 Hello friends how are we doing? If you've been watching a lot of my videos that you'll be like Megan how are you home? I'm not home yet but I'm pre-filming this because I knew I wanted to get this video up this month so I'm pre-filming it for you and it is a little murder mystery recommendation video so a couple years ago I did my favorite murder mystery books all time right? I did that video and a lot of you ask me to do it again they're like oh please tell us your favorite murder mysteries. I don't actually think that list has changed that much I probably won't do it again for like another two years or so but what I do now is every year I tell you the 10 best murder mysteries I have read in like the past year basically and that's what we're doing today but a year since I last did this video for the first time and we're doing it again so these are the 10 best murder mysteries I've read in the past year I gotta be honest with you out of this 10 there's only two five stars so do you think I deserve better than that? Yes the rest of like four stars maybe there's one 3.5 in here but they're all books I would recommend I think you guys will really enjoy but I have become too picky it's gotten out of hand I have become too picky with murder mysteries I just I expect so much so not only have I only read in the past year 10 murder mysteries I would really recommend like only two of them are five stars that's kind of sad right guys where are the more I just need murder mysteries I just need more please give me more murder mystery wrecks I need them I need like 20 murder mystery wrecks I need them I need them oh also I should say the first seven are absolutely murder mysteries they are murder mysteries murder mysteries absolutely then we've got three at the bottom that are like pushing it a bit that maybe blend some genres that may be a reference murder mysteries but aren't quite one you'll see you'll see but the first seven are absolute murder mysteries and on the last three are like you know skirting the lines of it the first two ones I read when I read the top 10 nominees for the Goodreads mystery thriller category there were other mysteries I would recommend from that video for example All The Sinner's Bleed by SA Cosby but it's not a murder mystery it's not a murder mystery so it's not making a list you're not making a list if you're a missing person mystery you're not making a list unless you're a murder mystery so the first one is Vera Wang's Uncensored Advice and Murderers by Jesse Satanto this one is really fun I really did enjoy this it's a very lovely little murder mystery that I think pretty much you'd be hard pressed to not enjoy so we're following Vera Wang who is the self-proclaimed tea expert she runs a little tea shop and she goes downstairs one morning and finds a dead body on the floor of her tea shop maybe the dead body has like a key piece of evidence in its hand and she's like thank you she's like I'm really a better job of solving this than the police the police suck ass so I'm gonna investigate this myself and it's a story of her investigating this murder and meeting people who are related to the sky people from his life but then she becomes kind of like a found family with them and I really enjoyed this this is definitely verging more on like the cosy mystery side I would say and you know since the Thursday medical which maybe we'll be getting into in a second there has been this massive trend of other murder mysteries following elderly characters investigating mysteries there's another one of these on this list as well there's like they're everywhere it just annoys me that it's only murder mysteries I'd love older characters in fantasy or whatever but it just hasn't bled outside it's just like they apparently they just think oh the only love old people when they're solving murder mysteries that's not the case anyways but I thought the writing this was lovely it felt very comforting it felt very cozy I really didn't enjoy it and this was my first time with this author I know this is the author of like Dal A for aunties or I can even get the titles right for weddings something to do for weddings for aunties in a wedding there we go I always get it wrong but yeah I would really really recommend this I think the found family in it was done really well there were some really beautiful moments between some of the characters um this was for stuff for me but I would really recommend then we have got one of the five stars it is the last of which I have a rich dosman it was my favorite book of last year not surprised to see it this is the fold book in the thursday murder cop series aka one of my favorite series ever to exist I love you rich dosman the man that you are I think he's a genius I would love you know those you know the question where it's like would you have a million dollars or dinner with jay-z for me it's dinner with rich dosman and I think I'd pick dinner rich dosman I'm joking but like not I'm sure you all know what this series is about but if you don't we're following an elderly cast of characters at their retirement village as they solve murder mysteries they previously had been trying to solve cold cases hence the thursday murder club they'd meet up every thursday and try to solve cold cases together it was like a bit of fun but then murders can't stop coming at them I don't want to spoil anything for the previous books to you but basically the group an old friend in the antiques business has been killed and they kind of go on this path to find out why he was killed what happened this one definitely gets into like drug smuggling as like a subplot maybe a bit more espionage than some of the other books so I thought the murder mystery in itself was really strong in this book but a lot of the time in this book is also taken up with a very emotional subplot and it makes everyone cry and it makes us all emotional wrecks and rich dosman I can't believe he did this to us I haven't cried like this a book in a long time I'm so excited to reread this series at some point but the thing that rich dosman does is like he'll have you crying and then the next thing will be funny these books are so funny they have such humor and they have such an acute observation of human life right of what makes us tick of what makes us happy of the little things we talk about with our family I feel like a lot of books don't do this they don't highlight the small stuff right the small beauty that's in life and I