It took me a minute to get into this book but after that I really enjoyed it. I really liked the premise of the book and I enjoyed the mystery. I liked that we were learning things right along with the characters. It really kept me guessing at every turn. I found each of the characters and their stories interesting. I felt invested in everyone's life. Everyone's character and life felt unique and different.
I was expecting everything to happen quickly after the dinner party but it spanned over several years which I really enjoyed. I had my guesses at the end but I didn't guess everything. I always have a good time when I don't figure out the whole mystery. Overall I had a good time and enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the eARC.

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a smart, twisty, and darkly fun whodunit. It is told through multiple POVs, and the shifting perspectives keep the pace moving and the paranoia high. At first, the number of narrators made it a bit tricky to follow, but once things clicked into place, I was fully invested. Vivienne especially stood out—her relentless determination and humanity gave the story its emotional core.

The mystery is mostly a psychological one. Some twists you can definitely see coming, but others snuck up on me—and the final reveal is both satisfying and unsettling. It takes a little patience in the beginning, but once it gets going, this is a killer read (pun absolutely intended).

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC!

Fans of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and Peter Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders will probably enjoy this one. It was a fun, quick read, with lots of mostly unlikeable characters to suspect as the bodies start piling up. While the trajectory of the story was predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed the way connections were developed and secrets unraveled.

Seven guests arrive at a dinner party. At the end of the night, they receive a letter stating when they will die. No one takes it seriously, until the first death. Then the next. I really liked the first half of the book. It was fast paced with a slew of suspects that turned a tad predictable as the deaths accumulated and the list grew shorter.

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by KJ Whittle was a fun mystery I really enjoyed.

The characters were well written and well developed.

The mystery was really fun and different, I enjoyed all the different twists.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting my request to read this e-ARC and provide my honest thoughts.

Seven dinner guests, all with envelopes containing the age at which they will die. INTRIGUING!

This mystery was so fun! It was told in a way I’ve never read before, and I was hooked from page one. Every character pulled me in—I wasn’t just trying to solve the whodunit. The way the story weaved together multiple POVs, juicy twists, and overlapping timelines, I recommend it for any Christie-loving fan.

"Three courses. Seven guests. One card.

It's a deadly evening they'll never forget.

Seven strangers meet for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening winds down, seven cards appear, one in front of each of the guests. On the card is a number - the age at which they will die. Thinking it an elaborate prank, the guests disperse into the night, hoping to forget the morbid evening forever.

Two weeks later, one of them is dead at exactly the age the card predicted.

It must be a coincidence. But as more guests die, each one dead at the same age as their card, it soon becomes clear that something much more sinister is afoot. Now, it's up to the quickly dwindling group to figure out who (or what) was behind that fateful dinner party, before their numbers catch up with them.

Told from the perspectives of each of the seven guests, Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a spellbinding and mysterious exploration of mortality, begging the question: how would you live your life if you knew your number was up?"

And this is why I never accept invites to anonymously hosted dinner parties!

This book was an absolute delightfully twisted ride!
Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guest is everything I hoped for and more—sharp, witty, darkly funny, and deliciously devious. The premise alone hooked me, but the execution? Flawless.

The story unfolds like a perfect whodunit with a satirical bite. Think Knives Out meets Clue with a splash of poison and petty grievances. The characters are wildly entertaining—each with secrets, motives, and the kind of dinner party behavior that makes you side-eye your own friends.

I couldn’t stop turning the pages, and the ending? Chef’s kiss. Twisted, satisfying, and just the right amount of chaos.

If you like dark comedy, clever mysteries, and a side of murder with your main course, add this one to your list immediately.

Absolutely delightful satire of classic whodunits! Truly enjoyed this debut novel from a very promising author who thoroughly tickles my kink.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected electronic proof from SOURCEBOOKS Landmark | Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley. Pub Date Sep 09, 2025 #5starreview #goodreads #bookbub #storygraph #librarything #SevenReasonstoMurderYourDinnerGuests by KJ Whittle #sourcebooks @bookmarked #NetGalley #verbalcaricatures #Secrets #Suspense #foreshadowing #DebutNovel #satire #MysteryThriller #Fiction #Suspense #MurderMystery #plottwists

If you have read the synopsis then you have a general idea of the premise of the book. To say I was intrigued is putting it mildly. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting.

Why is there this beautiful, grand space behind a door that time seems to have forgotten on a street filled with broken dreams?

Why hasn’t their host appeared and why does it seem as if the waiters are moving silently almost to the point of invisibility? The people sitting around this table are a strange group to bring together for a dinner party. What was their host thinking?

Then another set of envelopes appear, each with their name and on the same stationary as the invite as the dinner party is winding down. It’s rather unnerving. How had they been placed there without any of them noticing? If this is a murder mystery dinner, like one of them had joked about, it’s not amusing anymore. At least the wine and food were exquisite, the company, not so much.

This story is told through multiple POVs, which give you insight into both the characters themselves and others as the story progresses.

In her debut novel, the author gives a nod to classics like Agatha Christie as well as her own contemporaries. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes classic mysteries, closed room mysteries or just a good crafted mystery in general. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I would like to thank the author, Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and my review is voluntarily given. As always, I wish you happy reading!

3.5⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the Arc. This was a fun mystery, it kept me engaged and I thought the seven deadly sins parallels was interesting.

Seven guests are invited to a mystery dinner, but they never meet the host or know why they were invited. At the end of the dinner they each get an envelope that has the age they will be when they die. One by one the members start dying in mysterious ways.

