Thank you Karen Dukess ( @karendukess ), Gallery Books ( @gallerybooks ), and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me to read Welcome to Murder Week (out now).

I have been obsessed with all my books lately, including this one. It was so good!! A murder mystery, a family mystery, and a romance all in one book. Perfection!

Cath recently find out that her estranged mother has passed away. In a surprise, before she died, Cath’s mom purchased two tickets to a week long murder mystery event in a small English village for her and Cath.

While in England, Cath and her teammates investigate the fictional murder, and along the way, Cath realizes some of the things her mother described in Cath’s childhood stories are in this village! Now Cath and friends have two mysteries to solve—the fictitious murder and her mother’s past.

This was such an engrossing book. I could not put it down. Dukess did an excellent job of blending these mysteries together. This is now one of my favorite mysteries!!!

#WelcometoMurderWeek #NetGalley #KarenDukess #GalleryBooks

4.25

All I can say is I wish I was Cath at the end of this book!

Okay, maybe that’s not all I can say, but it’s definitely a personal highlight! This is such a unique book. A mystery without a mystery that’s still a mystery with a completely different mystery running parallel? I was concerned about the American in a quaint English village with other Americans-being-very-American elements. That may be a trauma reflex having lived there for several years and even once overseeing hordes of American study abroad students who were often not our best ambassadors. The three main oes in this book, however, are outliers and a great team spanning otherwise very different backgrounds and characteristics.

The “ordinary” English village of Willowthrop is struggling for the tourism money that is instead going to nearby villages with some claim to fame. They have decided that a village-wide murder mystery game will reel in lots of, primarily, American Miss Marple—in village mystery solving, if not in appearance—wannabes. I don’t know how they could make too much money with what seemed like a relatively small group of participants, but I guess if everyone was volunteering, it would probably catch on year after year. Actually, who wouldn’t want to play a role in this production?

The fake murder mystery is entertaining, though mostly a vehicle for character development. The mystery about Cath’s mother is intriguing and surprising. The romance is sweet and realistic. Sometimes you do meet someone on a trip who feel like they should be in your life even though the timer is already set.

I really hope someone was recording Wyatt’s performance at the end. That was great! I am still left wondering about the doctor however.

A very fun read for people who like quaint British mysteries about a person who doesn’t like them at all, even without all of the baggage from her mother that is attached to his trip. I didn’t know what to expect with this book and it took me a bit to commit, but it quickly swept me up and was a good time. I don’t know the author’s other book, but it sounds like the she has a very interesting background and must have some fascinating ideas in her arsenal!

Thank you to Karen Dukess, NetGalley, Gallery Books for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book for my unbiased review.

#WelcometoMurderWeek #NetGalley #bookreview #ADHDreader #mystery #englishvillage #cozymystery #KarenDukess #England #villagelife #GalleryBooks

While I've read some amazing books this month, Welcome to Murder Week is, without a doubt, my favorite book of the month. It's a book that I stumbled on by accident while scrolling Instagram, and I was so happy to get access to an early copy via Netgalley. This book is charming, funny at times, and filled with so much heart that you can't help but fall in love with the characters.

After her mother dies, Cath doesn't feel much grief, especially given the fact that her mother spent most of her time living far away from Cath's hometown of Buffalo, New York. Cath has made a life for herself living in her grandmother's aging Victorian home and working as an optometrist. When she finally goes through the boxes her mother's friends sent her way, she discovers tickets for an upcoming 'murder week' in the Peak District. While she initially doesn't plan to go, with the encouragement of her tenant, she decides to make the trip. Little does she know that her life will be forever changed.

Released on June 10th, this is the perfect read if you're looking to curl up with a good book. A must-read.

Thank you so much to Gallery Books for the gifted ARC!

I was expecting a cute and cozy mystery and it was, but it was also much more than that. We had family drama, a little romance and a whole bunch of fun!

