<i> I would like to thank Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. </i>

One of my easiest 5* of 2026!

If you're looking for a clearly written review, you're going to have to bypass this one because I'm going to spend a lot of the time screaming into the abyss and I can't even help it because this book was everything. It deserves the hype it should receive in July 2026.

I'm no stranger to Ashley Winstead so I was ready for a few twists and turns. Strap in, this book is a true rollercoaster AND I was here for every single part of it. I want to tell you everything about this book but I seriously can't because you deserve to read this book for the first time.

I refuse to hint at any spoilers so instead, here's a list of why you should pick this book up:

1. Sisterhood
2. Jealousy
3. Betrayal
4. Serial killers
5. Conspiracies!

I feel sisterhood is an oversimplification of this story. This story will unite all females because we've all experienced or seen injustice - perhaps not to the degree of this book - but we've all truly felt it.

I should have hated this book. I hate multiple POVs and I hate flashbacks but these tools were instrumental to this book. It couldn't be told in a linear fashion from point of view. We needed to hear the voices. We needed to understand how the past influenced the future. I'll never truly understand the actions of a certain character but I, like the characters in the book, became infuriated by the consequences of her actions. She didn't deserve that.

Men wield power.
Women deserve to fight back.

We all wield power.
Is it always used for the right reasons?

Winstead, I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long while.
Thank you.

‘Hot Girl Murder Club’ by Ashley Winstead is a sharp, thriller set in Hollywood. Ten years after losing her sister Georgia to a mysterious death at an industry party, mid-tier pop star Scout Sage has clawed her way through the music world in her memory… until a series of targeted murders across LA suddenly points to Scout as the killer, and she becomes the world’s most famous alleged murderer overnight. Meanwhile, the young detective assigned to her case begins unearthing secrets that run deeper than even Scout knows.

Ashley Winstead’s versatility as a writer never ceases to impress me… having been blown away by her music industry romance ‘The Future Saints’, it was a joy to return to her in full thriller mode, and this is another fantastic, twisty and gripping tale. The feminist themes crackle with energy throughout, and the cast of strong, complex female characters kept me constantly on my toes… even when I wasn’t entirely sure who to root for.

I also loved her the narrative style. The non-linear presentation and multiple narrators added momentum and made this an almost impossible book to put down. Twists came thick and fast to the very end!

A compulsive and ferociously entertaining 4.5 star read - highly recommended for thriller fans.

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Aria & Aries via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Past and present collide with a force I couldn’t ignore. Stolen identities, hidden truths, and ambition thread through fame, desire, and sisterhood, twisting loyalty into something fragile and sharp. Police procedures carve a rigid path through the chaos, exposing fractures in every relationship, while secrets ripple outward, refusing to stay contained. Drama isn’t decoration here—it drives every choice, every betrayal, every risk, pressing on the characters and on me as I read.

I followed the consequences of ambition, deception, and longing, noticing how every hidden truth reshaped not just the characters, but the space between them. Sisterhood is tangled with danger and desire, protective and precarious at once. Every revelation cuts through morality, leaving choices sharp, impossible to untangle, and impossible to ignore. The tension between what they want and what they must face builds, relentless and inescapable.

The story stays with me in the fractures of identity, in the pull of secrets and ambition, in the sharp edges of trust and betrayal. Fame and desire twist connections into something unpredictable, while the procedural rigor of investigation forces truth into the open, leaving nothing comfortable or simple. Drama, longing, secrecy, and sisterhood collide in ways that feel raw, dangerous, and unforgettable.

Hot Girl Murder Club’ by Ashley Winstead is a, thriller set in Hollywood. 10 years after losing her sister Georgia to a mysterious death at an industry party, pop star Scout Sage has clawed her way through the music world in her memory… until a series of murders suddenly points to Scout. At the same time, a young detective assigned to her case begins unearthing secrets that run deeper than even Scout knows, while searching for her missing sister who disappeared from a notorious nightclub.

This was an engaging, fun read. It wasn’t flawless but that made it all the better!

Ashley Winstead’s Hot Girl Murder Club is a dark, addictive thriller set against the glossy but sinister backdrop of Hollywood. A decade after her sister Georgia died under suspicious circumstances at a music industry party, pop star Scout Sage has built her career in Georgia’s shadow and memory. But when a string of murders begins to circle back to Scout, she suddenly finds herself at the centre of a dangerous investigation. Meanwhile, the detective assigned to the case is dealing with secrets of her own as she searches for her missing sister, last seen at a notorious nightclub.

This is one of those multi-POV thrillers that could easily become messy, but it never does. Every perspective adds something important, and the different storylines weave together brilliantly as the tension builds towards a genuinely shocking finale. I loved how everything clicked into place by the end.

