This book made me think of a combination of Gossip Girl and Knives Out. Heiress, Pomona Afton, has her trust fund frozen after her grandmother is murdered. To get her money, the case must be solved. In the midst of using all her detective skills to solve the murder, she is forced to live with the grumpy son of her former nanny. This story was easy to follow and kept me hooked. I didn't have any guesses as to who murder grandma, but I am a terrible guesser anyway. This murder mystery has a sprinkle of romance, which is all it takes for me to give a book a shot, and I'm sure glad I did! Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted finished copy and eARC. All opinions are my own.

Instagram post will be live 13Mar25.

4.5 stars

The vibe of this book was Schitt's Creek meets "The Maid" with a touch of "Gossip Girl." This was a cozy mystery with a fun romance subplot. Honestly, I loved each character's growth arc. Pomona turned from partier socialite to a powerful woman with a better understanding of the real world and a big heart for helping those around her. Gabe is the perfect man to be by her side. I enjoyed watching her find herself while putting on her detective hat and learning to believe in herself. I would definitely recommend this book and I will be reading more books by this author.

I went into this book with no expectations - I did not remember what the book was about - and I was so pleasantly surprised! It was just a fun book. I thought that the characters were cute - I liked the rich to rags storyline. I felt that Pomona went from an obnoxious, ultra wealthy, rude young woman to a hard working, appreciative and sweet young woman. It was enjoyable to watch her change and grow and learn from her former self. I liked the subtle love story - although the chemistry was felt from the start, I liked that it was just a part of the story and not the main theme. The mystery had no crazy twists and turns, but was fun to read. The book was lighthearted, fun and kept me engaged from the start. A perfect book to escape the realities of life.

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

i really REALLY liked the premise of this. pomona has to figure out who killed her grandmother in order to receive her inheritance - okay YES. i'm here for it.

unfortunately, the execution was not it. pomona as a character felt like an over exaggerated version of piper from it happened one summer. she was spoiled, self-centered, had zero self-awareness, and some how watches one youtube video and becomes a baking prodigy? okay. lol. she was insufferable. i thought she'd have a redemption arc, but it wasn't enough to make me feel anything for her.

the rest of the story felt entirely cliche. the characters were surface level boring, the mystery plot was predictable and unenticing, the dialogue felt juvenile (these characters spoke like YA characters but were pushing 30???), and everything worked out so perfectly that i didn't even end up caring about literally anything. it all felt so shallow. this had so much potential!!

With some heavy *Only Murders in the Building* energy, I adored Pomona Afton and this cozy murder mystery.

After Pom’s grandmother is found murdered, everything is frozen and nothing can be touched - no more living in the family hotels, no more trust fund - unless the murder is solved. What’s a spoiled heiress to do? She calls up her former nanny (with whom she’s still close) who lets her know that her son is looking for a roommate and he can probably hook her up with a job. She moves in, tries working and decides that solving the murder would be easier than working everyday, and goes about doing just that, with the help of her new roommate, Gabe. Since the entire family is surrounded by lawyers and wont speak with outsiders, Pomona has the best chance of actually being able to find the guilty party, and regain her life.

I really liked Pom as a MC, I enjoyed this fun debut, and I look forward to reading more of the author’s future titles.



*Thank you to Atria/Emily Beatles Books and NetGalley for the DRC*

a very fun read! the description fit it perfectly! i laughed a lot and loved pomona and gabe as a team. i wish it were a little more suspenseful, but i would absolutely still recommend. hoping pomona finds herself in some more crazy situations!

If you enjoy Hallmark Mystery movies, you’ll love this part RomCom/part Mystery book. A spoiled heiress temporarily loses her trust fund and living quarters after her grandmother is murdered. She’s forced to move in with a roommate and get a job. Meanwhile, she and her handsome new roommate decide to investigate the murder together however, it also leads to a wonderful love story. I enjoyed Pomona’s character growth throughout the story and can’t wait to see what she investigates next!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5⭐️This was a light, easy, fun read.

Pomona is a stereotypical trust fund girl with zero ambitions aside from partying. Then, one morning, after a night of drinking, she finds her grandmother has been murdered.

The family finds out that Grandma's will states that all assets are frozen if she dies of "unusual circumstances." Pomona must now figure out who killed her grandmother.