Once a character died their point of view went away. I think there was some more background for those characters I felt was lacking. There is some decent twists, while they didn’t blow my mind, I think if you like an easy going quick mystery this will fit the bill.

A mystery with some deeper themes! I thought the premise of this book was very original. The different perspectives really move the pace along nicely. I was dying to know how it ended and I did not see the twist coming. A perfect summer read. Everything wrapped up nicely, but it still left a lot to ponder - would you want to know what’s written in your envelope? Can people change for the better? How do you want to live your life? I want to read more mysteries like this!

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a character-driven, Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery that unfolds through the rotating perspectives of seven guests at a dinner party. With each chapter revealing a new layer—and each murder narrowing the cast—the tension steadily builds. While the pacing felt a bit slow due to the long chapters, I was especially drawn to Vivian and Tristan’s storylines. A fun and clever whodunnit with an unforgettable twist that ties everything together in the end!

Seven strangers, a creepy dinner party, and a bunch of death predictions, what’s not to love? It took me a minute to keep all the characters straight (some felt a little flat) and the middle dragged here and there, but overall this was a quick, fun read. Perfect if you’re in the mood for something dark!

I really enjoyed Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests. When I started it, I was afraid I wasn't going to because it reminded me of every locked room dinner party murder mystery. It seemed like it was going to be a little slow, but once we left the dinner party and got into each character's lives (we do need to keep up with 7 characters), I got a lot more invested.

So, like I said, there are 7 characters to keep up with. Usually, that would overwhelm me a little, but it wasn't hard to keep up with them at all. They met up regularly, and it was very easy to keep them apart because their personalities and lives were all different.

Unfortunately for me, I did figure out pretty much all the twists, but I don't think it's because it was super obvious...I just read thrillers and mysteries so much, I think my brain just has figured out the clues to look for. That being said, I think that also means that the author wrote it well, in a way that there aren't holes, there are plenty of clues if you want to try to figure it out yourself, and it means it all made sense without any confusing twists.

The end wrapped up well. I was satisfied with the ending and it kept me hooked after the initial dinner meeting. I really did want to know who was behind everything, even though I had a good idea of who and why, and I did like the ending a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this ARC. I really enjoyed it!

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests starts with a killer premise: seven strangers at an anonymous dinner party, each receiving a mysterious card predicting the age they’ll die. At first, it’s a fun party trick until one of them actually dies, right on cue. What follows is part murder mystery, part existential countdown clock, and part character study of deeply flawed people who may or may not deserve what’s coming.

The biggest hurdle was the structure. With seven rotating POVs, the first third of the book feels disjointed. It takes time to distinguish the characters, and some of them, like the social media influencer or the overly image-conscious doctor, lean too heavily on caricature. It’s hard to care about the stakes when you’re still trying to remember who’s who.

Another challenge was the pacing. While the early intrigue is strong, the tension stalls midway. The story spends a lot of time jumping between timelines and inner monologues, which softens the suspense instead of building it. I found myself wishing it would either dive deeper into character development or push the thriller aspects harder.

That said, the premise is fun, and there are clever moments of dark humor and existential dread sprinkled throughout. This is a solid pick for fans of ensemble mysteries who enjoy a bit of genre experimentation even if it doesn’t quite stick the landing.

Between the poor handling of a character with an Eating Disorder and the obviously trying Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None references.... this book wasn't for me. I did finish it, but it wasn't easy. I did like the character development for Vivienne, but the format left very little details for the other characters and the time jumps made the book crawl and feel disjointed.

This book surprised me in the best way — it’s like if Hallmark dipped its toes into horror. Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests blends spooky mystery with haunting beauty and just enough warmth to make it uniquely memorable.

While the premise nods clearly (and cleverly) to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the execution feels fresh. Each chapter is told from a different (surviving) point of view, and while seven POVs is a lot to juggle, it mostly works. That said, I did occasionally struggle to tell Melvin and Gordon apart. Still, the character development is strong throughout, and I appreciated how much care went into building their voices and backstories.

The book is semi-predictable — you’ll likely see a few things coming — but it still manages to surprise with some well-placed twists. I do wish we had seen more of the victims' perspectives during their final moments, which would have upped the scare factor and emotional impact. Chapters are on the longer side, but they’re well-structured and purposeful.

There were a couple of minor typos (for example, one chapter labeled March 15 should have been three months after a December 2015 scene), but nothing that truly pulled me out of the story.

Overall, this is a spooky, character-driven mystery with heart — and no blood or gore, which makes it a great recommendation for readers who love eerie stories without the violence. I’d especially recommend it to fans of atmospheric mysteries and books that quietly bend genre expectations.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests was such a clever mystery! The idea immediately grabbed me: seven strangers invited to a dinner party, each receiving a card with the age at which they’ll die. It had strong 'And Then There Were None' vibes with a modern twist.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and how the story slowly revealed each character’s secrets and connections. Some characters were more fleshed out than others, but overall, I was impressed with how distinct their voices felt. The pacing was pretty good with some slower moments in the middle, but once the deaths started piling up, I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

I did guess part of the twist early on, which took a little of the surprise out of the ending, but it was still nice to see how everything came together. The moral questions it raised- about guilt, justice, and fate- added questions I didn’t expect.

This book would be a fun pick for a book club or buddy read. Suspenseful, a little dark, a little cheeky, and just a really good time overall. Looking forward to what Whittle writes next!