The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is like John Tucker Must Die - if John Tucker were actually, well, murdered. I smirked my way through every twist and sassy line like I was watching a dark rom-com with a body count. Kathryn Hu (yes, her last name is a whole existential riddle) is stuck in a dead-end chem lab job, has no social life, and soon finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her... with multiple women. Cue the chaos.

The jilted lovers join forces to serve revenge, only to stumble into a murder mystery when their shared ex turns up dead in a closet. Oops.

It’s equal parts cheeky and surprisingly heartfelt - revenge turns into real self-reflection, and the characters actually grow (even if they’re a bit much at times). Still, I had a blast hanging out with this messy, murderous girl gang. Would join their group chat in a heartbeat.

Thank you Gloria Chao and the publisher, MIRA, for letting me read this ARC via NetGalley.

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Vibes: 🔪💔📱👯‍♀️🕵️‍♀️🎙️
Rating: 3.25⭐
Tropes: found family / amateur sleuths / whodunit

I was really excited when I got accepted to read this ARC -- anything where the plot revolves around couples breaking up seems to be my cup of tea. (Does that make me a horrible person?) Anyways, I loved the storyline and effort put in the beginning of the book, building the relationship between Tucker's three lovers and their adventures, I honestly felt like I was trying to solve the case myself. It started getting slower for me towards the end and then when they figured out whodunit, my reaction wasn't as grand as I was hoping it would be. I would have loved for the last chapter to be incorporated into the story.
Also, was not really a fan of Dish Served Hot and the drama with that. I understand wanting to connect the whole story to the modern media of podcasting, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Three women find out they’re dating the same man and band together to get revenge. All go astray when in the middle of their hijinks, he unexpectedly turns up dead 👀

I absolutely ADORED this one! A great little mystery that is funny, witty, and not too serious with main characters that are powerful and strong women. I mean really, what more could you ask for?

I loved that when these 3 women find out they are dating the same guy, instead of hating each other (hello, that’s never the move ladies, HE cheated on you, not them!), they form a lasting friendship. We love to see women supporting women over here 🫶🏻

And speaking of the characters, they were so much fun to read about. Each one brought something new and fun to the table 🤸🏼‍♀️

The twist was juicy, and really tied everything together. My one criticism of this was I thought the ending could have used another chapter! Everything wrapped up nicely, but I just really wish we could have had an epilogue so we could see where the girls are a few months later.

But overall, a fantastic book from Gloria Chao! I will absolutely be looking into more of her books! 4.5 stars rounded up from me!

Thanks so much to NetGalley for this ARC!

💋Book: The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club

☀️Rate: 5 Stars!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

😘Praise: This was definitely an extremely entertaining mystery! Wow!! Wow!! ......Whoa..... Lol! 😆 Can you imagine dating your dream guy?! And then you find out he is seeing two other women leading two other different lives?! Well .......buckle up!! Not to give too much away! All three women decide to get back at Tucker! (John Tucker Must Die!-----Love it!) However when they go to see him to get their revenge.......Gasp!!......he is already dead!!! Unfortunately one of our ladies is accused of his murder and now this leads to a mayhem filled adventure mystery I will not be forgetting!! I so saw this being a comedy mystery on Hulu!! Lol 🤣🤣🤣 Again not to give too much away but you must read this you must read this you must read this!!! Definitely the perfect vacation read or to get away with a mental vacation LOL!

💕 Mystery!
💗Comedy!
💋Found Friendship!

🍵 What an excellent author!

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is a cozy and humorous murder mystery that I highly recommend! I've been looking for a book with Finlay Donovan vibes (Elle Cosimano) and this one totally fits the bill! Furthermore, I loved how Elle, Olivia, and Kat had a hilarious ride-or-die bond (that was similar to Finlay and Vero's friendship), and I adored the potential love interest between the MC and the "hot cop" (which again was reminiscent of Finlay and Detective Nick). This story also reminded me of The Maid (Nita Prose) as the MC is not only trying to solve the murder, she is also trying to exonerate herself in the process, which makes the drama and the stakes higher. I appreciated that I didn't see the twist until the very end and I loved how the author tied everything together. The only downsides for me were the podcast transcripts (though important to the story, they seemed to interrupt my reading experience so I could have done with less of them) and Kat's constant explanation of idioms (which again interrupted my reading experience and I personally would have preferred less of these explanations). Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm definitely interested in seeing what's up next for the "ex-girlfriend murder club"!

A revenge story for those who have been burned by men. This was fun, fast paced and decently lighthearted for a book that involves a murder. I loved the girl power vibes and how the three MCs bonded.

This was the cutest little murder mystery. I couldn’t put the book down. I loved the cast of women in the book. Tucker was such a sleaze. He reminded me unfortunately of someone I used to know. I would definitely recommend this book to someone in a book slump. It was a quick fun read.

The cover of this book is so good it is like a magnet. The book not so good.

