I am assuming this book is part of a series, which I obviously haven’t read, but it was easy to read this book by itself. If there was stuff that would have been good to know from reading the previous books, then I didn’t know it and still really enjoyed this book anyway. I enjoyed the relationship between Bailey and Dom - you could feel the tension in the air!! There were a range of suspicious characters, but I didn’t guess who the culprit was and it was nice to have that surprise at the end. I will look for more of this series to read and see if the author has any other books. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a good mix of romance and a thriller. Bailey Evans lives in Pike, Wisconsin, known for serial killers. She was in an online true crime group but leaves because she gets creeped out. After that, she starts getting texts from a random number about the group and that’s when it all begins. At the same time Bailey meets up with an out of town man she barely knows from her best friend’s wedding and the romance starts.

This is a pretty quick read but it was just ok, neither the romance or the mystery aspect were very interesting. I would give this 2.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

The Murder Club🔪

Bailey is a long time resident of Pike and has been there through all the serial killers that their town has become known for. In her down time, due to boredom, she joins a Murder Club - to help solve cold cases…unfortunately, she attracts the attention of a killer who tries to get her to join in.

Dom knew when he met Bailey at Kaden’s wedding, she was someone special. He’s now returned to Pike to get to know her better and stumbles into these murder puzzles with Bailey…trying to figure out how to keep her safe, while trying to solve whodunnit😳

A great read, pieces started falling into place towards the end for me though…I wasn’t as onto it as previous books unfortunately😢 I received an advanced copy via Netgalley and willingly leave my honest review❤️

Bailey Evans loves a good cold case. So when a friend invited her to join an online club, that solves cold cases, she contributed her medical expertise, and enjoyed it. Once she no longer felt, the club was able to capture her free time, however, someone’s decided to throw a new case. Unfortunately, it’s not a Cold case, but rather a super hot case with murders occur to specifically point her towards clues.

New relationship in the works, and the sheriff as her cousin, has all the help. She needs to help protect her from this twisted person. But will be able to help stop the murder and solve the case before belly becomes a statistic.

That was a super super read. It was filled with clues that you didn’t always capture and understand until something else popped up and there was just enough keeping you from finally figuring out who done it until the very end. This was one I could not put down And devoured in an afternoon.

I was looking forward to reading this book but it really didn’t live up to my expectations. It also wasn’t made clear that this was part of a series until I started the book.

The Murder Club is the 5th volume of the Pike, Wisconsin series by Alexandra Ivy. I have, of course, read all the previous volumes, and overall, it's a good thriller series. However, not being a fan of the genre, there are some volumes that I liked less. The fact that the author is Alexandra Ivy encourages me to continue because, in any case, I find all the ingredients in it that make me love her books.
The murder club is one of the less dark in the series, even though there are still murders, and consequently, it is one of my favorites.

The story features Bailey Evans, the best friend of Lia Porter (Desperate Acts) and cousin of Zac Evans (Unstable), and Dom Lucier, a friend and associate of Kaden Vaughn (Desperate Acts). We got a glimpse of these two characters in the previous installments, and at the beginning of the novel, we learn that they met at Lia and Kaden's wedding. They were immediately attracted to each other, but at that time, neither took the first step, and they went back to their routines.
The novel begins when they meet again in Pike. The heroine is having a drink with a colleague when Dom enters the bar and approaches her directly. He explains that he has a mission to « watch over his friend's house while he is away with his wife. » That's what he tells Bailey, but readers know that he mainly wanted to see the young woman who left a strong impression on him a few months earlier.
On her part, Bailey was also immediately drawn to Dom, but she didn't expect to see him again, and she never imagined there could be any romantic relationship between them. He had remained in her memory as a fantasy.
The development of the love story is fast - but that's usual for Alexandra, which is why I love her books. Nevertheless, there aren't many hot scenes. There is no doubt about the couple and their future together when closing the book.

The suspense side of the novel is linked to what the author calls a « murder club. » I don't know if it really exists in the USA, but it's like a book club. The members - ordinary people with no connection to the police or any other professional in the field - gather around a suspicious or unsolved murder case to discuss it and find clues that may have escaped investigators at the time. However, it doesn't go any further. The police are not informed of their conclusions, and the media doesn't pick up the case either.
When the book begins, Bailey has ended her subscription to the club. She had joined it in a moment of boredom, enjoyed unraveling cases, but recently, she had been receiving strange private messages, including one asking her to join a secret club, which she didn't want to do. So, she decided to close her account.
Unfortunately, she receives a text from an anonymous sender informing her that she is a member of this secret club, willingly or not. This person then sends her a newspaper article announcing the accidental death of a woman in a nearby town. When Bailey goes to the scene, she realizes there is something to investigate.
At the same time, she is suspended from her job following a certain event that I'll let readers discover, and she is suspected of having taken advantage of one of her patients. She works as a nurse in a retirement home. Later, she receives a suspicious package, and that's when she starts to worry.
Fortunately, at that moment, Dom is already in the vicinity, and he will confirm to her that she is right to be wary, in addition to offering his help. None of our heroes are part of law enforcement, but Zac is the sheriff of the small town, and he is there to help his cousin get out of this situation, which I appreciated. In any case, the investigation progresses rather slowly, and the clues are revealed gradually. I had no idea about the ins and outs of the story, and I was very surprised by the revelations.

