Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a gothic inspired whodunnit with an eerie setting, taking place in a possibly haunted house with an assortment of good, flawed, and downright evil characters. It is a little darker than I expected it to be, but I would still recommend it, especially to fans of Knives Out and The Haunting of Hill House.
The main character is not perfect, but he is still a loveable and good person who tries his best to be different from the rest of his terrible family. He really drew me in once I got to know him and I spent the rest of the book hoping that nothing bad would happen to him in all of the stressful situations that he ends up in. I also liked the ADHD rep, and felt like it was well done and fit the story and characters nicely.
If I were to try to sum up what this book is about, I would say complex family dynamics, terrible people and what they’re willing to do to get what they want, revenge, and not knowing what is real or who to trust. This house and this family are definitely haunted, but is it in the literal or figurative sense?
The romance is definitely more of a side plot, and I was unsure of how I felt about their relationship in the beginning (I’m not opposed to second chance romance, but some couples just shouldn’t get back together). However, after seeing them clear up all of their miscommunication and misunderstandings, a lot of which were the fault of other people, I started rooting for them. I actually wish I had another book that followed their story after the epilogue (and also gave more information on a few things in/after the epilogue… some aspects were a little rushed/vague, but that also fits with The Haunting of Hill House vibe).
The main character is not perfect, but he is still a loveable and good person who tries his best to be different from the rest of his terrible family. He really drew me in once I got to know him and I spent the rest of the book hoping that nothing bad would happen to him in all of the stressful situations that he ends up in. I also liked the ADHD rep, and felt like it was well done and fit the story and characters nicely.
If I were to try to sum up what this book is about, I would say complex family dynamics, terrible people and what they’re willing to do to get what they want, revenge, and not knowing what is real or who to trust. This house and this family are definitely haunted, but is it in the literal or figurative sense?
The romance is definitely more of a side plot, and I was unsure of how I felt about their relationship in the beginning (I’m not opposed to second chance romance, but some couples just shouldn’t get back together). However, after seeing them clear up all of their miscommunication and misunderstandings, a lot of which were the fault of other people, I started rooting for them. I actually wish I had another book that followed their story after the epilogue (and also gave more information on a few things in/after the epilogue… some aspects were a little rushed/vague, but that also fits with The Haunting of Hill House vibe).
I do have to say I wasn’t immediately hooked by this book. I couldn’t figure out when it was set (which is revealed much later on) and it has a pretty slow—and sometimes repetitive—start. However, it does eventually pick up, and of course the last 25% is pretty fast paced with all of the big reveals and the race against time, which I have come to expect with books in this genre. So I ended up enjoying this book despite the occasional pacing issues. I could overlook that in favor of everything I liked about it.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Advanced reader's copy review
This book was a brilliant, fun ode to Gothic literature. It had everything I could have expected, from a decaying mansion, creepy mist, estranged family fighting over an inheritance, ghostly monks, and mysterious writings on the walls. It was truly the perfect Gothic setting and elements. But what really made this book for me was Zeb. It was impossible not to love him, with his genuinely huge heart, always making the right choice even if it’s not the ‘smart’ choice. He always thought the best of everyone, even when they did not deserve it. I do wish he had given up trying to see the best in most of family sooner though. It was also a bit repetitive watching him try to convince them all he was not as self serving as they were. But in the end he managed to convince and save the one person that mattered, Gideon. I love a second chance romance so much, and it was so beautiful watching Zeb and Gideon learn to communicate and recreate a stronger relationship even with everything else going on. So overall I loved this book and highly recommend!
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
This book was a brilliant, fun ode to Gothic literature. It had everything I could have expected, from a decaying mansion, creepy mist, estranged family fighting over an inheritance, ghostly monks, and mysterious writings on the walls. It was truly the perfect Gothic setting and elements. But what really made this book for me was Zeb. It was impossible not to love him, with his genuinely huge heart, always making the right choice even if it’s not the ‘smart’ choice. He always thought the best of everyone, even when they did not deserve it. I do wish he had given up trying to see the best in most of family sooner though. It was also a bit repetitive watching him try to convince them all he was not as self serving as they were. But in the end he managed to convince and save the one person that mattered, Gideon. I love a second chance romance so much, and it was so beautiful watching Zeb and Gideon learn to communicate and recreate a stronger relationship even with everything else going on. So overall I loved this book and highly recommend!
