REVIEW: How Not To Murder Your Ex by Katie Marsh

It is 5:30 am on Clio's forty-fifth birthday and her hated ex is lying dead on her doorstep. Even worse, this is no accident. Someone’s killed him...

When single mum Clio’s ex Gary turns up dead on the doorstep of her caravan – the one she’s been forced to live in ever since he stole every penny she had – there’s only one suspect. Her.

What’s more, she doesn’t remember much about the night he was killed – not just because of the forgetfulness that’s been plaguing her along with the hot flushes – but because she definitely had one too many cocktails with her two best friends Amber and Jeanie.

Clio does remember them talking about how much they all hated him though. And, in the frame for murder, she has to ask herself – if she didn’t kill Gary, who did? One of his many enemies? Or someone a little closer to home? And can she and her friends find the real killer before it’s too late?

"On the many occasions Clio had imagined murdering her husband, it had never been anything like this."

Okay so for legal reasons, I’ll say I’ve never killed any of my exes - but if Clio’s ex didn’t die at the start of this book I wouldn’t blame her for killing him. I loved her from the moment we met her, even though she potentially could be a murderer - she was funny, witty, relatable and just a little bit jaded but in an understandable way.

Crossing a twisty murder mystery with a coming of age story and an ensemble action - this made for a sharp and strangely compelling read, with investigation, dead bodies, affairs, plots and an unforgettable birthday all weaving together for an exciting story told by a narrator whose eye rolls you could hear through her words.

Our group of haphazard vigilante investigators were fabulous— they kept the story moving at a steady pace, taking us back for little bits of backstory but always finding themselves in the strangest predicaments and making terrible choices, the women taking turns telling the story from their perspective and letting us see it from all angles; although even with that there was still so much intensity and mystery around Gary and his death, with everything being suspicious and a potential twist around every corner.

A darkly exciting story of revenge and renewal that was an absolute delight.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

How Not To Murder Your Ex is available from 1st December with Boldwood Books. I received an advanced reviewers copy of this title.

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