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ebroeffle's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Sexism, Vomit, Suicide, Gun violence, and Classism
bzliz's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
If you like Clue (the movie, not necessarily the game), you’ll probably like this. It was pure quirky, campy fun, plus a number 6 of non-graphic murders. The audiobook was pretty fun with all the voices. There’s a great balance of clues for people who like to try to solve it themselves and some complicated twists for people who like to be surprised.
I liked our main characters Liza and Hanna once it hit about the halfway point. My least favorite part was their marriage troubles. There were so many other things going on that I don’t think it was necessary to include unless there was going to be a point where one wife genuinely suspected there was a slim possibility that the other could be a murderer. In any case, an Easter vacation was probably not what their marriage needed; it was to genuinely just talk to each other.
I liked our main characters Liza and Hanna once it hit about the halfway point. My least favorite part was their marriage troubles. There were so many other things going on that I don’t think it was necessary to include unless there was going to be a point where one wife genuinely suspected there was a slim possibility that the other could be a murderer. In any case, an Easter vacation was probably not what their marriage needed; it was to genuinely just talk to each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Classism, Death, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
A note about suicide that contains spoilers about a character’s death:ashwaar's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Murder Most Actual is a light-hearted, cosy mystery that follows married couple Liza and Hanna, who visit a lavish Scottish hotel to rekindle their relationship and become trapped in a snowstorm and ringed into solving a murder of potentially international intrigue. I loved that our two main characters were already well-established with each other instead of meeting for the first time, but I felt like the rest of the story needed some streamlining.
I don’t want to be incredibly critical of this book because there were parts that I enjoyed. I thought using Cluedo-style characters in this locked-room mystery was intriguing and worked well in a tongue-in-cheek way. I was really invested when the first murder happened and was keen to get caught up in the whodunnit, as I haven’t read anything like that before.
However, unfortunately, I found the mystery to be very dull. Characters kept on being murdered, but no one seemed like they were doing anything about it. Our main character and investigator, Liza, continuously repeated herself but never made any actual conclusions. I understand that murders in IRL are pretty uninteresting and boring, and that’s true, but that’s not very satisfying for a fictional murder mystery book.
I was expecting Knives Out in book form, and this isn’t that sort of book. I feel like the author needed to choose what to focus on - Liza and Hanna’s marriage or the increasing murders happening around them as doing both meant each storyline felt tenuous and thinly explored. But at the same time, the book was too long, and the repetition of dialogue and plot resulted in both becoming pretty dull, pretty quickly. Hall’s style of witty, sarcastic writing worked so well for Boyfriend Material, but it didn’t have the same effect on me here, which was disappointing.
Rating: 3/5
Trigger Warnings: blood, death, gore, gun violence, homophobia, murder, suicide, sexism violence
I don’t want to be incredibly critical of this book because there were parts that I enjoyed. I thought using Cluedo-style characters in this locked-room mystery was intriguing and worked well in a tongue-in-cheek way. I was really invested when the first murder happened and was keen to get caught up in the whodunnit, as I haven’t read anything like that before.
However, unfortunately, I found the mystery to be very dull. Characters kept on being murdered, but no one seemed like they were doing anything about it. Our main character and investigator, Liza, continuously repeated herself but never made any actual conclusions. I understand that murders in IRL are pretty uninteresting and boring, and that’s true, but that’s not very satisfying for a fictional murder mystery book.
I was expecting Knives Out in book form, and this isn’t that sort of book. I feel like the author needed to choose what to focus on - Liza and Hanna’s marriage or the increasing murders happening around them as doing both meant each storyline felt tenuous and thinly explored. But at the same time, the book was too long, and the repetition of dialogue and plot resulted in both becoming pretty dull, pretty quickly. Hall’s style of witty, sarcastic writing worked so well for Boyfriend Material, but it didn’t have the same effect on me here, which was disappointing.
Rating: 3/5
Trigger Warnings: blood, death, gore, gun violence, homophobia, murder, suicide, sexism violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Murder, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Gun violence, Gore, Homophobia, and Sexism
bookandsnake's review
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence, Classism, and Murder
stacy837's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Classism, and Suicide
ladyflash's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
mydearwatsonbooks's review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Gun violence
Moderate: Gore and Homophobia
Minor: Sexism and Suicide
amberinpieces's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Suicide
whatcassiedid's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this! I usually have trouble with thrillers and murder mysteries because they lean too hard into the gore and upsetting parts, but this felt more in the vein of Agatha Christie. Liza and Hanna were sweet lil babies and I had a great time!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Murder, and Gun violence
racheloddment's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Gun violence
Minor: Vomit