This one was just not a good fit for me. I am sure it will work better for others. The pacing was just pretty erratic.

Overall - 2.5/5. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! There were definitely parts of this book that were super unique - the fact that it was co authored by 3 women as well as starring 3 women authors as the main characters. I can only name a handful of books I’ve read with multiple authors. I will give the authors credit - they did do a fantastic job with the 3 main characters and the creation of their very different personalities.

Unfortunately - other than that I just wasn’t really sold. I think one of the hardest things for me to get over was the fact it was based in Scotland with Scottish jargon through a lot of the book. I found myself often just skimming to say that I finished it.

An Author's Guide to Murder is such a fun cozy mystery! I love these ladies, Team W, so much! We picked this for our bookclub pick and it was perfect! It made for a fun discussion, and made us all decide where we'd bury a body! LOL

This was a wild ride and no one is as they seem! Although the writer in residence did get what was coming to him...

This was 1st book by Beatriz Williams but it will not be my last!

#TheAuthorsGuidetoMurder
#NetGalley

LOVE, love, love these authors. Unfortunately, the tone of this book did not resonate with me as much as past collaborations. While I love a cosy mystery and these authors' sense of humor, this book included one too many inside jokes for my preference. I also missed the dual timelines and depth of history found in their prior books. Overall, this is a fast, fun romp set in a delightful Scottish setting. The winter equivalent of a "beach read".

I love these three authors and was very excited to read this book. Three authors writing a book about three authors writing a book.....This is a clever idea and it had me hooked.

The book is a fun read even though the three main characters are not likable. I found them all annoying especially towards the beginning of the book. They were almost a little too cliche so it took me a while to get into the book.

The castle in a Scottish village was the perfect setting for a murder and Brett Saffron Presley is the perfect victim since there are a lot of people who want him dead.

Now Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh is taking the statements of the three authors in an attempt to find the murderer. Kat de Noir, Cassie Pringle, and Emma Endicott will bumble their way through the interviews pretending to be best friends. Why are they really at the castle and who committed the crime?

The ending was unfortunately predictable and the book, while fun, did not live up to my expectations.


Thank you Netgalley for my copy of this book, all opinions are my own

What a fun book! I can only imagine how these three authors collaborated but it was so fun to read! Tank you to Netgalley and the authors as well as the publisher!

Emma, Cassie and Kat are mystery authors on a retreat at Kinloch Castle to collaborate on a book dealing with the castle’s history and the murder of one of the lairds. They met at an authors’ event and supposedly became best friends, but from the first moment that you meet them you know that is a lie. The castle’s current resident is Brett Saffron Presley, a well known author who has renovated much of the castle and plans author retreats. He is currently working in a tower on the property and is not to be disturbed. Shortly after their arrival Presley is found dead in a puddle of mead with a stag’s horn embedded in his back. The DCI considers the women to be prime suspects. As he interviews them, each of the women reveals a connection to Presley. He was a womanizer and a user who destroyed each of them in some way. Emma was in a relationship with him in college until he stole her first book and ghosted her. Cassie was the victim of an assault after being drugged and when Kat stood up to him he ruined her reputation. While each had a reason to hate him, they all deny killing him. These are mystery writers and the only way they are going to prove their innocence is to solve the mystery themselves.

Cassie is married with six children. She loves her husband but he was not happy with her leaving for the retreat. Her biggest fear is that her husband will discover that Presley is there. Communication is spotty and she has not heard from him in days, causing anxiety. When the going gets rough, Cassie bakes. She even packed a muffin pan. Emma is struggling to make ends meet. She is developing strong feelings for Archie, the estate’s manager. What she does not know is that he is the current laird and he also has reason to despise Presley. Kat is rather brash. Dressed in black leather and boots with four inch heels, she is not someone to cross, but her outward appearance covers a vulnerability that she hides. While they sometimes snap at each other and have little patience, their mutual need to prove their innocence is bringing them together and an actual friendship begins to develop.

Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White are each wonderful authors. When you put them together you cannot lose. Filled with puns, romance and atrocious Scottish accents it is obvious that they had some fun writing this and it guarantees fun for the reader as well. I would like to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for providing this book.

A cute, cozy mystery set in the Scottish countryside. With these three authors, I was expecting something very cutesy and fun, I wasn’t expecting the darker themes of coercion and sexual violence. While I really enjoyed this book, if you find themes of sexual violence and misconduct triggering- I would encourage you to proceed with caution. I really loved the overall plot and how the authors were able to take a fun, silly plot and make it substantive.

