This was a very unique premise and I was so excited to read it! It didn’t disappoint

This would be a great book to read around Halloween and it was surprisingly a little cozy!!

If you like dark humor and serial killers, I recommend this!!

Thank you to the author; publisher; and netgalley for the ARC copy!’ I’m excited to read more from this author

Okay, so this might be the cosiest serial killer book I’ve ever read and I mean that in the best way possible.

Think: your nan’s care home, but with unexpected confessions, a few corpses (maybe), and a whole lot of black humour.

Gilbert Williams, our possibly-murderous pensioner, drops a bombshell one day that sends care assistant Will into a spiralling, often hilarious, and occasionally heartfelt investigation.

Julie Lancaster has served up the perfect blend of intrigue, gallows humour, and the kind of elderly chaos that fans of How to Kill Your Family and The Thursday Murder Club will absolutely eat up.

And honestly? I was guessing right up to the final page. The twists kept me engaged.

Read this if you enjoy:

* Whodunits with a warped sense of humour
* Murder mysteries set in unexpected places
* Rooting for characters who may or may not have buried a few bodies... accidentally

Thank you, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, for providing the copy of Remember Where You’ve Buried the Bodies by Julie Lancaster. I don’t think this book was for me. I’m not sure if the writing style made the book confusing or if I just had a hard time following it. I liked the parts of the story in the care home, but the other disparate stories weren’t very interesting, although I loved how it all came together in the end. If you love descriptive writing, you might love this book, but the descriptions didn’t add much for me and made the book very long. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Reading Journal Details
Book: Remember Where You've Buried the Bodies by Julie Lancaster
Format Read: Kindle eBook (~384 pages long)
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

My Quick Take Review
A darkly humorous and emotionally compelling satirical thriller with a killer premise; literally! Some pacing dips and timeline confusion aside, Remember Where You've Buried the Bodies delivers a memorable and distinctly original ride.

Some Key Features
🧠 Dementia
👴 Retirement home
💎 Bracelet
🥡 Foodie
💀 Serial Unaliver

My Full Review
I just finished Remember Where You've Buried the Bodies by Julie Lancaster, and I have to say, it was a very delightful and refreshing surprise! A serial killer who's forgotten they're a serial killer? Say no more... I was hooked.

Something that stood out strongly was how perfectly it blended humor and suspense. Writing a funny thriller isn't easy, but Lancaster pulled it off beautifully. The satire hit just right, never undermining the darker undertones or the mystery at the heart of the story.

I have to give a special shoutout to the setting, as it's such a clever choice. Using a retirement home for elderly as the main backdrop for a thriller with satirical elements? That's absolutely brilliant. It brought a fresh, unique vibe to the story and added unexpected depth and charm in the most delightful ways.

Character development was top-tier across the board. Both the leads and supporting cast were layered, flawed, and emotionally rich. There were some really standout quotes and internal musings throughout, moments that made me pause and think, even admit all the humor and chaos.

That said, the pacing wasn't perfect. I noticed a few slow parts where the story kind of lost steam, especially when shifting back and forth between timelines. I did struggle early on with the lack of clear timeline indicators, but once I caught on to the structure, it actually made following along more interesting and added to the story's layered feel.

Overall, Remember Where You've Buried the Bodies was an entertaining, darkly funny, and surprisingly emotional thriller that proves satire and suspense can absolutely coexist when done right. If you want something original that'll make you laugh and squirm while admiring good writing, definitely give this one a shot!

Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, Julie Lancaster, and NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader's copy (ARC) of this clever satire thriller in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own.

I’m not someone who likes to call books a summer or winter read. My reading mood isn’t linked to the weather but I know a lot of people like those labels or find them helpful. Well, this book could be perfect for spooky season since it’s a mystery. But I can also say it was perfect for a summer week in which we were all trying to survive a horrible heatwave. This really was a perfect book for that moment because I sometimes feel like I don’t want to read when it’s hot. I feel tired and my brain doesn’t want to cooperate. Well, not while reading this book. It kept me so intrigued I was looking forward to heading to a nice spot in the park where I could read and not melt. So it can be a spooky season read, a summer/beach read, a winter read (because mysteries and winter are a perfect combination), …a great book to pick up whenever.