really think that these books do I cannot for me it's the most accurate and some of it is because it's British references and I very much relate to them but it's the most accurate representation of like just humanity I feel like I don't know it really oh I just think they're absolutely wonderful absolutely wonderful and something also that I think is structurally great about these books is you have like three often like three scenes happening simultaneously that you this very short chapters and you skip back and forth between them so like you'll go between the three scenes and then a new scene will begin and then that one will end and then a new scene will begin and you're always swapping between scenes and I think that keeps the pacing absolutely wonderfully he I've been speaking a lot about his podcast lately I'm listening to the podcast that he does and he occasionally talks about the books often he's talking more about like his opinions on different pop culture events but um he spoke about how when he watches tv or movies he doesn't like when there's like an overhanging tense stressful issue like a I don't know how to explain it he explained it much better than me but like this really tense situation he doesn't like when it lasts for too long like in tv and movies he can't watch it if it's like we are stressed and worried about something for too long so he says that's why in his books everything is resolved fairly quickly it has lots of little issues that all kind of like we're worried and then it's resolved we're worried and then it's resolved and I just think it's a wonderful re-experience I know I've spoken about this book for quite a long time we this video doesn't need to be 10 hours long but I love I love this book I love it literally I am obsessed and I long to be in this show please make my dreams come true someone that's watching this and then we've got another old people murder mystery book I think this is the last one on the list they just happened to be the first three um and that is the Marlowe Murder Club by Robert Thurrogate this one we're following Judith Potts who's a little bit of an odd ball she's a little bit cray-cray not cray-cray but she just like she lives life her own way she moves to the beat of her own drum you know she witnesses a brutal murder of her neighbour one evening and at first the police like he weren't murdered babes he was not murdered and she's like okay I've gotta figure this out and then there's like two unlikely friends that she meets over the course of this who they kind of team up together to try and solve this murder and I really did enjoy this this is like a fun variation of all people serving murder mysteries basically I've read a lot of these they're everywhere I've tried out a lot of them a lot of them don't work for me but I really did enjoy the writing in this one I thought it was really well paced again I thought you know some of the mysteries I read nowadays there's like four scenes and it's really pissing me off like I read the anti-cunters guide to murder which is coming out this year one of my most anticipated releases I got an arc of it there was three scenes there was three scenes that entire book there was a lot of issues with that book but I think what this does well is it constantly was moving us and propelling us and going to different places I feel like that's what you need in a murder mystery you need like paced to it right and I think this did it really well all of these books where it's old characters of murder mysteries I do immediately compare it to the Thursday murder club and ultimately nothing will compare but I did really enjoy this and I am going to continue on the series because I think it's a fun version of what it is then we have the first of two books in a series some sequels that I've read that are on this list this is a very lively murder by Katie Watson this is the sequel to the three Dahlia's and basically the premise of these books is that there's this famous fictional detective called Dahlia Lively and we're following three women who have played her in TV movies throughout the years basically and the first book is set at this fan convention which is really really fun they solve a murder there and on this one the youngest is filming her first Dahlia Lively movie in the first book she'd just been announced but this one she's filming her first movie one of the elder Dahlia Lively's is in the movie is like a cameo so she's there and then people start dying oh no I think actually at first it seems that someone's trying to kill Rosalind who's the older Dahlia Lively who's it is a cameo so they call up the third Dahlia Lively to be like come see us we need your help but then murders start happening and I really enjoy these these are definitely like a love letter to the genre I think they contain a lot of fun tropes I'm really enjoying seeing the relationships grow now that we're getting deep into the series between these women I think this is criminally underrated not a lot of people have read these books and I picked the three Dahlia's up in a bookshop in London completely by chance I think it was in Goldspray where they do a lot of like first editions of books a lot of the more famous books were like way too expensive I'm like I gotta buy that like there was a um Illuminae by J. Christopher Amy Coffman first edition like signed special edition or whatever it was like 200 pounds I was like I don't have that kind of money the bitch is broke it's not even gonna affect nobody she ain't got no fucking money I got the three Dahlia's because it was like priced like a normal book it was like 12 14 pound or something it wasn't expensive and I just picked it up and I was like wow this is so much fun no one is reading these and I really think you guys should because this one was so fun look at the cover doesn't that just make you excited I really love the cover for this one it is a celebration of golden age crime and I thought again the mystery in this one worked really well I really really enjoyed it so this is I just think a really fun murder mystery series and I look quite a few of my patrons have started this series and they've all really enjoyed it and I just think it's fun you're gonna have a fun time again it's a little bit cozy a little bit comforting I really enjoyed it so I'm excited for this series to continue then we have got murder in the family by Kara Hunter where I did an entire video trying to solve this book as I read it