Book Review – The Author’s Guide To Murder

I recently finished The Author’s Guide To Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. I’ve had luck in the past with books written by more than one author, but this one wasn’t all I had hoped for.

Before I give my brief thoughts, let’s looks at the Goodreads synopsis:

Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote meets #MeToo in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.

There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for this literary American show-off (or Americans in general), finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists. 

The prime suspects are Kat de Noir, a slinky, sexy erotica writer; Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series; and Emma Endicott, a New England blue blood and author of critically acclaimed historical fiction. The women claim to be best friends writing a book a historical novel about the castle’s lurid past and its debauched laird, who himself ended up creatively murdered. But the authors’ stories about how they know Brett Saffron Presley don’t quite line up, and the detective is getting increasingly suspicious. 

Why did the authors really come to Castle Kinloch? Is the murder of the long-ago laird somehow connected with the playboy author’s unfortunate demise? And what really happened the night of the great Kinloch ceilidh, when Brett Saffron Presley skipped the folk dancing for a rendezvous with death? 

A crafty locked-room mystery, a pointed satire about the literary world, and a tale of unexpected friendship and romance—this novel has it all, as only three bestselling authors can tell it! 

The fact that the synopsis refers to this as a “locked-room mystery” is a bit misleading. Perhaps it should have been referred to as a “Stuck on an Island” mystery because the characters are roaming all over the island, rather than being locked in a room.

I’m not sure I agree with the Agatha Christie or Murder, She Wrote nods either. I never felt like this book was close to either one of these.

For what it is worth, I liked the premise and it certainly had potential. I just never felt any excitement or that the story moved at all. There were parts I felt were unnecessary to move the plot along. Many of the situations were forced with awkward predictable dialogue.

Without giving any spoilers, some of the outcomes of the characters just didn’t make any sense to me. One minute they are normal, at the end, not so much. With the exception of one or two, the characters seemed flat or stereotypical. Not to mention the introductions of some of them with the “Oh my goodness, you are _______!” or “You and ________ are related?!”

Don’t get me started on the ending.

This was an example of “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Each of these authors had written books, apparently some good ones. (I don’t know as I have never read them separately.) Three heads are not better than one for this story ….

2.5 out of 5 stars.