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC! I mean, cover to cover, All of Us Murderers had me hooked. KJ Charles has such a unique voice and a real talent for capturing the language, feeling, and ambience of her period pieces so well. I was so charmed by this book. It dealt with its heavier subject matter in a very respectful way, while also feeling very grounded in the time period it’s set. I absolutely could not put this book down until I finished it. I love a book full of flawed characters with their own devious schemes. Just incredible. Shout out to the moors. Gotta be one of my favorite characters in this book. (Other than Zeb and Gideon who are, of course, delightful.) I also want to highlight the cover, which is just perfect and pays homage to my favorite book cover theme: “Woman runs from gothic manor/house.” If you’re on the hunt for a good gothic mystery, this book is *chef’s kiss*!!
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Heckkkkk yeah!! This was brilliant! Don’t go into it expecting romance - this is definitely more of a ‘Death in the Spires’ type story with the mystery and action at the forefront and the romance as a side plot, but oh boy, did it deliver on both fronts.
Zeb Wyckham is estranged from his family. Struggling with the breakdown of his relationship that also coincided with him and his former lover losing their jobs, Zeb is happy when his Uncle Wynn reaches out to invite him to stay at his country home.
But when Zeb arrives, he’s horrified to realise that all of his horrible family is in residence at the remote gothic mansion, and apparently they are all fighting for the hand of Jessamine Wyckham, to whom marriage would mean inheriting the Wyckham estate and a substantial fortune. Also, his former lover Gideon is there, acting as secretary to Wynn and clearly unhappy to be back in Zeb’s presence.
The story devolves from there into a cross between a Gothic horror, a locked room murder mystery and a horrifying fever dream. There were twists and turns galore and a cast of wholly reprehensible side characters who absolutely deserved to be tripping balls in an isolated country mansion whilst haunted by ghosts.
Zeb was a gorgeous character - he has ADHD and has been told his whole life that he is feckless and irresponsible. Gideon is his polar opposite, organised to fault. For the first part of the book I really couldn’t understand how they’d ever been a couple, but after their reconciliation and a lot of soul-searching from both of them on what caused the breakdown of their relationship in the first place, I absolutely adored them together.
I also loved how the whole way through, Zeb was completely non-plussed by the ghost story aspect of the situation he finds himself in. Not once does he falter in his sheer eye-rolling distain for the whole situation and honestly applaud him for that. The man is literally only afraid of spiders and honestly same bro, same.
Overall another cracking read from KJC and I’m looking forward to rereading this one because I suspect it’ll be one of those books that gets better every go around!
Read All Of Us Murderers for:
✨ Gothic haunted mansion horror…
✨ …but the MC doesn’t believe in ghosts
✨ Second chance romance side plot
✨ Is he crazy, or is it the family curse?
✨ Oh no, not the evil mist!!
✨ SPIDERS 🕷️
✨ Fighting for an inheritance (or are they?)
✨ Grandpa wrote pulpy horror novels
✨ Fabulous ADHD rep #letzebbezeb
✨ Turning 50 might just kill you…
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book via NetGalley! It’s out on 7th October 2025 (but you know I’ll have reread it multiple times before then 😌)
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Impeccable atmosphere. If you're in the mood for a group of genuinely horrible people stuck with each other in a spooky isolated manor due to The Mists(TM) and scheming relatives, with steadily mounting tension and a creeping sense of danger as past misdeeds return to haunt them, this one is for you.
I really enjoyed the energy of Zeb and Gideon being so grounded in reality despite the way everyone else around them is getting swept up in the Gothic Novel Tropes of it all. It lends the story an air of dark comedy, that Zeb is behaving and speaking like a person at a normal family gathering while his relatives tremble and turn pale and insist upon the existence of ghosts and curses and the Dangers Of The Mist.
Darker than expected, with real peril, but that's not a complaint! Genuinely difficult to put down, and kept me up too late. That'll teach me to take my ereader to bed.
I really enjoyed the energy of Zeb and Gideon being so grounded in reality despite the way everyone else around them is getting swept up in the Gothic Novel Tropes of it all. It lends the story an air of dark comedy, that Zeb is behaving and speaking like a person at a normal family gathering while his relatives tremble and turn pale and insist upon the existence of ghosts and curses and the Dangers Of The Mist.
