Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

This book was absolutely delightful, full of goofy millennial sarcasm and humor, and everything I adore about mysteries! The audiobook is narrated by the author, and she did an excellent job!

I cannot tell you how many times I laughed out loud to this book. The dialogue, banter, and dynamics between Charlotte/Lottie is so damn clever. She has a bit of dry humor, is so awkward at times, and just someone who is so millennial-coded and (I hate to say this but) relatable. I love her and I want to be her friend. Although, she actually reminds me a lot of my own friends, including Heather who recommended this book, so maybe that's why! Haha :D

Beyond Charlotte, these characters reflect the diverse world we live in, and they are so precious!!! I love her Instagram Influencer bestie Gabe, I love her bestie Lucy (who checks Charlotte's location and if Charlotte is at home, Lucy allows herself five minutes to scroll Instagram, and Charlotte is always home at the beginning of the book, so Lucy spends a lot of time on IG hahaha), and I love the rest of this cast of characters! They're hilarious, and I am petitioning to follow this group of friends on-screen in a tv sitcom.

The mystery was a lot of fun, with a Scoop coworker of Olivia (Charlotte's brother Landon's girlfriend of six months), Eric, going missing! The side characters Ariel, Jensen, Martin, and Jake were very entertaining as well, and all had important parts to play in this story. There is no romantic subplot, no copaganda in this, as some mysteries tend to have, and when a cishet male character calls the police, he is challenged and chastised for doing so. I appreciate these commentaries! The chosen family in this was so lovely in this, and I missed these characters after the book was over!!!!

I am so excited for this series to continue, and I am officially a Katie Siegel fan.

notable rep: bisexual Jewish MC, bisexual Japanese SC, transmasc Filipino SC, Latine gay SC

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letsgolesbians's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

god i love this book. it’s such a millennial book and right up my alley. a queer and diverse cast of characters, a focus on platonic relationships and their importance, lines that made me burst out laughing. glad i reread this.

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katrinaeames's review

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funny mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Charlotte was a regular Nancy Drew growing up. The only rule her mom had was that she couldn’t investigate murders. Well, now she is an unemployed grown up, having left the detective life behind, and she can investigate any murders she wants.

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omgitsofg's review

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A decent mystery, I enjoyed it for diverse and clever characters but it’s pretty light otherwise

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tamsterdam_reads's review against another edition

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Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A vastly different take on a mystery that I’ve ever read, this book was overall a funny story. The situations the child-prodigy-turned-adult Charlotte put herself in, when she begrudgingly investigated her brother’s girlfriend’s missing co-worker had me giggling and I especially loved Charlotte’s sidekick friends the most. They are the ones that made me continue listening to the book because who doesn’t love sass??? I will have to say that this is NOT a cozy mystery. Cozy mysteries do not include cursing, which this book certainly has so I’m not sure it’s being marketed as one. The narrator did a good job with the story but I feel like the story could have been edited down a lot as it seemed to drag in several areas.

Thank you Kensington for the arc and LibroFM for the alc. Thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

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darciepatterson's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I wanted to love this book, the cover is adorable, the diversity is wonderful and the premise sounds lovely but I hated the main character. I really disliked the writing style and the description of every character after chapter 2 or so being age; hair; race; clothes was uncomfortable at first and became an ick later.

The main character doesn't even solve the mystery like she thinks she does, her friends do.

I can't decide if it's a 2 or 2.5. Structure is fine, but the writing isn't and I don't think a second book will fix that.

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deetabz's review

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funny lighthearted 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

4.25

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