The Author's Guide to Murder

3.5. Fun and smart.

Okay, first of all, “The Author's Guide to Murder” is technically correct, but if the book has three MCs, shouldn't the title be “The Authors' Guide?” The fact that I was grammar nitpicking before I even started reading wasn't a good sign. And unfortunately, the book's content did nothing to change my first impression. The fifth “Team W authors” collaboration attempts to meld together slapstick comedy, romance, cozy mystery, women's fiction, and #MeToo. The result is cartoonish, uneven, occasionally offensive (jokes about whether or not a well-dressed man is gay in 2024?) and unnecessarily long. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because the “fake friendship evolves into #Girl Power” trope was actually rather touching, and because the last few chapters are brazenly bonkers. The three authors have published several historical fiction novels together, but apparently the idea for this one emerged from a drunken bar conversation in which they joked about co-writing a historical romance set in Scotland with the dubious title Fifty Shades of Plaid. Now that the trio has a loyal following, they decided it was time to revisit and fine tune the idea, although their publisher drew the line at keeping the original title. As a relative newbie (I've read a few [a:Beatriz Williams 4927506 Beatriz Williams https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1575561474p2/4927506.jpg] books, but nothing by the other two women), I can't recommend a story that would have been better suited to the authors' newsletters. YMMV if you are a Team W fan who can appreciate the in-jokes and Easter eggs. ARC received from Net Galley and publisher in exchange for review.