Darker than expected, with real peril, but that's not a complaint! Genuinely difficult to put down, and kept me up too late. That'll teach me to take my ereader to bed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Murder
Minor: Incest, Rape, Slavery
arc from NetGalley
Unfortunately this reading experience was very similar to the last arc I read: not my favorite showing from a favorite author. Charles's signature humor and flawed-but-lovable characters were very much on display here, but I wasn't that taken with overall the story.
Let's start with the good stuff. I really did love our hero, Zeb. The portrayal of his ADHD and the subsequent struggles that came with it were excellent, and it was a constant in the story without it being obnoxious. He was far from perfect, but he always strove to be good and to be true to his morals. It took a bit for me to warm up to his romance with Gideon (more on that later) but they really were a classic K.J. Charles couple, which is to say very fun and something to root for. The overall pacing was good and didn't become repetitive or tedious, even though the setting was just the one location.
However, there were some bumps for me that prevent me from giving this a higher rating. It was a bit difficult to orient things at the beginning of the book. The time period wasn't exactly clear until waaay later (at least to me), and I definitely spent too much brain power picking up on small details in order to nail down a date range. We meet Gideon right away and it's clear that he has some sort of history with Zeb, but without any idea what that might be there was no emotional impact or investment. Until that backstory was explained, I just really didn't know what to do with Gideon's role in the story.
The mystery itself was kind of intriguing, but I felt that there weren't enough clues/hints given to the reader for me to figure out was really going on, and I really just had to wait for things to be revealed at the end. (HOWEVER, I don't read a ton of mystery novels and I usually don't try to guess at twists and such, so maybe that's a personal skill issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I also found the ending to be rather anticlimactic; we didn't get to experience justice meted out on the guilty parties, and I really expected more drama. (Also, the epilogue fast-forwarded to modern times reflecting back, and made mentions to Buzzfeed and Goodreads, which was just odd.)
Finally, there was a bit about reparations and how the estate was built on slave labor, and how Zeb wanted to help correct that legacy. Which is all good stuff, obviously!...but it felt forced and unnatural. I hate to critique this point because it’s something that should be addressed more and there's nothing bad about drawing attention to it, but I can’t lie and say that it flowed well in this particular story. I think it would have fit better if it had been a bigger element to the narrative, instead of referenced only a couple of times.
There were a couple of typos in the text, which weren't unexpected in an arc and didn't detract too much from the book. I will still seek out K.J. Charles's work, but I'm bummed that this one didn't quite meet my expectations.
Unfortunately this reading experience was very similar to the last arc I read: not my favorite showing from a favorite author. Charles's signature humor and flawed-but-lovable characters were very much on display here, but I wasn't that taken with overall the story.
Let's start with the good stuff. I really did love our hero, Zeb. The portrayal of his ADHD and the subsequent struggles that came with it were excellent, and it was a constant in the story without it being obnoxious. He was far from perfect, but he always strove to be good and to be true to his morals. It took a bit for me to warm up to his romance with Gideon (more on that later) but they really were a classic K.J. Charles couple, which is to say very fun and something to root for. The overall pacing was good and didn't become repetitive or tedious, even though the setting was just the one location.
However, there were some bumps for me that prevent me from giving this a higher rating. It was a bit difficult to orient things at the beginning of the book. The time period wasn't exactly clear until waaay later (at least to me), and I definitely spent too much brain power picking up on small details in order to nail down a date range. We meet Gideon right away and it's clear that he has some sort of history with Zeb, but without any idea what that might be there was no emotional impact or investment. Until that backstory was explained, I just really didn't know what to do with Gideon's role in the story.
The mystery itself was kind of intriguing, but I felt that there weren't enough clues/hints given to the reader for me to figure out was really going on, and I really just had to wait for things to be revealed at the end. (HOWEVER, I don't read a ton of mystery novels and I usually don't try to guess at twists and such, so maybe that's a personal skill issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I also found the ending to be rather anticlimactic; we didn't get to experience justice meted out on the guilty parties, and I really expected more drama. (Also, the epilogue fast-forwarded to modern times reflecting back, and made mentions to Buzzfeed and Goodreads, which was just odd.)
