Honestly, the title hooked me. “Just Another Dead Author” evokes the feeling that authors are irrelevant and murdered authors are common. The story was originally written in Swedish with the main character being a Swedish author named Berit Gardner. Berit, as most amateur sleuths and many writers, has a tendency to be very observant. Berit is attending a writer’s retreat in France as a teacher and a friend of the organizer.

The retreat continues as planned when an unlikeable but successful author is killed. The police and Berit want to solve it.

As you can imagine, there is an interesting cast of characters at the retreat. The location is beautifully described including their field trips.

The author makes the culpability of many of the attendees viable options. It is well written and has mini cliff hangars to entice you to keep reading.

I loved the book club questions included at the end.

I would recommend this book to others.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced readers copy.

This seems like a very fun cozy mystery book. Unfortunately there was a very personal/specific piece of content in this book that prevents me from reading it. One of the main characters stares a name with someone from my past so due to that I need to set this book down for now but I want to read this authors other books! I love the cover so much.



Thank you for the eARC! I appreciate the opportunity to sample it and leave honest feedback voluntarily.

i really enjoyed this as a concept and thought it worked in this type of book. I was invested in what was happening and how the characters worked with the plot of the book. Katarina Bivald was able to create a suspenseful atmosphere and was glad it was so well done.

The first half of the book was quite slow. However, I pushed through and the second half gave it some redemption. I did find the large number of characters to be a lot to keep track of and didn’t find any of them to be extremely likable. I will say the biggest bonus for me is that I didn’t guess who did it.

Overall the book was okay. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I read the first one?

In Just Another Dead Author, Berit Gardner and her literary agent find themselves once again entangled in another murder mystery. This one taking place at a writing retreat in France.

The first half of this book was, I'll admit, agonizing and slow. It was very difficult to keep pushing myself to continue reading, which was disappointing because I truly really enjoyed the first book in the series *The Murders in Great Diddling *. The book does pick up speed in the second half but you do have a very large cast of characters to keep track of and they're all writer's, which is a bit difficult.

While I didn't really enjoy the first half, I did appreciate the second half. The characters aren't the most likeable bunch and neither are the police inspectors.

Overall, my opinion of Just Another Dead Author was that this book was just ok, but I'm not sure if I'd read on in the series after being a bit disappointed in this second installment in the series.

Expected Publication Date: August 12th 2025.

Thank you to both Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really liked the idea of a murder mystery set at a writers' retreat in a château in the French countryside, a setting that feels both charming and refreshingly different! I haven’t read the first book, which is referenced quite often throughout, but this still works well as a standalone. (Fun fact: the prequel recently won the Lilian Jackson Braun Award for Best Cozy Crime, now I’m even more intrigued!)

There’s a light, witty tone throughout, though I could occasionally tell it was written by a non-native English speaker, some of the dialogue leaned a bit into movie-style clichés. Still, the story had plenty of charm, suspense, and character drama to keep me engaged.

A quick, clever, and enjoyable read, especially if you love books about writers solving crimes! Thanks to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Berit Gardner, renowned mystery author, agrees to attend a 2 week writers' workshop in the French countryside, aimed at helping aspiring writers. However, when John Wright, arrogant, successful and well-published author and keynote speaker at the retreat dies unexpectedly not long after delivering a savage address, and while she is delivering her presentation, Berit is thrust into the middle of the French commissaire's investigation.

Berit can't help but conduct her own investigation, much to the dismay of the commissaire, and she is determined to assist despite being asked to stop interfering with the official investigation. However, with a victim disliked by many, suspects piling up and a diverse cast of writers, publishers and agents all with secrets of their own, Berit finds herself in danger with every clue she helps discover.

This story is the sequel to The Murders in Great Diddling, which also features the character of Berit Gardner. Despite not having read the first book, I had no trouble reading this as it read well as a stand-alone story. A cleverly written, witty murder mystery with a good mix of characters to love and despise, and some terrific book-related references throughout the story. I didn't guess the whodunnit (always a bonus in my eyes) and thoroughly enjoyed this read. A definite recommendation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really liked this book but I started liking it after the first half. The first half of the book was somehow boring in my opinion. But then it started to get really interesting. That’s why I rate it 3,5⭐️

I enjoyed Bivald's first book and was excited to see a second in this series! I like the unique writing styles and she always keeps you guessing.

Goodness me, this was such a good book. Highly entertaining. Would definitely recommend to others, that's for sure!

Bivald has such a sharp eye for absurdity, especially in how she lovingly pokes fun at writers, critics, and the entire idea of literary prestige. But she’s never mean-spirited. There's a real warmth here—for books, for quiet people trying their best, and for the strange way reading connects us all. I also loved the meta moments and the dry, often understated humor that reminded me a bit of Scandinavian crime fiction... if it had been filtered through a cozy cardigan and a cup of strong coffee.