I am a huge fan of Beatriz Williams and was really excited to dig into this book. I love the premise - the locked room mystery with over the top authors. I truly wanted to love this, but I just couldn't get into it. It just fell a bit flat for me. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC.

This author pairing is masterful. I enjoyed the collaboration and the inside baseball about the inner workings of literary events (not a surprise). As with all collaborations the friendship keeps the book together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This was a fun little thriller that I couldn't stop reading. It was an easy and quick read and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I felt like a ping pong ball reading this book. I struggled to connect to the “fun” aspect the authors were clearly going for and mostly found the characters annoying.

Having enjoyed Beatriz Williams' historical fiction, I was eager to see her and her co-authors Lauren Willig and Karen White tackle the cozy mystery genre in The Author’s Guide to Murder—and they didn’t disappoint! This satirical whodunit is witty as even a bit over-the-top at time (in the best way!), with the authors leaning into the theme for maximum entertainment. Despite this, there's also a serious side to the book about each woman's backstory which provided a lot of depth to the story. Overall, it’s a fun, clever, and at times emotional read that’s perfect for mystery lovers!

A mystery set in a Scottish castle about three writers teaming up to write a mystery written by my favorite author trio should have been a slam dunk but it all felt a little too over-the-top for me. The story never felt cohesive, the romances were odd and I found myself wishing it would be over faster. I'll still read anything team W writes but this wasn't my favorite of theirs.

Thanks to William Morrow for the copy to review.

I couldn't get through this pne. I think it was suppose to be satire, but I'm honestly not sure. I didn't want to waste my time continuing when there are so many other books I could be reading.

This is marketed as an Agatha Christie-like and a literary satire and locked-room mystery, and it felt more like a cozy mystery comedy to me. There was nothing really WRONG with it, but it wasn't what I expected and not really my genre. It follows 3 authors (all POV characters) who are on a Scottish island for a writing retreat when the castle's laird turns up dead. As the investigation goes on, it's revealed that the authors each had their own connection to the dead man, and their own reasons for wanting him dead. 

I liked but didn't love 2 of the 3 POV characters, and found the portions about the writing and their careers to be the most interesting. I did feel like some of the elements of their pasts weren't handled as seriously as they should have been and didn't get as much page time as they were due. Overall I also thought it was a bit too long. Mostly it was a pretty good book that just wasn't for me, though. If you like cozy mystery books with a thread of goofy comedy and the idea of traveling to Scotland with writer friends, check this out. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Is it too meta for a trio of authors to write a book about a trio of authors forced together to write a book? Probably but it's a fun premise. Cassie writes cozy mysteries, Emma pens very thoroughly researched historical fiction, and Kat authors dark and steamy romantsies. They meet at a conference and decide to collaborate.

Introducing the characters through their police interviews was a clever way to show the different points of view as well as some of the backstory. But for me, it went on for too long and dragged things out too much. I figured out the hook and the twist and the motivations so I just wanted to get on with solving the mystery. The pacing in the second half was better. I liked the Scottish castle and the Kincloch village. The sheep jokes were perfectly dad-like. The ending was over-the-top in a 90s movie kind of way and the epilogue was a bit goofy but this book was lots of fun. Although this book takes place in the third week of December, there isn't any Christmas in this book.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this. #TheAuthorsGuidetoMurder #NetGalley

This was an interesting start but I didn't finish it before it expired. I liked the three main characters. I would likely pick it up once it's published. I think it's a fun premise.

Thank you Uplit Reads / William Morrow Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Author’s Guide to Murder in exchange for my honest review.

I have been a fan of the 3 W’s collaborations since the beginning & this one was pure entertainment with a side of murder. It is escape reading at its best and I was all for it! If you’ve read any of their previous collaborations and seen them on tour, you might have heard about their origin story…it’s so funny & I loved seeing them incorporate it into this book! Read the author’s note if you are new to their work! ⁣
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This cozy is a locked-room mystery that grabbed me from the get-go & the whodunit vibes kept me guessing all the way through. As is typical with a 3W book, there are 3 POVs and I loved how distinct each one was. ⁣
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This is the type of book that will appeal to a wide range of audiences with its light-hearted, cozy vibes and also the darker themes it touches upon. And of course there’s even some romance…in a Scottish castle!