I really liked the main character and was rooting for her the whole time. I thought the whole concept of the murder mystery simulation was new and fresh. I will say at times I was a little confused where things were going since there was quite a bit going on, but I still enjoyed it.

Overall, I think cozy mystery lovers will enjoy WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK!

3.5

Huh. If readers come into this with the right expectations - that this is a staged murder mystery and not an everyday person stumbling into and solving an actual murder - I imagine it will work for many of them, as evidenced by the many lovers of this already. But not so for me.

Cath's estranged mum died recently, leaving a non-refundable full-week murder mystery experience in a small village in England. Even more mysteriously, apparently her mom booked the trip for both of them. Despite no desire to travel or leave her settled life in Buffalo, Cath ultimately decides to go, if only to figure out what drew her mom to this village and this game in the first place.

I think more than anything this wants to be a movie rather than a book. It has an unnecessarily confusing structure that a movie would be better suited to track with visual cues, but in book form requires CONSTANT "remind myself" and "remember" moments that really impeded my reading experience, personally. Because the murder mystery is being presented by an entire town, it is unclear to us as the readers but even more upsetting, to the characters themselves about what (and who) is part of the game and what isn't. Cath was constantly reminding herself, "Oh this isn't real," and then also reminding herself, "But I don't know what's real." Okay, so how can you know that the moment before wasn't real? If you're confused by that setup, yeah, same.

The tone felt muddled and like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. If I had just met two people, even if they do become my teammates in solving a fictional murder, and I asked them to not treat my personal life and VERY COMPLICATED relationship with my mum the same way they're treating a fictional murder mystery, and they ignored me COMPLETELY...I would be very fucking upset. The stakes felt both too low and too high at the same time? Which would be fine, except they were played exactly the same way.

One of my biggest issues is with the cover. I could be wrong, I didn't work on the marketing of this book, but I think the title is intentionally attempting to evoke a tone that this book does not deliver on. As much as we say don't judge a book by its cover, many do, and many of those who do are not going to read the synopsis before picking it up. The title and book cover both indicate to me a very different book than this is. I fear this will only lead to disappointment, which didn't need to be the case.

On the bright side, I do think that for those that can stick with the needlessly convoluted structure, this does bring the cozy vibes. It self-references cozy, small village British shows like Grantchester, Father Brown, Agatha Raisin, and it does deliver on that flavor of situation. I really appreciated the exploration of the death of a parent, and one you had a complicated relationship with, and how grief can sneak up on you, especially when it's a relationship you think you've already grieved many times before in your life. There was also some really interesting emotionality towards the end when some secrets are revealed about Cath's personal life, but buried amongst the rest of the mess of a storyline...it just didn't land as well as it could have, unfortunately.

This was a heartwarming, cozy mystery read. Cath lives in buffalo and is living a quiet life as an optician. She recently lost her estranged mother. So when Cath is going through some boxes and finds tickets to a "Murder Week" vacation, she is very surprised. She decides to step out of her comfort zone and take the trip. She meets some interesting characters, works to solve a "fake" murder, and also finds out some things about herself along the trip.

This book was a perfect mix of cozy mystery, charming setting and characters, and a bit of romance. It also had more emotional depth than I thought it would have.

I could not put this book down from the moment I started reading. I LOVED it!

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a charming read with a touch of mystery, romance and so much more.
Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the digital ARC of this book.

4 stars ARC book review
Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess is a fun combination of genres. We have a fictional cozy mystery within the book, a real mystery, and a romance. The story follows Cath, who learns that her mother, who recently died, had bought tickets for them to attend a murder mystery week in England. She is truly perplexed as to why her flighty, absentee mother would do that, but decides to go at the urging of friends. What follows is a fun whodunit combined with a story about her learning about her past and meeting a new group of friends.

What I enjoyed most in this book was the cast of characters as well as the setting. The pretend murder mystery within the story was so much fun to follow along with, as I am a fan of Agatha Christie and many of the parts of what make a good Christie mystery were in evidence. Cath’s cottage roommates for the week, Wyatt and Amity, were great, as were the other participants and the town folk cast playing parts in the murder mystery.

