Book Review: Murder At The Book Club by Betsy Reavley

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Murder at The Book Club

Betsy Reavley is renowned for her dark psychological thrillers like the chilling The Optician’s Wife and Pressure and in Murder at the book Club she heads in a different direction – ands NAILS it. The Murder At The Book Club is a tense, tightly plotted police procedural whodunnit

This is certainly my kind of crime book – a bit of Agatha Christie, a tot of MC Beaton and a whole lot of Reavley sass. When it comes to human nature, nothing much is surprising. However, in a sleepy Cambridgeshire town you don’t expect such dark waters to run through your book club and you certainly don’t expect there to be a murderer in your midst. So, when a body is discovered on the common with all roads leading back to the book club , everything becomes a whole lot more sinister.

The characters are beautifully drawn and Reavley shows a keen eye for picking out

idiosyncrasies and setting them onto the page – each character has a life of their own and as secrets are uncovered I was desperate to join the deadliest book club in the UK. What Reavley is best at though is getting under the surface to the volcanic layers beneath – and in Murder at the book Club, the layers are truly volcanic with eruptions set to occur at regular intervals.

This is a well- researched police procedural that hits the ground running and settles in for the marathon. Although a little shorter than some of the books out there, Reavley packs in the drama, the suspense and the twists in this book that explores friendships, manipulation, secrets and subterfuge. All I can say is  Keep ‘em coming Ms Reavley – this was brill.