basically there's a murder that happened in 2003 and now there is a documentary being made and we read the book basically entirely through this the the script of the the tv documentary that's being made they've brought together like six experts from different areas of like criminology to talk through the case and try to solve it as well as having interviews with the family members of this guy that was murdered it's just I love a mix media I love a mix media I will say my reading in this one I gave it four stars my reading of whatever I try to solve a book whenever I do those videos it's a very different reading experience to how I read normally and so I kind of view them as like a separate thing like I almost can't even rate them like when I'm reading a murder mystery normally I let myself be taken along with the ride I kind of don't really try to theorize whereas when I'm doing this I'm not reading a book I'm doing an investigation it's completely different so yeah I almost can't compare it to anything else but I think this is pretty successful in what it's trying to do it's been super popular this year and I think for good reason I think the um resolution of it was really really good and I just love mix media I love mix media it's a very different reading experience you know obviously there's no description it's all just a script format but I think that it was always such a fun reading experience especially if you haven't read a lot of them you know I think I mentioned true crime story in the video last year of this version and I just think they're always a fun time I just love mix media I'm a little bit of a sucker okay but you know I'm a simple girl then we've got another sequel that I absolutely love this is death beside the seaside by T.E.Kinsey this is I think is the seventh in the lady hard costume mystery series this is not the most recent one I've read but it was the last one I gave five stars and this one just really fun they go to obviously this is very deep in the series so like you don't need me recommending it to you but I'm just going to tell you read lady hard castle read lady hard costume mystery series listen to the audiobooks it's the best way to enjoy them lady hard cast I made flow solving murders it's funny it's light-hearted favorite cozy mystery ever to exist I love it listen to what I have to say because I'm right they basically go to this um seaside go to seaside break but then it ends up like raining in Thailand and then when they're there they're staying in this like little hotel by the seaside and people start going missing slash maybe being murdered and it's just a very fun book because you're in this hotel for the most part of it and you've got these very interesting little characters and they're all going down to dinner and like gossiping and like going on what do you think's happening I just really like the setting of this of them in this hotel I thought it was a very fun setting and I love it and also I read this on the beach I read this when me and Tom went to a Portugal on holiday went just like for a beach side holiday and um I read this laying on the beach and it was such a fun even though in the book they're like they keep trying to go see the sea and whenever they go the tide is out it was just fun reading a book about the seaside on the seaside do you know what I mean that just is such a fun experience so yeah I will recommend the Lady Hardcastle mystery series till the day I die go pick up the audiobooks because it's absolutely the best way to read it then we have got The Woman in the Library by Celare Gentile I think this might be the only one on the list I think I might give this a 3.5 but I rounded out to a 4 on Goodreads and I did enjoy this and I think this is one that I would really recommend to a lot of other people and I'd be really interested to what other people think of it so this one it's always such a bitch to explain so we've got a writer writing a murder mystery and she's writing letters to a pen pal and they're like talking about how good her murder mystery is and then we read the murder mystery that she's writing and in it we've got four people around a table who they're in Boston Public Library yeah and they hear a blood curdling scream from outside in the library and a woman is found dead but then we find out that one of the people around that table is the murderer so it's like how could they possibly have done it if they're sitting at the table yada yada yada it's a bit of a mystery I think my expectations of this set me up to fail a little bit so I thought they were gonna be stuck in the library then like it was gonna be locked down no one's allowed to leave and then we solve the murder mystery while they're there it's not the case it's like this book spans weeks right and they're all moving around the city whatever and I think this is very imaginative in what it does this is definitely if you're looking for a different kind of murder mystery this would be my recommendation because I think it's very creative but I think sometimes when you do something this creative it can be a little bit difficult to stick the landing but I think it's something that I would recommend to a lot of you because I think it would be a fun reading experience does that make sense it was just a little bit disappointing for me but I'm gonna keep trying out large intel a because I love the UK covers of her books it's not very often especially for like mystery thrillers that I prefer the UK covers to books often with they're so ugly but our slap the pink one for the um the mystery writer her release this year I love as well I love the style of these covers like the kind of retro like screaming woman I love them so this is one that's very unique and I think it was a fun premise it didn't quite stick the landing for me but I think it could for a lot of you okay and then we get into the three they're pushing it a little bit and has been classed as a murder mystery but I think they technically are so we've got the only one left by Riley Saker a lot of people call this a thriller but it technically is a murder mystery we've got Lenora Hope who everyone thinks is a mass murderer her entire family was killed however many years ago like 40 years ago 50 years ago 60 years ago I don't know they were murdered and everyone thinks Lenora Hope did it but there was never enough evidence to prosecute her and our main character is a live-in nurse and she gets assigned Lenora and she is trying to