I didn’t need too read much of the premise to know I was interested. A serial killer forgets they are a serial killer? Tell me more because I’m listening.
As a premise, I find it very original. The idea of serial killers and missing people is pretty simple so adding that little twist made the book stand out from the beginning. The title is obviously going to get people’s attention too. And the mix of serious topics and a bit of humour worked so well. Very British too, which I love since that’s more my type of humour.
Even though I’ve been reading this genre for a few years, I’m still trying to find which subgenres I enjoy the most. This book will be included as a subgenre of mystery/thriller I enjoy. It had all the perfect elements for me: interesting characters I liked reading about, a mystery that kept me guessing, social commentary, the humour I mentioned, …plus being a page-turner, which is something we expect from this genre but it’s not always the case.

I’m always obsessed with structure and pace and find that to be such a key element in mystery books. That’s another positive for this book. The little bits of information we got about the missing girls helped put the pieces of the mystery puzzle together very well but didn’t give away too much. What I’m guessing was an intentional choice of hiding the names of some characters until later in the book was also well done. It made me doubt whether what I thought I knew was right or not. Maybe it was a trick from the author. I like that.
We had a few red herrings too and perhaps that’s the small negative I want to point out. A few minor characters worked as red herrings and they were effective at that. That’s not the issue for me. But then it’s like they disappeared and I would have liked to get an explanation, even if it was very brief, about why they did all those things that made them suspicious in the first place. I kept waiting for that and it didn’t happen. Though it’s not something that made me like the book less but since I’m trying to do a proper review, it’s worth mentioning.

The social commentary is always important to me. Here we have families destroyed by the disappearance of a family member and how everyone copes with that. From the little siblings to the parents, each one reacted differently but you can also see a pattern. And I find that’s a pattern that reflects the reality of these situations quite well. But also, we see it from the outside while some characters see it as something that’s affected their lives. So it’s especially heartbreaking to see how the siblings feel and also how unfair they can be with their parents, just because the pain of that loss causes more pain. And the victim is the missing person but those who will never know where their loved one is also feel like victims. And in their own way, they are victims too. It’s portrayed really well in this book, in my opinion. Being a nuanced topic, it’s not always easy and it was done very well.

To sum up my feelings about this book, it was exactly what I needed it to be. Entertaining, well written, funny but also emotional, suspenseful and a little creepy at times. The resolution of the mystery is one I’m really into. Because it makes sense and adds to the story and the commentary. I didn’t find it the most shocking but I felt satisfied by it as a reader.
So I definitely recommend this book. As far as all the similar books I’ve read recently, it’s probably the one I feel most people can enjoy. So I’ll recommend it to them.

I found this book very confusing for me and couldn't really get into the storyline and characters.

For me personally it was a hard read and I was glad when I had got to the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK OMC for this ARC which unfortunately I didn't enjoy.

Remember Where You’ve Buried the Bodies by Julie Lancaster is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story follows an intriguing and complicated protagonist, and the twists throughout were cleverly executed. Lancaster does a fantastic job of building tension and keeping the reader guessing, making for a thrilling read.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the unexpected turns, there were a few moments that felt a bit slow, which is why I’m giving it four stars instead of five. However, the dark, atmospheric tone and the strong character development more than made up for it.

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers that delve into secrets, revenge, and the complexities of human nature, Remember Where You’ve Buried the Bodies is definitely worth checking out. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Julie Lancaster in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Many thanks to netgalley, the author and the publisher for approving my request to read this book.

I really enjoyed this dark humoured twisty book, I was desperately trying to piece it together as I read and every time I thought I had it sussed another curveball was throw directly at me.

I'd recommend this is you are a fan of The Thursday Murder Club series.

I was invited to read an advanced copy of Remember Where You've Buried the Bodies thanks to NetGalley, Julie Lancaster and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter.

I found this to be a mix of humorous and twisty. As others have said perfect for those who love The Thursday Murder Club. It's a quick read, it can get confusing at times with the multiple povs. All and all a good book.