Underneath the murder mystery, this is really a story about sisterhood, grief, revenge, and how far women will go to protect each other and seek justice when the system fails them. I also really enjoyed the mix of vigilante justice, police investigation, and the darker side of fame and celebrity culture hiding beneath Hollywood glamour.

It’s intense, messy, dramatic, and more than a little unhinged — but that energy completely worked for me. I was hooked the entire way through and never quite knew where the story was heading. The twists landed well, and the ending genuinely caught me off guard.

“Tonight, I'm going to make him scream your name so loud you’ll hear it in Heaven.
Listen for it, my darling girl. And forgive me.”

Holy moly, I don’t know where to start!
The layering of these characters was done brilliantly. You still don’t know who to root for at the very end of the book, as the twists just keeeeeep on bloody coming!

I really like the layout of the chapters, POVs and time jumps, i feel like it’s something people will complain about (god forbid we ask you to use your brain while reading) but i really enjoyed it. You really have to read it all in one go, or maybe take notes at the beginning of every chapter to keep the timelines in check lol.
It was so helpful to have context of The Bottle Girl, too….I nearly jumped out of my seat getting to this chapter!

“It was amazing. How the same wound remade us so differently.”

This book truly covers so many topics. Coming of age in Hollywood; trying to rise to fame from nothing. Women exploitation. The lives of two sisters taken too soon. Women banding together to make a difference. Betrayal, heartache. Frustration of a system that has always let us down. Layered like a sad little angry onion this is.


“Why are you doing all of this for Juliet?”
Scout didn’t even blink. “Because she has no sisters.”


We have Izzy and Scout who are aspiring actors in LA, when a tragic accident bands them together but sends them in different career trajectories.
We also have Grey Holloway, a “Detective Barbie”, blond, badass and takes NO SHIT. She’s on the force because she’s trying to uncover her sisters disappearance twelve years ago…She also works part time at a strip club slinging drinks to try get intel about it. Double life queen!!
That’s pretty much all i want to reveal because honestly this book is so wildly layered and emotionally intricate, woven so well that you should really know as little as possible. Cause trust me, you think you know what’s going on, meanwhile Ashley is laughing in our faces. Buckle the hell up!

That last page? Absolutely brilliant. Made this a 6 star for me, cherry on the cake.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy.

Really liked the twists and turns of this one! I so thought the club was the way it was going in the first half! Such a story that could be real life and def a movie. U could feel the emotional bond of the sisters both blood and in friendships

Ashley has just bought me one hell of a brilliant read.
Scout is a pop-star. Georgia mourns the loss of her sister every day. she is trying to honour her sister by making it in her career. she is embedding herself into the Hollywood life that definitely fits with the line all that glitters is not gold.
Scout is not just any pop star when she is linked to a chain of murder.OH!
how can she possibly clear her name.
Grey is the officer who has to find out. whats true and whats not. but there is more to her too. this isn't the only thing she is trying to figure out. her stakes feels just as high.
this book was stunning. but hard stunning too in the way it was way too good, way to apt, way to truth telling. this book creates a story that shines a mirror, a mirror into our very current world. its tough. but im so glad when i see people in any way making this LOUD in any way they can. and this way i cared about this book more deeply and loved how the care was put into this book and for the characters we meet.
power is used in this book. not just the bad kind but also that when people fight back. when people come together. when people are trampled and get up. when you are there for your people. this felt both vulnerable and fierce. the friendships in this book are stunning.
this book shouldn't be appropriate. but it is. and this made me want to gobble it up so i could soak in some of the fight that Ashley writes into her book even in times of trauma and strife. i wanted some of Ashley's perfection in writing and perfection in connecting to us. and she connected to my whole heart and soul. the pov's are distinct and always important.
this book make my chest ache and my chest breathe deeply again.
being part of this book in its way felt like the group of found family inside it. you feel part of something. seen. part of something.
i loved this book. spot on.

Mysterious - and diverse! - deaths of powerful and decidedly unpleasant men across the entertainment industry appear to be occurring in a pattern linked to the lyrics of an up and coming female musician. With rumours and gossip spiralling out of control, Scout Sage and her entourage have earned themselves the title of Hot Girl Murder Club.

But is this all as simple as #MeToo taken a step further? Part of the answer may lie in Scout's family history but as the young detective digging into this question soon discovers, there is far more to what is happening here - and some of it is closer home than she can imagine...

Winstead really delivers a gripping, socially relevant, and highly entertaining story with some nuance in this book. Highly recommended.

I thought Hot Girl Murder Club was absolutely brilliant. It had everything I want in a book: Hollywood secrets, glamour, conspiracy, a compelling mystery, starlets and rock stars... wow. What a spectacular thought experiment: what if an up-and-coming star like Sabrina Carpenter was a suspected vigilante, out for revenge on the Harvey Weinsteins of Hollywood? There was so much to love here, and so many twists and turns. I'll definitely be recommending this as the perfect summer read.