Regarding the writing, we can say that Alexandra Ivy knows how to use modern computer tools to handle her story. The members of the murder club only know each other online, and few know each other in real life, each using pseudonyms. Alexandra Ivy has been published since 2001, and she has been able to evolve with the times and new technology, making it easy for a young reader to connect with this book.

To conclude, The Murder Club is a very good thriller/romantic suspense that I recommend. It can be read on its own without any problem, but being a fan of the author, I can only advise to read the entire series. After all, there are only 5 volumes.

A relatively quick read.

Bailey Evans is at a bar with her friend from the nursing home - Kari Wentz in Pike, Wisconsin. They see a very attractive man walk in whom Bailey has met before – Dom. They find themselves getting drawn to each other. Bailey has been a part of a murder club of citizens which checks out cold cases for clues. In the clinic, one of the patients Nellie passes away tragically. She changes her will leaving her son Gage Warren with nothing. Greg is furious and accuses Bailey of foul play. Bailey is sent on unpaid leave. There is a death of a lady Pauline Hartford in nearby Grange town, presumed to be an accident. Her son Kevin had visited a few hours prior asking for money. Bailey gets messages from an unknown sender asking her to rejoin the murder club. She is also getting stalked and stressed, but has Dom’s support as well as her cousin Zac who is the local Sheriff. Though the recent deaths could be accidents, it is also possible that there is a clever killer in town and it is not clear.

I liked the overall plot, though not all ends tie up well. There are quite a few murders in the book, but this is not a serious procedural story. There is a drawn-out romantic track (which I found boring as it was written as you would read in 1000s of other stories) as well. The murder club itself unexpectedly has very little coverage in the story. I liked Bailey’s character but the others are not very well developed. Dom’s introduction is abrupt. I liked the fact that the twists were not too outlandish (as is often the case with many books these days) and the story progressed well. This is an easy read, and that is to its credit.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books and the author for a free electronic review copy.

The Murder Club was entertaining enough to get me through an afternoon where I wanted fluffy murder in my book. I enjoyed Bailey's story as she tries to figure out who stalks her. The other murders were well-connected, and I enjoyed the final reveal of the bad guy. Don, the love interest, was just "meh" for me. The romance wasn't bad, but it also wasn't memorable. I give this book 3/5 stars.


Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to review The Murder Club. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Review posted to Goodreads on 1/31/24, see link below

2.5 stars, 1.25 spice

<i>The Murder Club</i> by Alexandra Ivy is a contemporary romance novel with a suspense/murder subplot. I put romance before suspense because I definitely felt like the romance between the main characters was the core of the plot, and the murder subplot was used as a vehicle to develop the romantic storyline, giving the MMC the opportunity to play hero and so on.

This was an OK read, I wasn’t entirely impressed by any of the elements of the story, the romance or the murder plot, so coming all together just made this an average experience. I think this would definitely be better for light readers that don’t want to go into the true nitty gritty of murder and suspense, but want a romance with a little something extra for fun.

I think my biggest area of issue was the fact that I never felt like we truly got to know the characters, or that their personalities or passions truly jumped off the page. This would’ve been a great book to go extra campy with the true crime murder solving online club and have the main character be super into it, but I never felt like the FMC had any passion for true crime, which made following her as she solved the book’s mystery a little dry. We definitely need to see more backstory from the characters, and more emotional depth to them. I don’t feel like I got to know any character better from page 1 until the end.

I appreciate the effort here to come up with a clever murder plot, but I personally think it took too many swings and misses, and with the lack of character development, I never felt there was anything for me to sink my teeth into.

A murder club- for real. Bailey's lived a quiet life in the town of Pike, Wisconsin, a town which those who have had the series would avoid because wow are a lot of murders there! She's a nurse, she's inherited from a patient she's accused of killing, and she's got a gem her old pal Dom can help her with. It's a fast read that mixes mystery with romance, It's also fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was fantastic! Lots of twists and turns and you really don't know "who dunnit" until the very end!

Bailey and Dom have their hands full with murder and the list of suspects is long...but just when they think they have the culprit, the person ends up dead! And this murder stuff is interfering with their romance!

This is a very fast read and very hard to put down! You're going to love it! Alexandra Ivy knows how to do murder!
I can tell you one thing, Pike, Wisconsin is not a place where I'd like to live!

A huge thank you to Kensington for once again granting me the privilege of reading this book!