I struggled with two parts of the book. First, I unfortunately didn’t really like Cath. I found that she came across really young to be in her 30’s and she was often quite negative. I also felt at times it was a bit much to have all three things going on (both the real and faux mysteries and the romance storyline).

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and recommend it for fellow cozy mystery fans. Thank you to the publisher Gallery Books | Gallery/Scout Press, author Karen Dukess, and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

As a lifelong British mystery lover, I thoroughly enjoyed all the nods to classic and modern British mystery books and television shows! I was a little disappointed this wasn't a typical mystery (no actual murder that needed solving), but there were two other mystery subplots that I soon became interested in (solving the Mystery Week game & the mystery of Cath's mother). Overall, a fun book that I would readily recommend to British mystery lovers!

Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Karen Dukess for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5⭐️ this was a slow start for me and honestly, I kept going on my audiobook versus grabbing for this. But, once I got like 25% in I was more into it.

This is a cozy mystery- the book is based around a woman who’s semi-estranged mom passes away and while going through her things she finds tickets to a murder mystery week in England that her mom intended to bring her on.

She ends up going on her own and participating in the mystery challenge but doesn’t understand why her mom wanted to do this. As she spends time there, little connections to her mom are clicking into place. Along with her housemates and detective partners they work to solve the fake murder along with figuring out why her mom was invested in coming to this town and the questions she was trying to answer.

A lot of references to older popular books and authors that unfortunately went right over my head, if you are well versed in that - I think you’ll enjoy it even more.

I felt like I needed a little more growth or development from our main character but overall a cozy mystery that is appropriate for a lot of readers.

When Cath Little was going through her mother’s effects, she came across a surprising discovery. She hadn’t been particularly close to her mother, who had a penchant for leaving. Cath had mostly been raised by her grandmother, who stayed in one place and taught Cath everything she knew about being an optician. After her death, Cath had stayed on in her house and taken over her optometry business, helping people find the glasses that work best for them.

When Cath had been a kid, she had loved the time she got to spend with her mother, but her mother would leave after only a few days. She would chase another dream, another relationship. And Cath would be left behind, longing for the love that only a mother can give. After her mother’s death, Cath had been going through the few personal items she had of her mother’s, and that’s when she found the tickets. They were to England, to the village of Willowthrop in the Peak District, where Cath and her mother were to participate in a weeklong murder mystery sponsored by the tiny town. The tickets were non-refundable.

When Cath explained to the woman running the murder mystery, she was happy to refund Cath’s mother’s ticket and change Cath’s accommodations, since she would be on her own. But she refused to refund Cath’s ticket and encouraged her to come. She said she had corresponded with Cath’s mother, and she had been excited about the trip. And that’s how Cath found herself on a plane to England, traveling to Willowthrop to solve a fake murder mystery with her two housemates.

Wyatt was married to a man who loved birdwatching and owned a business that catered to other bird lovers. Wyatt loved his husband and helped with the business, but he needed a new spark in his life. Amity was a romance writer whose marriage had dissolved, leaving her wondering if she still wanted to write about budding relationships. Together the three of them would be a team in the race to solve the murder mystery.

But as they go around town, questioning suspects in and looking for clues to try to find out who murdered the village hairdresser and why, Cath finds herself puzzling out her own mystery. As she moves around the village, she finds herself noticing things that resemble the stories her mother told her when she was a child. There are flowers that remind her of her mother, a church spire, a favorite children’s book. She tells Wyatt and Amity about these things, and they set up two murder boards in their house, one for the murder of the hairdresser and the other for the clues about Cath’s mom.

As Cath is trying to put the pieces together on who she is and why she’s in the Peak District, she’s also developing feelings for a handsome bartender who makes his own artisanal gin. Her heart feels drawn to Willowthrop, but she has spent her life refusing to give in to the feelings of wanderlust that constantly took her mother on paths away from her. Once the murder is solved and it’s time for Cath to head back home, what will she do about the connections she’s been growing in England? Will she follow her head, or will she follow her heart and put down new roots?