Along the way to solving the murder, Pomona learns important life lessons and who she really wants to be.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

Pomona Afton is American royalty. Her silver spoon has never known tarnish… until now. When the Afton Matriarch, her Grandmother, is brutally murdered the family’s inheritance is frozen. Pomona finds herself without… without money, without a home, without her friends. Pomona’s childhood nanny suggests she moves in with her son, Gabe, who’s in need of a roommate. Gabe and Pomona become a team- focused on finding a murderer and consequently becoming each other’s champion.

You’ll love this story of Schitt’s creek meets Maid To Order (1987) with a murder mystery twist. @bellamyrosebooks I hope this isn’t the last of Pomona and Gabe- I loved every bit of this. PS- red stiletto on cover is perfection.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this #advancedreaderscopy -publication date is 3/18/25

#2025bookchallengebook19of100
#pomonaaftoncansosolveamurder
#netgalley
#stilletoscankill

What do you get when you cross a Paris Hilton (or London Tipton for my Disney channel girlies) with Only Murders in the Building? This quick little mystery!!

Pomona Afton is THE it girl, and alongside her gang of gals with equally silly names (including Coriander, a spice I would never have guess could be a name), is living it up as part of the wealthy elite of NYC. That is, until her grandma, the matriarch of the family hotel business, is found murdered in her apartment. With no warning, Pom is left homeless, jobless, and broke- and with essentially no skills to fix her circumstances.

Our gal is sweet but kind of clueless, well intentioned but unaware, and resilient even if she doesn’t want to be. Pomona’s skills of charming people, pushing herself to improve, and committing to the bit make her a fun character to spend a few hours of reading with!

The murder mystery aspect feels very OMITB, and Pom is a fan of a true crime podcast in the same vein as the show which was a nice touch! I was able correct from my earliest guess (go me!!), but unraveling everything was a fun experience!

Thanks so much to Bellamy Rose and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Pomona Afton is one of those fallen-from-grace society elites that has an endearing personality along with her reality check. This book was fun and Pom had no shortage of witty one-liners in her inner dialogue. If you're looking for an elaborate mystery, this may not be for you, but it is a fun story of a young woman who's had it all but suddenly has nothing. The mystery didn't have too much actual investigation and there didn't seem to be too much emotion in any aspect of the story, but it all worked together for an easy, light read that I'd recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books & Bellamy Rose for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a fun mystery debut for Bellamy Rose! Don't you just love a pen-name-pivot to a new genre?! I've read her work as Amanda Elliot so I am not surprised at all that I enjoyed this so much.

Anxious readers that stay away from mystery- this book will be very palatable for you. The stakes are low and I LOVED how a little romance was mixed in! It's very much giving Schitt's Creek plus Adult Gossip Girl and Pomona reminds me so much of our beloved Cher, from Clueless.

This was a fun murder mystery with a little romance mixed in. It definitely kept me hooked from the beginning. I loved the character growth that happened with Pomona. A quick and easy read!


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. Although intended to be a bit of a caricature, Pomona was multi-dimensional and likeable. The amount of romance was just right and added to the story. I look forward to future books by the author.

3.75/5 rounded up

Thank you Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the advanced reading copy!

I really enjoyed this book! Expected a cozy mystery and definitely got some of thurs vibes, plus some romance and a coming of age story!!

Pomona could have easily been an insufferable main character — spoiled and ignorant and conceited. However, I really loved her. While she did definitely have some flaws, she grew so much throughout the book and had more insight than I would have expected from this character.

Gabe was so sweet and a great counter to Pomona’s chaos. He was steady and supportive and their dynamic was so cute!

The mystery itself was intriguing, too! I really wasn’t sure where things were going and the author did a great job of creating red herrings that were believable enough to add some twists and turns throughout. This one might not totally blow your mind but I do think most readers will be surprised by the way things turned out!

Overall had lots of fun with this one and kinda got the vibe they’re setting up for a sequel/series?! I would definitely be down for that!

This was my first time reading Bellamy Rose. It was relatively well written, and the book was an easy read. The plot was never too "graphic" and was a simply sweet ending. The "Heiress/Social Media Queen" plot didn't really resonate with me. Would recommend for a light read with nothing too intense.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this story and give my unbiased opinion.

Schitt’s Creek is 100% my comfort sitcom, so when I saw a new mystery novel centered on a spoiled heiress who must solve her grandmother’s death to gain back her trust fund, I was all in!

