Desperate for a trip to the UK, but don’t have the money for an expensive plane ticket thanks to inflation making cereal $9 a box? Same. Luckily we can all pretend by reading Charlotte Vassell's The In Crowd, instead, which transports us to the heart of London as DI Caius Beauchamp and co. return to investigate two new (old) cases involving: a puke-covered theater, a particularly bleak boarding school, a missing teenager, and a stolen pension fund worth millions, among other things. (In other words: a tourism ad for London, basically.)

In the delightfully twisty follow-up to the first in the satirical mystery series, The Other Half — also known as one of last year's most underrated novels — the story kicks off when a men’s rowing team discovers a body floating face down in the Thames, and things only get more complicated from there as Caius and his fellow detectives, Amy and Matt, uncover the connections between the water-logged corpse and a pair of cold cases that have deep roots in British government and, unexpectedly, in Caius’ personal life.

While you don’t necessarily need to have read The Other Half to get into this one, some threads of the story are fairly intertwined, with multiple recurring characters popping up throughout. You’ll miss out on everything from subtle nods to what happened in the first book, to straight up misunderstanding a key dynamic between Beauchamp and a dickish young member of the über-wealthy upper class that has much bigger implications for Caius’ future. Also, it’s great? Very funny and sharp. Heavy on the Saltburn vibes.

Anyway, back to The In Crowd.

Although I didn’t find that the whodunit came together as seamlessly as in the previous novel, Vassell still weaves a captivating and compulsively readable mystery here. Sharp and witty, with such a skill at descriptions — somehow she always chooses just the right details to set a scene, communicating class, private anxieties, jealousy, and so much more in just a few words. I couldn’t put it down.

I also have to give a shout out to the strength (and humor) of her characters.Whether they’re front and center like Caius and his new girlfriend, fabulously cool milliner Callie, or more of a mysterious supporting cast member like Parliament puppeteer Arthur Hampton, every character seems to have been given the same level of care. For the most part they come off as fully realized and interesting, complete with quirks and flaws.

For example, Caius’ amusingly bougie tendencies towards fancy coffee, lavender biscuits, and experimental theater outings continue to entertain, as do his meddling coworkers, Matt and Amy. My only complaint in this regard is about Callie, who, while chic as hell, comes off a bit too much like Nell, one of the main characters from The Other Half, for me. Her character ticks all the same gorgeous-but-doesn’t-know-it, low-key, cool girl boxes. Not a deal breaker by any means, but just a missed opportunity to introduce another unique, vibrant new person into the series. (You know a book is good when it makes you greedy about its characters, OK?!)

TL;DR, this was a big win for me. Can’t wait to ride along on Caius, Matt, and Amy’s next investigation into the secret crimes of the ultra posh — I’ll wear my most outlandish fascinator, promise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. The In Crowd is available on Aug. 6.

This is the second in the DI Caius Beauchamp series based in London and Caius gets involved with a high profile person in government who tasks him with going through a cold case involving a pension being stolen from a company and which relates to another cold case involving a girl going missing for a boarding school presumed dead. There was so many intricate details and everything unraveled so well and oh man the end was just wild. You definitely have to have read the first book since that one didn’t resolve everything and that is still an issue in this book which is referenced a little bit as well as one of the main suspects from the first book is in this book as well. I really enjoyed the banter between Caius with his associates Matt and Amy. This was such a great read and while not fast it was worth it and I can’t wait to read the next book.

Thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Ms. Vassell's books involve mutliple plot twists surrounding mysterious deaths, and The In Crowd is no different. A dead body in the Thames and the mysterious disappearance of a girl from a boarding school in Cornwall are weaved together so well that the reader can just sit back and enjoy as the different plots unfold. Both main plots use Detective Caius Beauchamp as the central thread as he and his team try to unravel death, missing money, parenthood - all admist the vagaries of upper crust society in London. It's hard to describe the book any more without giving away spoilers. Just know that you will enjoy, and that you will be waiting for the next work of Ms. Vassell.