Welcome to Murder Week is a clever take on an English village murder mystery. The murder simulation storyline dips into classic mystery literature like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all the way to current television series like Father Brown and Agatha Raisin. The mystery that this small town created is complex and nuanced, and adding in the mystery of Cath’s and her mother takes this novel to another level. It’s fast paced, with great characters and a strong sense of place. Anyone looking for a solid mystery that’s smart and unique should make plans to spend time with this book.

I had the best time in Willowthrop. Welcome to Murder Week is a dynamite book, with humor and intelligence and romance. It has a solid mystery (or two), but overall the story feels like a hug. It is warm and comforting, sweet and funny, and over way too soon.

Egalleys for Welcome to Murder Week were provided by Gallery/Scout Press through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK by Karen Dukess is a delightfully quirky, frothy offering which combines mystery and romance set in England's Peak District. After the death of her often-estranged Mom, Cath Little heads to the UK to participate in a pretend murder contest. No one knows why her Mom had purchased the tickets without telling Cath. Soon, however, Cath and her detective team (roommates Wyatt, struggling in his marriage to a birding shopkeeper, and Amity, a romance author with writer's block), are investigating not only the supposed death of local resident Tracy Penny, but also a series of strange coincidences involving Cath, her childhood, and her Mom. The tiny village of Willowthrop is also home to several memorable characters, including handsome barman and artisanal gin crafter named Dev who is attracted to Cath. This entertaining tale fulfills the author's description: "Murder, revenge, lies, abandonment - they're a respite from the mess and confusion of our own lives. Fictional chaos is a holiday, a beautiful distraction. We can go along for the ride and shiver from the danger without worrying that we'll get hurt." WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK received a starred review from Library Journal ("just the thing for a rainy afternoon and a cup of tea"). Enjoy.

A cute, cozy mystery that sees a daughter going on her dead mother's English murder mystery vacation in her place and discovering her mom had been hiding more secrets than she knew. Fans of cozy mysteries, romance and emotionally deep mother-daughter stories will enjoy this new book from Karen Dukess. I thought it was good on audio and an entertaining read that kept me guessing and had a cast of colorful characters. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Oh, What a fun read! Who wouldn’t love a fake murder mystery with a real-life puzzler woven into the story?

After her mother’s death, Cath undergoes the task of cleaning out the poor woman’s belongings. They were not particularly close, so Cath just wants to finish the job as quickly as possible. Among mom’s trash and treasures, Cath finds a ticket to England for two, a murder mystery week that Mom had planned for the two of them. What? And now I’m hooked!

Once in English, two great characters, Wyatt and Amity, are paired with Cath, and the team of three work to solve the make-believe murder. At the same time, Cath wants to find out why dear Mom wanted them to visit this place together.

I enjoyed this delightful and witty read.

I adored this delightful mystery novel that was absolutely full of charm, adventure and fun. The premise of this felt really fresh to me, and I enjoyed the play on traditional cozy mysteries through the village event as well as slowly unraveling the mystery of Cath's mother. The characters were lovable and brought so much heart to the novel. I've been in a bit of a reading slump and this is the book that finally pulled me out! Highly recommend to mystery lovers or anyone looking for a summer read with heart and humor in addition to a bit of mystery!

'Welcome to Murder Week' is a delightful mystery novel! The story reminds me of the movie 'Austenland', with its larger-than-life characters and theatrical British setting, yet the plot feels fresh and well-written. This book not only avoids many typical cozy mystery clichés (though I love the genre), but it also playfully acknowledges them through the amateur sleuths on their murder mystery vacation.

