Hi Reader! I hope you’ve had a great week. If you work or are in education and it’s been your first week back this year then I hope it wasn’t too chaotic.

I have had a relatively busy week and so I’m taking it easy this weekend. Taking my weekends easy is one of my main goals for 2024. I’ve felt for a long time that my weekends were a blur of activity so im planning just one thing a weekend (a ‘thing’ being a social activity or event) and focusing more on rest, reading, blogging and regularly walking on the nearby dales where I live.

Since giving up my Goodreads goal (I have set it to 1 so I can see how many books I’ve read, not as an actual goal!), I am using a to be read jar to select my next read which honestly I am finding a ton of fun to use!

I have just used it to pick out my next book which has been on my shelf for a while and I love the feel of it being like a book lottery!

We are officially two weeks into January and I’ve read three books, of which 2 of them I have absolutely loved, which is always a great feeling. Today I’m sharing with you one of those books I loved.

Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle

Genre: Locked Room Thriller/Murder Mystery

Publisher: Century (PR/AD Proof copy was sent to me for early review)

Official Publication date: 18/01/2024

Synopsis:

One happy couple.
Two divided families.
A wedding party to die for.

On the private island of Castle Fiore – surrounded by the glittering waters of Lake Garda – the illustrious Heywood family gathers begrudgingly for their son Laurence’s wedding to Italian influencer Eva Bianchi.

But as the ceremony begins, a blood-curdling scream brings the proceedings to a devastating halt.

With the wedding guests trapped as they await the police, old secrets come to light and family rivalries threaten to bubble over.

Everyone is desperate to know . . .

Who is the killer? 

And can they be found before they strike again?

So, you’re a wedding guest at an Influencer’s small, intimate wedding on a beautiful island, but the rich groom’s family isn’t happy about it. Someone is MURDERED (at a wedding!) and youre on a private island with no escape.

I mean, isn’t that a nightmare in a dreamy location.

We begin the book at the Wedding scene, introduced to characters by their chapters. Each character we are introduced to may have a sniff at a motive. The bride is missing.

The first four characters with any kind of bad blood that we are introduced to are:

• Stephen, the Groom’s best man and old school friend (although he doesn’t really understand why). He feels trapped working for his friend and as the kid that attended the private school on a scholarship, has always felt ‘other’ to many of the male guests also in attendance.
• Harper, agent to Eva (the bride), who she is sick to the back teeth of.
• Vito, Eva’s father who reveals very quickly to the reader that he’s paid some sort of ransom to two criminals this morning who have threatened him and his family. It sounds like the mafia.
• Dina, Eva’s sister who quite frankly will never forgive her for being the reason her engagement broke off.

The story flips between the wedding day and the days leading up to the wedding. Little by little we are given more information and we know more than the characters in attendance, living through the horror of ‘who is next and why’?!

Reading the characters trying to piece everything together is a lot of fun as they start to get the wrong end of the stick and turn on one another. The more the pressure builds, the further secrets are revealed! You sit back as the reader watching the chaos unfold.

Can’t put it down rating: 4.5/5

This locked in thriller is full of terrible, immoral characters who all have a motive and its a true page turner! There’s so many unreliable narrators with more secrets than Gretchen Wieners could possibly hold in her hair. 

One thing I love about this book is that it doesn’t start with the death right away, we didn’t even know as readers who had died until half way through the story. We were given an insight into each character which had us guessing about a) if they might be a killer b) who they’d kill and c) why!

We end up with a main protagonist in Robyn, a character who studied journalism but never quite made it. She cannot however stop herself from investigating the case as she lives it. However, given how many awful characters are in this novel, she still reads like an unreliable narrator. We learn as readers to TRUST NOONE.

The characters are just the right amount in number that we know the key players inside out and how they connect, but they’re so distinctive that we also don’t get confused between them.

The setting is absolutely perfect as the backdrop for all of the action that unfolds. It’s the perfect calm luxury location for the juxtaposition of all the chaos!.

The storytelling builds suspense and is very cinematic. It’d be the perfect Netflix series!

So many secrets. So much action. So many layers and clues and puzzles to solve. This one’s got more red herrings than a fish market I LOVED IT.

It’s reads like Poirot meets Instagram, and I am HERE for it!

I think this would be a fantastic novel to read from your sun lounger this summer. Highly recommend for lovers of locked room thrillers or for those looking for an introduction to the genre!

WASHED DOWN WITH:

We bought ourselves a Nespresso machine for Christmas, so I’ve been solidly drinking Costa Signature Blend Nespresso capsules for a good week. They’re so good!! I love filling up my flask and going for a hike on the Dale. It tastes just like I’ve picked it up from a coffee shop, nice and nutty and smooth. They’re a strength 8 and you can usually get 10 of them for £2 from places like B&M. 20p a coffee is a right bargain!

Image Source: Costa Coffee on X

Have you read any of Tom Hindle’s previous novels (this is his third)? This was my first but I definitely now want to read more! What locked room Thrillers do you recommend?

Have a fab week ahead, and if you’ve enjoyed this review – please like it, share it or comment below!

Until the next chapter,

Emma X0