The cover of this book just draws you to read the story. The story was just not that good. The book was good as the characters were getting introduced. The women all came together and it just got too crazy. The revenge was just so ridiculas that it was not funny. The foul language was too much and did not add to the story. I just wish the story could have been as good as the cover.

The Ex-Girlfriend’s Murder Club is a quirky, fun cozy mystery with tons of humor. It is the first book in the Hu Done It series. Kathryn, Olivia, and Elle have just discovered that they are all dating the same man. They proceed to dump him and make a pact to enact revenge. When he is murdered, they vow to find the real killer and clear their names. All three women are very different but are drawn together by their connection to Tucker.

These women are very motivated to find Tucker’s killer, but not very skilled at detective work, which results in lots of crazy antics and hilarious scenes. The crime scene has all of their DNA, and they all have strong motives to want Tucker dead. They must work together to find the real killer. Throw in some other intriguing side characters, like an insane podcaster and the hot detective assigned to the case, and the story becomes a wild adventure.

The contrast between the three girlfriend characters in this novel provides a lot of comic relief. I would have liked The Ex-Girlfriend’s Murder Club to be in a 3 way POV - with each girlfriend having a voice, rather than just Kathryn. This story has many parallels to the movie “John Tucker Must Die”, but in a lot of ways, it was funnier. I really enjoyed the cozy mystery aspect of the story, as well as the unlikely friendship that arose between the three ex-girlfriends. The ending of the story was perfect, and I thought the pacing was on point for a mystery. Overall, this was a really fun read.

Thank you to Gloria Chao, Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA Books, and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved the premise behind this book and it was such a great summer read. Pretty lighthearted, cute mischief, and a mystery to be solved. I loved that the women banded together, as opposed to pointing fingers at each other which is such a common (eye-rolling) trope in stories involving cheaters.

I found the addition of the true crime podcast a little hard to believe and that portion of the dialogue a bit forced.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed this read and hope to read more!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

The Ex-Girlfriend's Murder Club reminded me of The Other Woman and John Tucker Must Die. It has a similar vibe of three women discovering they've all been dating the same man. Kat, who sees herself as socially awkward, is dating Tucker Jones, a guy who seems like the perfect boyfriend. He says and does all the right things. But soon, Kat finds out she’s not the only one, Tucker has been seeing two other women as well.

The three women, united in their betrayal, team up to get revenge. They head to his apartment and unleash chaos from smearing poop on the walls to destroying his beloved underwear. But things take a dark turn when Kat discovers Tucker’s dead body hidden in the closet.

Panicked, the women flee the scene. Fearful that they will be accused of his murder, they band together to solve the mystery of who really killed Tucker. Along the way, they form an unexpected sisterhood and uncover even more secrets their deceitful ex had been hiding.

There were plenty of funny moments and just enough suspense to keep things interesting as the story unfolded. It took me a little while to really get into it, but once I hit the halfway point, I was hooked. Unfortunately, the ending left me disappointed. While the twist was unexpected, it didn’t quite land for me.

This book was so much fund to read! It is a super funny, cozy mystery novel set around an unlikely group of friends. It really did give me John Tucker Must Die vibes, and I love that movie

This was a quick read that could make a good beach read book. You don't have to overly think anything. The writing style was a bit of a miss for me, and some of the twists, including the one at the end, were a bit predictable. I did enjoy the characters overall, and I love the strong female friendship angle. It does have a young adult feel to it, so keep that in mind. I don't think that the podcast inserts really added much to the story. If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, this is one to consider.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Harlequin Audio, and Net Galley for bothe audio and e book ARC! 4.5 stars for me. Really enjoyed it as an audio, and didn't expect the twist!

Good Reads Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218171621-the-ex-girlfriend-murder-club

It doesn’t take much to make me want to read a Gloria Chao book, but seeing her shift from romance to cozy mystery piqued my interest. Her previous books always feature Chinese-American characters, and I love seeing good representation of minorities.

In this book, Kathryn Hu isn’t just Chinese-American, she’s socially awkward, ridiculously smart, and quite possibly neurodivergent. In short, I loved her right away and that didn’t change at any point throughout the book, even right up to the last page. Kat is hilariously sarcastic while also giving me vicarious cringe with her significantly awkward interactions at all times; she knows the origins of almost every idiom out there, and has an affinity for puns, so I automatically found her fascinating and hilarious. I’m a sucker for a good pun, so Kat had me laughing throughout the book.

Kat isn’t the only character, although she is the main character. When Kat discovered that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with one and then a second other woman (most reminiscent of John Tucker Must Die, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed), I discovered one of my favorite aspects of the novel: the three women are furious and decide to team up and plan the ultimate revenge prank on their cheating boyfriend. Rather than blaming other women and making conflict where it didn’t need to be, they placed their anger and frustration on the rightful target—the man who has successfully lied to each of them. I loved the lack of cattiness between the three women.