Hooray! Singular author Berit Gardner returns in this sequel to the remarkable The Murders in Great Diddling. In this novel, Berit — an egalitarian, she insists everyone call her by first name — and her sidekick, junior literary agent Sally Marsch, attend a literary workshop in Lyon, France, as a favor to a longtime friend of Berit’s. But the main attraction of this workshop, the arrogant, dismissive John Wright, is killed on the first day. (No spoiler: It’s in the title!) The Swedish-English Berit does what she does best: observe, deduce and discover the villain. I only wish I could give this novel more than five stars!

Katarina Bivald is herself a Swedish author, making this book even more fun. Unlike Berit, Ms. Bivald remains happily at home in Sweden, just outside of Stockholm.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

This was an awesome book that I would read over and over again !! Twists, turns surprises ! The cleverness of the main character was so realistic. And after I read the bio at the end of the book by Katarina Bivald I realized how closely the book mirrored her own cleverness, weariness and unrelenting friendships that she made along the way. Both Berit Gardner and Katarina. They were both intriguing people portrayed in the story !!! Even the people wanting to do Berit who thought she was too old for this, admired her !! There were times that Berit agreed with that too old a broad to be still doing this. I enjoyed the humor in this who dun it and the ending was great !! Did I have a suspect in mind as I read?? Yes. Did it eventually turn out to be true? Yes. But I enjoyed the whole trip.
5 STARS from me !!!

A Dramatic Turn..
French writers retreat takes a darkly dramatic turn when a speaker drops dead and mystery writer Berit Gardner turns amateur sleuth. With a host of seemingly unlikely suspects, Berit has her work cut out - not to mention being a thorn in the side for the French authorities. With a deliciously colourful and eclectic cast of characters, a frothy and pacy plot and a satisfying backdrop, this is an enjoyable and entertaining romp.

Real life drama has a way of following around the mystery writer Berit Gardner. Now in France, participating in a writing retreat at the request of an old friend, Berit once again finds herself at the centre of a crisis, beginning with the discovery of the body of a hugely successful and very unpleasant fellow writer, who was one of the big draws at the retreat.

The problem is, there are so many suspects! And the French investigator incharge of the case is also not too thrilled to notice Berit's gift for inserting herself - intentionally or otherwise - into the thick of things...

I very much enjoyed meeting Berit in book, and it has been a joy to visit with her again in this second eventful, clever and darkly humorous adventure. Bring on the next book please!

This book was interesting with an enticing setting, but it dragged on for too long. It was overall not too bad to read as a stand-alone. While the ending was predictable by partway through, I liked the chaotic and temperamental cast of eccentric characters.

This is the sequel to last year’s The Murders in Great Diddling, which I had not read prior to picking this up. A murder takes place at a prestigious writing retreat in France, and almost all of the suspects are writers themselves. Berit Gardner is the protagonist. She’s a Swedish author of mysteries, and she aids the police in their investigation, before eventually ending up right in the killer’s crosshairs! I found this to be very exciting and suspenseful. Though it did begin to drag after the halfway point, I remained invested, and finished this in less than three days - which is mightily quick for me. Three and a half stars, rounding up to four!

hell yeah brother this is how you do a modern detective

All great fictional detectives have an aspect of the mystery they gravitate towards - the physical evidence (Sherlock, Dupin, Poirot) being the most common, but others such as new-to-the-scene Berit Gardner focus on the all too human foibles involved. This mystery was subtle, and had enough foreshadowing for me to say "aha I thought something was strange about [spoilers]!" after the reveal, but without the twist being obvious on my first read. Berit herself was also just interesting as a person and a writer. Calm, cool, collected, and methodical without coming off as cold or uncaring. This is a minor tangent, but so many stories have a throwaway sidekick that you never feel confident the detective truly cares for. Not so with Gardner, thank goodness, because why should I care about a detective that wouldn't care about me? I hope this series is continued because I love it.

A murder happens at a writers’ retreat/conference in the French countryside. This book sounded right up my alley and I was excited to read it, but unfortunately the book didn’t come together for me in a way I enjoyed. I think that to plant a variety of red herrings the author created a number of side stories that made the narrative feel disjointed to me rather than a cohesive build toward the murderer’s unveiling. Berit Gardner as an amateur sleuth was just okay for me. I preferred the interplay between the two investigating French detectives and would enjoy more books with Roche and the Mayor. My favorite character was the cook from the chateau. Though she had a secondary role, I thought stole the scenes where she played a part.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a great second title in the series. A mystery that brings along the main character from A Murder in Great Didding and is a my assisted by two other characters from the first title. Set in Crance with wonderful descriptions of Lyon, with a snarky commentary on today’s publishing industry, and the murder of a well known but not beloved, well by many, author. The cast of characters provides you with seemingly endless choices of the killer(s). So many red herrings. Well crafted and thoroughly enjoyable.