Pomona Afton finds herself evicted, credit cards, frozen, and nowhere to go after her grandmother’s murder freezes the family assets until the crime is solved. She is rescued by her former nanny’s son, Gabe, who needs a roommate in his tiny apartment and who offers Pomona a barista at the local coffee shop he manages. She convinces him to assist her in solving the murder so she can get back her life and get out of his hair ASAP!

I adored Pomona’s ‘fish out of water’ experience as she rides the subway, works for tips with disgruntled customers, and is forced to cook her own food. The plot is also packed with plenty of rich people behaving badly, back-stabbing, drama, and twists! The more time Pomona and Gabe spend together however, their chemistry escalates to something they both must determine if it is ‘real’ or could be something worth pursuing.

With a great balance of humor and heart, tons of character growth, and a satisfying reveal, I had a great time with this story. My only complaint is that is read more YA or NA to me, as Ponoma had a naivety that made her act younger than other mid-20 something characters.

Thank you to Atria books for my gifted digital ARC and finished copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is about a spoiled heiress getting a reality check when her grandma is murdered and she's disinherited from the family. Unless.... she can find the murderer before the deadline and her money is permanently gone.

This was a really interesting premise that I enjoyed reading. Very short and sweet book. Pomona was a little annoying but that was how she was designed and it was nice to see her character develop throughout the book as she realizes how much work it actually is to survive in NYC. The murder investigation also felt very straightforward as we were led through the story. 3.75/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A fun, lighthearted murder mystery!

I really enjoyed this, it had everything I like in a story: murder, amateur sleuthing, romance, a cute cat, and a nice helping of self discovery and finding some self-confidence.

When her grandmother, matriarch of the family (and the family's lavish hotel chain) is murdered and Pomona is thrown out into the real world with almost nothing to her name, she has to scramble - for a roof over her head, to get her first job, to figure out if she's actually even good at anything (her family would say no). Despite growing up spoiled materially, Pomona Afton doesn't have much love or support in her life. But during the journey of trying to solve her grandmother's murder, she finds support, she finds love, and she finds out that she might be good at much more that she gives herself credit for.

Yes, the 'heiress who gets suddenly stripped of everything and has to start over' trop is a touch overused (personally its not a favorite of mine); but this book used it pretty well. Pomona has moments of realization about how privileged her life really was, but we thankfully aren't beaten over the head with it too much.

The romance with Gabe was straightforward and cute, and I really appreciated that they didn't let their arguments drag on - they both confronted their issues pretty immediately.

As for the mystery of it all, it was solid, with a couple of red herrings thrown in here and there and a pretty believable villian/motive - and a real unique murder weapon. It didn't feel like a brain burner - longtime mystery readers will probably pick up on who did it real quick, but the journey of investigating the murder felt almost more fun than the actual solving of it.

Highly reccomend for fans of Only Murders in the Buildings, or for someone looking for a less spicy version of It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (with murder).

I really like stories with a murder mystery or romantic suspense, but I don’t know many and need to read more. So, when I heard that Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose is a rom-com meets murder mystery, I had to read it.
 
The story is about Pomona who comes from the prestigious Afton family. The family business is all about hotels and even though Pomona tries, she doesn’t really fit into that and is rather the wild party child. Pomona had a great character development, and she went from being a spoiled, naive, and privileged heiress to being a sympathetic woman with a good heart.
 
Everything changes when Pomona‘s grandmother is murdered and every trust fund is locked down. This provides a unique opportunity for her, and she must face the real world. By her side is the son of her childhood nanny and Gabe is such a sweetheart. He manages a coffee shop and is studying to become a teacher and he has a heart of gold. It was also so wholesome to see them being roommates and living together with a cute cat. They became a perfect team and I loved how they started working together on solving the murder mystery. They are so cute together and I loved the dash of romance in this book.
 
There are family secrets and drama, and it was really entertaining. It definitely had Only Murders in the Building vibes. Even though I had a suspicion from the start that later on turned out to be correct, I still liked following along the story in narrowing down suspects and uncovering some truths. Ultimately the family gets closer together after this tragedy and I really liked that.
 
Even though this is not my typical read, I was invested in the plot, and it surprised me in a good way, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4 stars.
 
(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.)