figure out what the truth is of what happened in the past so she is she is like the definition of murder mystery is there's been a murder and you've got someone trying to solve it that's what this is right but it also kind of isn't so I understand when someone will be like this isn't a murder mystery but I think if you're looking for like a thriller rematter mystery this will be my recommendation I really enjoyed this I think this I've read every Riley Saker book right some are more successful than others this is not my favorite but I think this is his best in terms of a lot of people are likely to enjoy it I think I think I think this is like his most widely recommendable book I think it's a lot of fun I think it's paced really well I don't think it's necessarily breaking the mold in terms of anything but I think everyone could read this and pretty much enjoy it I think it's been a really successful release for him there's past couple ones like I preferred the house across the lake to this but I can see why people don't like the house across the lake everyone doesn't like survive the night rightly so but um I can see why people have issues with house across the lake I think it was better than this I gave this four stars I really did enjoy it I think this is like sometimes as an author you've got to publish a thriller that just like is going to kill to the masses and I think that's what this is I really enjoyed the pacing of it I enjoyed there's like um the nurse helps Lenora type out on a typewriter the story of what happened and I enjoyed the twists and turns that happened with that I think it's a really strong book from him and I like his recent since survive the night onwards I would say there's been like well maybe no home before dark that they're home for dark because before that since time before dark there's been a strong all of his books have like an element of like is it supernatural is there a supernatural twist to this or isn't there and sometimes he does do it and sometimes he doesn't right and so I think that's always a fun element now with his books where like he's playing with you he's playing in a traditional murder mystery right there should never be supernatural elements or you would know from the beginning if there was right because it doesn't make it a fair play if like at the end you're like oh it's a ghost you know what I mean but I think the way he's doing it is very successful for me so I really enjoyed this one then we have got The Chateau by Jacqueline Goldis a lot of people would probably refer to this as a thriller but it's basically a murder mystery it's basically a who done it so these women are all invited by one of the women's is it her grandmother yes two day grandmothers like Chateau in France it's Richard Chateau which they used to go on holiday too they go there the grandmother's acting a little bit suspicious and then um she's murdered grandma's murdered and it's maybe one of them this one I can understand when everyone loves it it was a little bit of a uh uh controversial not controversial just like not widely loved book this year but I really did enjoy this I thought the French setting definitely had a bit of oolala about it I liked the drama there was a lot of twists throughout it that really I didn't capture the murder was but there's I think with the twist you could I think it is fair play I think it has a level of sophistication I like I like I like a good murder mystery in like a sophisticated setting I'm not gonna lie like that's why I love murder on the or an express like the idea of like being on the or an express like it's it's an evocation of a of a of a feeling of a moment of an experience right I feel like murder mysteries are so camp right that's why I love them they're so you can really play it up right and I love a setting that really brings the drama that brings it sets the stage right at the end of the day murder mysteries are like plays you know I don't know if I'm making sense but that's what I love about them and I really think this book did that well so I'm gonna keep trying out Jacqueline Goldest I can understand I think this is is this her debut I feel like this was her debut and I can understand there were a few debut the issues with it but I'm excited to see it grow and the author grow and then the final one is really cheating because it's not a murder mystery but it is you know pink homage to the genre and it is her guide to not getting murdered in a quaint English village by Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper I love this actually this was a five star as well we had three five stars out of the ten apologies apologies apologies so obviously this isn't a murder mystery it's like a little almost like classic as a graphic novel and it's taking the mick out of the genre right because traditionally a lot of murder mysteries happen in a quaint English village you know Agatha Christie is very well known for that so it's got like the village and it's got the settings and it's got ways to die and it's got the characters and it's so much fun I love it as someone who loves murder mysteries this is like the perfect book if you love murder mysteries you need to get this book and read it it's so much fun it will take you like 20 minutes to read and I just love it it just brings me joy I don't know I love anything that like looks at a genre and takes the piss out of it especially murder mystery because it's my favorite and I just think this is so fun and I think like I said murder mysteries are ridiculous at the end of the day like they camp they're ridiculous they're over the top and so it's just rife for stuff to take the mick out of so I love this I cannot recommend it enough you guys if you love murder mysteries you need to go pick this little little book up so we have it that is 10 murder mystery books that I think you need to read let me know if you've read any of these and please like I always say please give me murder mystery recommendations your girl needs them I'm struggling out here I need more five star murder mysteries it's not fair why can't they have more five star murder mysteries and also I feel like my TBR is not murder mystery heavy at the moment I just need more for us to buy anything maybe I need to put myself in a book buying van for everything apart from murder mysteries anyways I hope you enjoyed this video if you got to the end of the video comment the drop of blood emoji and I'll see you very soon in another video bye