Interesting who dun it read. Strong storyline and characters. Recommend. I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review

This is the second book in the series, and I adored the first book, so I read this book with anticipation, and had to stop myself from reading it all in one sitting! Beauchamp is back with his team, and they are settled into a groove and while reading this book I kept picturing it as a Britbbox series starring Regé-Jean Page (though of course, in the books, he is a bit older, but nuances right? LOL). In this second book, people from the previous book come back into the sidelines of a case that they are working. Only 6 degrees of separation is about to come down to 2 degrees, when Beauchamp discovers the new love of his life is involved with all the parties involved. Beauchamp and his team do a rush to try to solve the case before he is compromised and pulled off the case. But his morals and ethics will be sorely tried when his family's past also becomes involved. A spider's web of deceit with domino effects to the future, this is a rapid read, for the reader. It can be read as a stand alone as well.

4.5 star rating!

snarky, contemporary, entitled-attitude, wedding-madness, satire, situational-humor, local-law-enforcement, relationship-issues, relationships, murders, investigations, milliner, British****

A real thumb-your-nose look at the uber-rich and a laugh riot of investigations among the snobs. Laughed my sox off!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Doubleday Books | Doubleday via NetGalley. Thanks!
Available Aug 06, 2024 #DICaiusBeauchampBk2

Caius and his team are up to their necks in it again in this second installment of Charlotte Vassell's series. Caius has a "meet-puke" with a charming woman at an experimental theater production and eventually realizes she is intimately, though unwittingly, involved in both of the cases he is working at the behest of a mysterious member of the British establishment--think Mycroft Holmes without the warmth. The ripples from the last case the team worked on continue to spread, bogging down the work they are trying to do to determine what happened to a woman who was fished out of the Thames and how it relates to both a pension-stealing scheme and a missing teenage girl cold case. Through it all, Caius feeds his team their favorite biscuits, worries about them getting their five-a-day, and begins to unravel his own complicated family history. More rich people behave in more reprehensible ways in this entry into the series, and Caius tries to remain unsullied by it all.

I kind of love this series. I think I liked this book better than the original, although I struggled a bit to remember the events of the first book. These books definitely can't be read standalone, and even this one feels unfinished, but I do love the characters.

I can confirm that I still love Caius Beauchamp and this second book in the series is just as good as the first. Caius and his partners Amy and Matt, make a great team. I am glad they are getting a series. There are some repeat characters from the first book, I guess to help with continuity? I would prefer not to have Rupert show up again. He adds nothing to the story for me. I'm also not really into the political machinations of the super rich. I'm just here for the detective story and the banter. I will definitely read the next in the series.

From here on I will not request books about rich people problems. Just UGH. I read her first book first and regretted that too. Just not my style.
Now I know Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

This is a quirky and fun mystery/thriller. I liked that it was a little different. The paving, twists and characters were well written. Looking forward to more from the author.

A good follow up book to The Other Half. I enjoyed reading this book and the closure look it gave to Detective Beauchamp. The story was engaging and kept me reading throughout. I liked how it seemed to give consequences to Rupert which seemed to be missing from The Other Half for the most part.

Another Beauchamp mystery and I think this one was even better than the first! Beauchamp meets a beautiful girl right as he comes across an interesting case. Well-written, with lots of humor and good characters.

DI Caius Beauchamp was given a cold case along with his partners DS Matt and DS Amy. His superiors want to know about the disappearance of Eliza from St Ursula's School. DI Caius also finds the body of Martin Hartley an Investigator working on the missing Eliza. The investigating finds finds lots of people now that were not interviewed the first time and have connections to the cold case they are working on! A very surprising end!

A new book following some of the characters of The Other Half - a hilarious and creative whodunit amongst the uppercrust of Britain.