As these women are in the middle of exacting their revenge on Tucker, Kat discovers that someone had an even more dangerous revenge in mind for him when his dead body is found in the closet. Leaving the tenuous alliance of Kat, Olivia, and Elle looking very guilty indeed. Each of them had a motive, so to clear their name, they work together to uncover the truth of who was really behind Tucker’s murder.

Part of the fun of a cozy mystery series is that it can be silly and a little over the top and still be a great read. And this certainly happens to fit the bill. Kat is chock full of random knowledge, as well as having very specific scientific knowledge about her graduate research in chemistry, Olivia is a lawyer which comes in handy, and Elle functions as both the comic relief and the one with some important information offered up at the least expected times.

The plot is another fun aspect of the book—while the women are each going through their own emotional betrayal by a man they trusted, they also need to figure out who was behind his murder before Kat goes from a person of interest to the only suspect. Dating a man who was actively cheating with multiple women involves a lot of secrecy on his part, so the women really need to put their heads together and piece together enough of Tucker’s backstory to find out who else might have wanted him dead.

It’s clear from the start that Tucker is a jerk face, but as the story goes on, they realize how many people had a motive, and they simply need to find out who that is, and not get themselves caught up in dangerous situations. I especially enjoyed Kat’s relationship with her mother, and how she sometimes has to just accept that her mother is overprotective even from a distance and she picks her battles, which sounds easier than it is.

Overall, I can’t recommend this one highly enough. I’ve been a fan of Chao’s romances, and she really shines in the cozy mystery genre. Hopefully this continues on, because I really enjoyed following Kat, Olivia, and Elle on their investigation. Much like any good cozy, there are puns galore (I love them), a pet (it’s a bunny rabbit, how cute is that?), and a slow-burn attraction between Kat and the detective investigating Tucker’s murder. This was such a fun story, and while the biggest twist was a little predictable (IMO), it didn’t make this read any less enjoyable. In fact, I found myself shouting “I KNEW IT!” That’s always a good sign when I’ve figured out a twist, and while the storyline was busy, it worked really well. Gloria Chao has outdone herself with this new book, and I can’t wait to read more of the series.

I loved the John Tucker Must Die movie so when I saw a book compared to that, I obviously had to read it. This had great characters, a fun and cozy plot and of course a wild twist at the end. Looking forward to future books by this author.

Kathryn Hu, a brilliant chemist, thought she had it all figured out—especially when it came to love. Tucker seemed perfect: kind, attentive, and everything she thought she wanted. But her romantic dreams are shattered in one chaotic night when a surprise visit to his apartment leads her to accidentally witness him proposing… to another woman. Enter Olivia, a sharp and successful lawyer. And just when you think Tucker can’t sink any lower, they discover he’s also been seeing a third woman from Tinder.

Instead of wallowing, the three women—hurt, humiliated, and done with being played—band together in a moment of petty revenge inspired by the popular podcast Dish Served Hot. But when their plan leads them to Tucker’s apartment, they don’t just find old clothes and bad takeout… they find his dead body.

Determined to clear their names, the unlikely trio joins forces to uncover the truth behind Tucker’s murder. What follows is a quirky, suspenseful adventure laced with unexpected friendship, female solidarity, and romantic tension—especially when the charming and persistent Detective Birch starts sniffing around. Kathryn finds herself caught in a web of attraction and suspicion as she tries to keep her secrets buried while solving a mystery that only gets more tangled by the minute.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this free advanced copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily

4.5⭐️ absolutely loved this one! This was such a fun arc to get, thank you NetGalley! I was entertained from the very start and could not wait to find out who-dun-it! Can’t wait to read more from this author now!

This was such a fun and clever cozy mystery! The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club follows Kat, a scientist whose seemingly perfect relationship takes a shocking turn when she accidentally walks in on her boyfriend Tucker… proposing to another woman. But instead of falling apart, Kat and the would-be fiancée, Olivia, form an unexpected friendship—and things get even juicier when they discover Tucker had a third girlfriend, Elle.

The trio of scorned women soon become amateur sleuths when they find Tucker dead in his house (after trashing it, of course), and Kat becomes the main suspect. From there, it’s a wild and entertaining ride as the new friends work together to uncover who really killed Tucker—and why.

This book had all the best cozy mystery elements: humor, heart, unexpected twists, and a team of unlikely investigators. I especially loved Kat’s scientist mind—she explains common metaphors throughout the book, adding a unique and nerdy charm that made me smile and learn a few things!

This is the perfect summer read: breezy, engaging, and packed with personality.

A fresh, witty mystery with brains and heart!

*** Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

**The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club** by Gloria Chao was such a wild, clever ride! It follows a woman who ends up reconnecting with her ex’s other ex-girlfriends — and then someone ends up dead. The mix of humor, sharp commentary on relationships, and a twisty murder mystery kept me flipping pages way past bedtime. Smart, fast-paced, and just the right amount of dark fun. Loved it!