I loved Cath, Wyatt, and Amity's unlikely friendship—they bring humor and heart to every scene. Cath's love interest adds a fun dynamic, though just a note: there is a bit of spice. Cath's relationship with her mother grounds the story as she navigates conflicting emotions. There are multiple puzzles throughout, offering a satisfying challenge without the unease of suspense. I'll gladly explore more of Karen Dukess' works.

Special thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Cath’s mother hasn’t played a significant role in her life for so long that Cath is ambivalent when her mother dies. But when she forces herself to go through her mother’s things, she finds a pair of tickets for an upcoming ‘murder week’ in England – an entire town is staging a fake murder for its participants to solve. Intrigued, Cath decides to take the trip, if only to find out why her mother wanted the two of them to go. Her two cottage-mates are both avid mystery lovers, and while the three of them set out to solve the (staged) murder, Cath learns a few things about her mother – and herself – along the way.

I’ve never read anything by this author before, but this book hooked me almost from the very first page. Although my mother and I were close (and we both devoured mystery books!), I was intrigued by Cath’s situation and her search to learn more about her mother. I’m not sure I’d want to do undertake such a quest with a handful of strangers, but maybe being surrounded by strangers and away from her comfortable life at home actually gave her the freedom for such an endeavour?

I like the way the book was structured, and enjoyed traipsing around the English countryside with Cath, Wyatt and Amity as they looked for clues to the murder. Along with them, I tried to decide which of the villagers were part of the plot and which were red herrings. I landed on the correct suspect, and even the motive, but I’m not sure how :)

It seems unlikely that this will turn into a series, but I will definitely keep an eye out for future books by this author. And if this *does turn into a series, I’ll be eager to read the next book.

Cath steps into a murder mystery vacation set in the English countryside in place of her late mother, learning more about her mother and the village as her team solve the whodunnit. Full of adventure, charm, heart and a bit of romance perfect beach read. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy for an honest review.

ARC Review!!
Cath finds out that her mom booked them both a trip to a small town in England but to a Murder Mystery week. Cath's mother has since passed and Cath has no clue why her mother would book them both a trip to a small town in England when none of them liked mysteries.
Cath is convinced by her friends that she needs to take this trip and goes. When she arrives in England, she meets 2 other lone travelers and teams up with them to solve the murder mystery. As the week progresses, Cath comes to realize stories her mother has told her add up to certain things in this small town in England.
The revelation that Cath did not know her mother and is slowly finding out things from her past sends her for a tale spin. The murder mystery aspect of the story was good and the reveal of Cath's mother at the same time was nicely done.
3 stars!!!

Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess has a good premise, but I found the story to be on the bland side. Catherine, or Cath as she prefers to be called, is a lackluster character. She is not excited when she discovers her deceased mother paid for two tickets to a murder week in Willowthrop, England (I would be thrilled). It turns out that Cath is not interested in English mysteries nor does she read mystery novels (she does not know what she is missing). Overcoming grief, healing childhood wounds, a self-discover journey, and having an adventure are on the agenda for Cath. Cath is having trouble after the death of her mother even though they were not close (look up absentee parent online and you will find a picture of Cath’s mother). There were some quirky characters in Willowthrop (Cath could take a page or two from their books). I never felt a connection between Cath and her deceased mother (I wanted there to be an emotional tie). Cath seemed more connected to Mr. Groberg, her mentor and renter. You could tell that Cath cared about Mr. Groberg. The pacing was lethargic, which was not helped by the long-winded descriptions. The picturesque depictions paint a picture, but they slow down the story. The mystery game was not as much fun as I thought it be. I wish the whodunit had been more engaging and fun. It lacked excitement and suspense. The emotional moments were not quite right. They are slightly off (like a person missing their mark on the stage) and they lack depth. Of course, no vacation would be complete without a romance. The story had an uplifting ending. Welcome to Murder Week was cute but nothing to write home about.

I really enjoyed this fun little cozy mystery. It was imaginative and amusing with so much heart and emotion. I loved the setting, the mystery, the characters and the deeper meanings. Overall quite an entertaining read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.