Finally, there was a bit about reparations and how the estate was built on slave labor, and how Zeb wanted to help correct that legacy. Which is all good stuff, obviously!...but it felt forced and unnatural. I hate to critique this point because it’s something that should be addressed more and there's nothing bad about drawing attention to it, but I can’t lie and say that it flowed well in this particular story. I think it would have fit better if it had been a bigger element to the narrative, instead of referenced only a couple of times.
There were a couple of typos in the text, which weren't unexpected in an arc and didn't detract too much from the book. I will still seek out K.J. Charles's work, but I'm bummed that this one didn't quite meet my expectations.
emotional
mysterious
fast-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:
Complicated
I loved this book so much! KJ Charles is a must read for me and I have been really enjoying the more mid-century historicals she's been writing recently. As an ADHD having person myself I felt extremely seen with the main character, Zeb. The feeling of inevitably disappointing your loved ones is a very familiar feeling to me so having Zeb, his brain, and his emotions be treated kindly in the end was very cathartic for me. Also I love the pulpy cover of this book so much I'm sure I will end up buying a physical copy just so I can display it on my shelves.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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
I want to start by thanking the publisher and author for the ARC that I received in exchange for this honest review.
This review may contain mild spoilers for the book, so consider yourself warned.
This book could've been written especially for me. I am a big KJ Charles fan, having discovered her earlier this year and since then reading 21 of her books (this is 22). I am also a huge fan of the gothic genre, and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. That being said, this book should be taken on its own merit, and it is in a word fantastic!!!
If you love Gothic literature you have come to the right place! This has it all; a grim manor house, a family curse, ghosts, stone circles, murder, and (shudder) spiders. All the tropes are present but it never feels derivative. The plot is well crafted and self aware, feeling like a love letter to the gothic genre with a few playful jibes thrown in for good measure. By the time you find out what is actually going on you’re invested in the characters and it goes at a breath taking pace.
This leads me on to my next point, characters. One of the things that KJ Charles does so well in all the books of hers I have read is creating believable characters that you can relate to and love. Not only her lead characters, even the smaller roles get developed and can leap off the page.
All of Us Murderers is no different, Zeb is a wonderful lead character. We see what it’s like for him living with ADHD in a time when it was not understood and how hard that is for him. We also see him being brutally treated by his family. Right from the start he shows a great strength of character, and as the book progresses he becomes even stronger and more sure of himself. He overcomes many fears, and stands up for what is right with grace and courage. This character leveled up the material for me. It became something healing, Zeb's journey touched something inside of me, and I hope it does the same for you.
It took me longer to warm to Gideon, which makes sense as this story is told entirely from Zeb’s perspective. We only get to see the deeper parts of Gideon as things progress between them. The initial impression of him is dark and moody, but there is so much more beneath the surface that comes out in time.
The romance elements are not as prominent here as in some KJ’s books, but it was the perfect amount for this book. The tone of this one is dark but the mix we get is a perfect balance to the tension and suspense. It gives you time to breathe, but not so much that it derails the thrills.
I loved that there was painful history between these two characters. This kind of trouble always lays the groundwork for rich drama. But what makes this relationship leap off the page is that they are able to navigate this past trauma with maturity. They show what a healthy relationship can look like by showing us it’s not how you get into the trouble, it’s how you get out of it! It takes them a while but they get there. Seeing this character growth makes the book all the more satisfying.
The supporting characters are also well drawn. The Wyckham family are a den of vipers and that would’ve been enough to fuel the story. Luckily KJ takes gives us more, taking the time to develop these characters to the point that I almost felt sympathy for some of them (special mention Elise). The book also get's you thinking, who are real villains here? It’s not so cut and dry once the true motives come out.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the setting itself. Lackady house is a character in its own right. Located in the isolated Dartmoor; surrounded by treacherous mist, filled with secret passages, mysterious follies, and my dream library! I was totally engrossed in the location and it added so much to the atmosphere.
I highly recommend this book, It is one I intend to read again and again, and I hope you get as much joy out of it as I did.
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a great story, combining elements of locked room murder mystery, gothic horror and some romance.
The writing is immersive, the mystery and the twists are satisfying and the atmosphere chilling.
The relationships dynamics are really interesting, either between the awful family members or between the ex lovers finally reunited. The drama felt real and the second chance at love is truly earned.
I also loved the few spicy scenes, they served the story and were very well written.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC!