeleton's skull. Things become interesting when the Medlar Three, along with Kate's father Randal, decide to try to recreate the weekend party that ended with the death of the man who is now the skeleton in the closet.

The book is filled with interesting characters, many of whom have connections with Sara, Randal, Kate and Jack, who all have their reasons to come back to a place they left twenty-five years earlier because of secrets there.

I enjoyed this twisty plot filled with suspicious characters. I also enjoyed a resolution to the romance between Kate and Jack which has been brewing since the first book. And we finally learn the secrets hidden in Sara's romance with Jack's grandfather.

I’m a very long-time Deveraux fan, been reading & listening to her books for about 20 years. The Medlar Mysteries series is more mystery with less romance but just as good as her other series, if not better. I fell in love with these characters so many years ago - and have been waiting such a long time for this next instalment!

Book 5 isn’t quite as good as the first 4 in the series - a bit of a letdown… especially after waiting so long, but I still enjoyed returning to Sara and Kate and Jack. It felt different than her other books and writing. I know some big authors or aging authors get others to write for them so I wondered if that was the case here (because it was out of character and didn’t feel right). I rated it 4-stars but when comparing it to her other works that might be generous.

This one is a miss for me, but I still hope to have more, better books from Deveraux in the future and in this series, to make up for it!

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing (MIRA), and this is my honest feedback.

I enjoyed this book. It was the first book I have read by Jude Deveraux. I loved the murder mystery parts. I even loved the romance between Jack and Kate. I loved the ending. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

The 5th book in the Medlar Mystery series, a trio of amateur detectives solving murder mysteries in their small town in Florida.

This book seemed to be advertised as a standalone murder mystery, however, I quickly became confused with the cast of characters. Sara, Kate, and Jack were quickly introduced as the 3 MCs, however, we jump straight into the love affair between Jack and Kate, which had apparently been brewing for the 4 previous books in the series. Without that background knowledge, however, I would've preferred to get to know them a bit more or at least be given a synopsis of the prior books in the form of an interview with their local news or a newspaper article summarizing the past events. Then the trio finds a dead body and decides to invite all the murder suspects to town, so I had to quickly learn another whole cast of characters and got confused about who was who. The story had too much dialogue and not enough explanation of thoughts and feelings. The POV and timelines switched frequently without much explanation. I would've rather the story been told chronologically, with the details of the past being slowly revealed throughout. Sara and Kate's odd abilities to tell the past and see the past never really got explained. It was an interesting mystery but it felt like too much got squeezed into one story, almost like a one-hour episode of Murder, She Wrote.

The keys to her memory and a murder?

This was a women's fiction meets murder.
Sara is a retired romance writer (sound familiar?) and Kate, her niece and Jack.
Kate has hidden memories involving a shady house where they find a corpse.
Its part of a series.

3.5⭐️s rounded up. I liked following the next murder mystery for Jack, Kate and Sarah, as well as the new members that have joined their group from the last couple books. It was an easy mystery - not dark, not super emotionally invested outside of the end with Sarah’s revelations - so I liked the little threads to unravel while still being relatively light.

There were some times it felt like there was little detail on what was happening - the settings were glossed over and all the sudden the characters were in another location or whatever. I would have liked it to be a little better described so I didn’t reread sections trying to figure out what just happened. The beginning I also couldn’t figure out if Kate was literally having a psychotic break or what was going on. The memory flashbacks were just weird.

And I still don’t get some of the timeline - the last couple books did the same thing where they keeps mentioning it’s been “years” of Jack and Kate being friends or that Randall was around after his release. But it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, given the actual timestamp of each book’s setting. Small pet peeve but still.

Overall, I liked the book and the easy mystery that it was, and I liked how it wrapped up with some of our MC’s.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of the book. All opinions are mine.

I really enjoy this series. This is the fifth novel in the #medlarmystery series, and it doesn’t disappoint. I loved this book for two reasons. One, the historical murder(s) that connect everybody in both the past and present were so well written. The Hollywood starlet, the crimes of passion, and the “sight” that only certain people have. There was such a romance about these murders, which makes sense since Sarah, our main character, is a former romance writer. And two, the personal lives of all the characters that I’ve come to love, and one that I hate, are wrapped up nicely with a pretty bow. I would definitely suggest reading the series in order to get the most enjoyment out of them, but you could read it as a stand alone. 4 ⭐️

I'm not going to post a review online for this book. Although I love Jude Deveraux- this book was a bit problematic for me. It seemed that too much of it was dependent on following plots from other books which if I had read- was too long ago to make reading coherent.

Sara, Kate and Jack are off to solve another mystery. This one a murder that took place decades ago in an old mansion that Kate lived in as a young child. There were so many characters introduced (at least ten) that I had trouble remembering who was who. I found the story very convoluted. I received an ARC from NetGalley and MIRA for my honest review.

Wonderful cozy mystery! I enjoyed every moment of reading it! I thought It was fun and interesting. I had lots of fun reading this

This story begins when Kate is given the listing for Lachlan House. When she, Sara, and Jack go to look at it, Kate is overwhelmed with memories of having spent time there as a child. Trauma had erased many of Kate's childhood memories so this ease in Lachlan House rings alarm bells for Sara and Jack.

Things escalate when they find a skeleton sealed up in a closet in the playroom and escalate more when they find one of Kate's toys stuffed with jewels in the skeleton's skull. Things become interesting when the Medlar Three, along with Kate's father Randal, decide to try to recreate the weekend party that ended with the death of the man who is now the skeleton in the closet.

The story is filled with interesting characters, many of whom have connections with Sara, Randal, Kate and Jack, who all have their reasons to come back to a place they left twenty-five years earlier because there are secrets there.

I enjoyed this twisty plot filled with suspicious characters. I also enjoyed a resolution to the romance between Kate and Jack which has been brewing since the first book. And we finally learn the secrets hidden in Sara's romance with Jack's grandfather.

An Unfinished Murder by Jude Deveraux is a captivating and suspenseful novel that is both witty and mind-blowing. The story is enchanting and exquisite, drawing me in with its intricate plot and engaging characters.

While I normally love Jude Deverauxs books this one was too busy for me. This is the first book I’ve read in the series. While investigating the murder there were just way to many people coming in and out and who they were talking about to keep track. I found myself getting confused and having to go back and reread pages to try and figure out who the person was and who they were linked to if anyone. Very frustrating.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

An Unfinished Murder, book 5, of the Medlar Mysteries by Jude Deveraux takes us back to Lachlan, FL with Sara, Kate & Jack. Kate gets a call asking her to be the listing agent for what was once a large estate that had sat empty for decades. Excited to inspect the house Sara, Kate & Jack immediately go there and of course discover a skeleton. Fast paced mystery with lots of twists that I couldn’t put down!