A review by fae_princess_in_space
All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

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

5.0

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 😌)