Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success—even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among the wealthy elite of Oakwood, Ohio.
Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.
Intelligent, fearless, and every bit as stubborn as Marc is, Charley soon learns the Agathas aren’t the only ones with secrets to protect. Passions explode as she and Marc must race against time to prevent another murder. And if Charley’s not careful, she may find herself becoming the killer’s next plot twist.
Being a lifelong devoted Agatha Christie fan, when I first read the plot of The Book Club Murders I knew this was a book I would have to read. I love when authors incorporate book clubs into the setting of cozy mysteries, and one with a "Agathas Book Club" was bound to be a home-run, and it was exactly that!
From the first page to the last I became caught up in the action-packed adventure, as I followed along with Charley and Marc, trying to untangle the mystery of the murders. Leslie Nagel sets a good pace for readers, giving readers a chance to collect clues, but also ensuring that readers won't want to put the book down.
I liked seeing the sparks fly between Charley and Marc. Charley is feisty and stubborn and the exact kind of sleuth I like to go on adventures with. She's never boring for a second, and I loved how she threw herself into the investigation, and was determined to find the killer, to the point of possibly putting her own life in danger.
The Book Club Murders is a home-run debut for me. With action, adventure and murders involving mystery books it is to sure to please every cozy mystery fan! I highly recommend adding The Book Club Murders to your Fall reading list.
In 2014 Sophie Hannah received wide-spread acclaim for penning an all-new mystery featuring Agatha Christie’s legendary hero Hercule Poirot, 
, an instant bestseller. Reviews were outstanding, praising Hannah for her command of the character and voice. So when the time came to write a new story, Sophie knew there was only one way she would write another book—even though she enjoyed writing the first so much—she knew she would need to have an idea that was clever and compelling enough to think, 'This feels very Agatha-ish. Poirot MUST solve this case.'