Don't worry ! This book can be read as a stand alone, Vassell creates such vivid characters, it isn't long before you feel you have always known them. In The In Crowd, DI Caius Beauchamp is tasked with solving a mystery related to a missing pension fund worth millions. Z
There's a loose connection to a cold case that Caius is interested in solving and he and his team begin working their way through the clues.

The writing is clear, hilarious, bright, intellectual yet charming. The mysteries are straightforward and Vassell drops lots of clues as the book unwinds. In many ways, the story focuses much more on personal lives and I absolutely loved it. There's a bit of love, old dark academia, some interesting race commentary and of course mysteries. I loved every minute and am actually going to go back and enjoy The Other Half again!

If you love Clue, Knives Out, or any smart mystery, grab The In Crowd! #doubleday #Charlottevassell #theincrowd

I was very excited for the opportunity to read Charlotte Vassell’s newest book since I enjoyed The Other Half, and my reading experience with the two books was extremely similar.

Where I think Vassell really succeeds is in the pacing of the story. The newest saga in the Caius Beauchamp series kept me coming back every chance I could, to read “just one more chapter,” and I ended up racing through the second half in an evening.

There were quite a few things that I struggled with though:
- Trying to keep all of the characters straight
- There were a lot of plot points to keep track of with two separate but sort of related cases, and there were so many twists and turns it almost felt a bit over the top at times
- There was a lot of British slang or phrases used that I didn’t necessarily understand as a US-based reader. I don’t think this was a problem, more so just something that tripped me up at times, or made me want to stop to google (but then I couldn’t take a google break because I wanted to see what was going to happen next haha!)
- It’s been a while since I read The Other Half, so while I recognized many names in The In Crowd, I couldn’t necessarily remember the context of the characters from the previous book. The book stands alone where you wouldn’t necessarily need to read The Other Half first, but I personally would have found it helpful if I had read them closer together.

Overall, I would probably put this at a 3.5 rounded up - definitely enjoyable and held my interest!

Excellent sequel to ‘The Other Half’ (it’s best to read that one first as several characters crop up in both), Charlotte Vassell writes with a confident, razor sharp edge that’s perfect for bursting the bubbles of the entitled upper class characters that populate this exceptional whodunnit. After reading several novels by Yarwood- Lovett who seems to be in thrall to her titled characters and the high end possessions that define them, it’s a breath of fresh air to read a blistering satire on the ruling classes who have done such a fantastic job of governing Britain for the last 14 years!

When a men’s rowing team finds a drowned body in the Thames, it leads to two seemingly unrelated cold cases being reopened, and Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp finds himself in the center of it all.

With a missing CEO who absconded with the company’s retirement fund, a missing teenager from a sketchy boarding school, and a dead body at the theater, Caius has a lot on his plate. Add a chaotic love interest to the mix, and things are bound to get even murkier.

The second book in the DI Caius Beauchamp series, The In Crowd can also be read as a standalone. It is an interesting mystery, though the number of subplots could have been scaled down. With so much going on, it can be hard to keep track of each storyline.

Additionally, while the characters have the potential to be compelling, they could have been further developed. This would have added more depth to the relationship between Caius and his love interest Callie, as interesting backstories are alluded to but not deeply explored.

Overall, this would make a fun beach read, though it will not lead to deep discussions.

In this new novel from Charlotte Vassell, Detective Caius Beauchamp has returned and is investigating a suspicious death and a disappearance from decades before. I enjoy Vassell's writing and the humor she infuses in her books, even when they're around serious topics. However, I never want to see one of the main characters, Rupert, return ever again to the page. Overall, I think this is a relatively fun mystery novel, but trigger warning around sexual assault content.

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

I think her books aren’t for me. I like the idea, other people seem like them. Something about the writing seems very childish to me. I feel like you have sort of fun and frothy books. Without writing in a way that makes me feel like it’s written for children. Odd she just tells you things rather than showing them.