The Murder Club (Pike, Wisconsin #5) by Alexandra Ivy
Can I only give this only 5 stars? Ivy kept me on the edge of my seat I only stopped reading to eat and sleep a few hours. Romantic suspense is my favorite read and this was outstanding. Bailey and Dom both were dealing with their own baggage but sharing their stories only made them closer. There was angst, danger, murder, mystery, deception, caring and devotion, a visit with old friends and family, some laughs and tears, the "Murder Club" a nosy neighbor, a little heat and lots of suspense to get us to their HEA. Needless to say I read it about a day and LOVED IT!
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Entertaining Scary Action-packed Unpredictable Page-turner Witty Happily Ever After Informative Easy-to-read Tear-jerker Great world building Wonderful characters Haunting Romantic Tragic Twisted.

Bailey was born and raise in the small town of Pike. She has been working nursing home as a nurse for years and is loved by the residents. When she wasn't working, sbelonged to a club who investigated cold cases as a hobby. However, Bailey left the group once she started getting stange messages inviting her to a new more exclusive murder club.

Then one of Bailey's patients at the nursing home, an elderly woman, dies and Bailey is accused by her son of killing her. So she is put on leave from her job and this begins her investigation. As the body's start to pile up, Bailey and Dom (a gorgeous man who is in town for a while and an acquaintance) start to look for answers together.

When I started reading The Murder Club, I didn't realize that it was the 5th book in a series! It definitely works as a stand-alone as well. The writing as always is amazing and the characters feel like you grew up with them in the small town of Pike (where the book is set). I definitely felt an emotional connection to Bailey throughout the book which is rare. Definitely a great mystery with a bit of spice!

3.5 Stars

What I loved.
This was pretty fast paced. I really liked the murder mystery side. I spent the whole book jumping around about who did it. Fun fact: I was till jumping around on my guess till the end.

What I didn’t love.
Honestly the love part of the story didn’t work for me. Granted I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, but it didn’t work if you read this by itself. It was just to instant love for me. Also, while I loved chasing where this book was leading, sometimes it was more jumping around and choppy.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a quick who dunnit mystery.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I did not realize this book was part of series. But I found you can read it as a standalone. It has made me go back and look at the other books in the series.

When Bailey receives a strange text, she is pulled into a murder mystery that she works to solve.

Its interesting to watch her follow and try to solve the mystery.

This was a quick read. A fun mystery in small town Pike, WI. A twist of events kept me guessing and a little love story mixed in!

i had no idea this was part of a series but i still knew what was going on. I just found out when i looked at more by the author. I will be reading the first part of the series.

This was a great read, loved the writing style and Bailey and Dom were a great pair. As Bailey is getting weird messages about a private mystery she needs to solve. As her and Dom work together its great as it unfolds the longer you read the story. Great read!

This book keeps you engaged and trying to solve the mystery the great part of the story.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review. Loved it.

When Bailey receives a strange text, she is pulled into a murder mystery that she works to solve. While this story is part of a series, it can work as a standalone. The pacing wasn’t what I’d hope it would be. At times I did not feel engaged and was hoping for more. I’m sure this book will be great for some.

When Dom agrees to leave Las Vegas and house sit for his best friend Kaden in Pike, Wisconsin. I want to scream runaway as fast as you can. But of course Dom, just like Kaden from the last book in the series, is drawn to a smart and beautiful Wisconsin woman. The cold weather must make them irresistible. Bailey is a beloved caregiver and an amateur sleuth so of course she lives in Pike. Once she connects with Dom will they stay to solve the crime or leave for warmer weather? I know what I would do.

4.5: As soon as I read the first page of this book I couldn’t get my mind off of it. I was extremely excited to read it and be engulfed in the mystery. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was actually the most recent (fifth book) in an ongoing series so if you’re going to read it I definitely recommend reading the rest of the books because I was extremely confused by the call backs to the previous books. Even though I do believe that it can easily be read as a standalone, when the characters or narrator make call backs to the books before you’re left wondering what happened in those books. With that being said it is on my for not doing my research before requesting the arc and realizing that this is indeed apart of a series and honestly reading this book before the rest made me extremely curious to know what happened in this books and want to read those to get answers.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a quick and easy read. I could hardly put it down and unlike most mystery books I read I did not guess how the ending would go, not even at the very end. I of course had theories but none of them were even close to what happened at the ending which only made me even more excited to get to the end and figure out what happens. The writing was great, the author knew how to keep the reader engaged but I will say it switches from characters a few times and those switches could have been a bit cleaner so that the reader is blindsided from someone else’s pov.

The two main characters were definitely likable. I really liked the romance between them but it happened pretty fast, it felt like the whole story happened within barely a few days and they were already talking about spending their futures together. This book also had a bit of spice in it that I honestly don’t think it needed, it took away from the mystery. I love a mystery with a good romance subplot, but I don’t think the spice was needed and was a waste of a few pages. I also think that Baileys character contradicted herself a lot, one minute she comes off as strong and independent and the next she’s belittling herself and I just wasn’t a fan of it I understand that people have insecurities but I don’t like it in books when the FMC constantly says how boring or unattractive they are compared to the MMC.

I received this ARC through NetGalley and definitely recommend picking this book up if it seems like something you would be interested in reading!