This was one of those books where I wondered if it was my inability to follow the story or whether it was indeed rather confusing. Setting the story in a Care Home was inspired and the characters were well crafted. The ending seemed rather rushed and although it brought all the strands together I still ended up feeling confused!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

This had a lot of potential but it just didn’t hit the mark and was a bit disappointing.
Will was caring of the clients at sunset house versus Jolene being wish washy .
Janette was too hard on her and her mums problems and the missing sister were eating her up.

The end was interesting but bits dragged and it took a long to get to Gilbert’s better parts , well it was his better side but his worse side but it got more interesting when he confessed even more.
It just wasn’t my type of book.

Had me from the beginning, through to the end. Thoroughly engaging

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A crime thriller with a twist. When Will hears a resident talk about commuting a murder a chain reaction of suspicion, investigation and drame follows. With so many unreliable narrators, I was kept guessing about whether crimes were committed, by who and whether all the missing women were connected. It was unusual, gripping and I loved it. With the explosion of crime novels set in nursing home I thought maybe it would feel samey. I was so wrong. This is a book worth grabbing and indulging in an afternoon

Now this is a unique read I really enjoyed it!
I was completely on edge with all the twists the turns I didn’t trust anyone and was blew away was an amazing read I sat in the garden in the sunshine all day so engrossed I just couldn’t put it down
Fab characters brilliant story well written good pacing loved it

At Sunset House, everyone has their secrets - care assistant Jolene is hiding that her sister disappeared, Will is hiding how he spends his evening - and when resident Gilbert confesses to murder in one of his more lucid moments, it seems that Sunset House may just be a place where darkness goes to die. But when the police begin to take Gilbert's confessions a little more seriously a dangerous game is unleashed, and it's one where more bodies could come to the surface.

This is a solidly good book - it was advertised as being like Thursday Murder Club, but I don't think the characters were as likeable in all honesty! A solid 4*.

I thought this book had an interesting premise and enjoy some added humour in a thriller story.

It certainly had a bit of everything although for me, seemed a little confusing. The mismatch of timelines and characters had me baffled at times and I struggled to keep fully engrossed, but I did want to see how it all ended.

There are certainly twists and turns involved and it will keep you guessing with some rather clever comedy dotted throughout. But it didn't grip me like I wished it had but it was an interesting read and I thank NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Remember Where You've Buries the Bodies by Julie Lancaster is an absolute treat for fans of cozy mysteries infused with a touch of humor and a dash of humanity. Set in the quirky Sunset House, where the carpets are forever speckled with glitter and the tea is more for show than consumption, this story offers a charming look at caregiving, friendship, and the secrets we hide beneath our best-behaved facades. The highlight of the story is Gilbert’s bold claim—"When I killed her”—which instantly grabs your attention. Is it dementia? Is it a twisted joke? Or could it be something more sinister hiding beneath the surface? As the staff navigates bingo nights, workplace drama, and a suspicious game of pass the parcel, the mystery slowly unravels, revealing more than just buried memories. Lancaster balances lighthearted banter with genuine suspense, making it an engaging read that keeps you guessing without taking itself too seriously. The characters are wonderfully fleshed out, from Jolene’s reluctance to be a caregiver to Gilbert’s baffling confession, and their interactions add warmth and humor even amid the suspicions. If you’re looking for a cozy mystery with enough intrigue to keep you hooked, plenty of laughs, and a heartwarming ending, Remember Where You've Buries the Bodies is a charming choice that will leave you smiling—and thinking twice about what secrets might be hiding in plain sight.

Found this story to be interesting but hard to follow, I appreciated the different points of view but found it hard to keep up with the story because of this, also found the ending anticlimactic and not really a proper ending

4.5 stars

Love love love this!
This new trope of geriatric mystery/horror is my favorite thing. I’ve always craved it and now it’s becoming so much more accessible.
This was full of twists and turns and kept me guessing. I loved the characters, and the whole plot to be honest.
Read it in a single sitting! Can’t wait for more by this author!