Cover Image: Supper For Six

Supper For Six

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Member Reviews

I actually didnt finish this one; i found it really hard to get into and to understand which made it hard for me to read. For this reason I DNF'd this one.

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This was a fun read and I loved the layout of it as a podcast style, however it fell a little flat.

I have read other podcast style books which execute it better. There was enough of a mystery to keep me reading but I didn’t warm to any of the characters.

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Thank you so much to Hodder for my ARC and for having me on the blog tour!

Well this certainly was a rollercoaster of twists! This definitely kept me guessing throughout and my mind was absolutely spinning when all was revealed!

The story is told in a podcast format, and whilst that format is unique and rather interesting, personally it wasn’t my cup of tea. I found myself getting confused between the timelines and who was talking at certain points however I think this would work a lot better if I listened to it as an audiobook!

Supper for Six is a very twisty whodunnit where you can’t tell what is going to happen next, I would love to see this adapted into a play!

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I really enjoyed how this was told and the overall story. I thought the podcast framing was really interesting and it showed the story through a way i didn't expect. The pacing was really good and i found the writing kept me hooked throughout. The plotting of the story was done well and i like how it showed the reveals and the twists. I found most of the characters believable and only had a couple of minor ones who felt underdeveloped. Overall, a very strong read!

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I really enjoy mixed media in a book so enjoyed the podcast aspect of the book, I did find it a bit slow in the middle and kept getting confused between the characters relationships with each other but was an enjoyable book overall

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I enjoyed being an amateur sleuth while reading this novel.

The main narrator is podcast host investigative journalist Felix Caerphilly. Instead of telling the story via chapters, the story is told via podcast episodes. The storytelling includes podcast notes, in-the-moment conversations, and after-the-event guest reflections.

The reader is a fly on the wall watching the dinner party, viewing the scene as an observer.

For me, this was like a murder mystery event in book form.

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Lady Anderson holds her first dinner party. Six people at this party. Many interactions and complicated characters will have you scratching your head to follow all the twists and turns after murder is thrown into the plot. Told in the form of a podcast many years later the secret of that night has never been revealed. A good Agatha Christie style who done it will have you suspecting everyone.
Thank you NetGalley and (Hodder & Stoughton) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

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I'm having mixed feelings about this book. I was really excited to read it when I saw the reviews and the whole podcast idea.
But at about 20% of the book, I found myself starting to lose interest, not sure if it's the characters or the story. Like I no longer care about how it ends, who did it or why they did it. So I took a break. I did come back to the book later, but just didn't find myself engaged in the story, or any of the characters.
I liked the podcast idea, very unusual and interesting format, just felt like something's missing.

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There's a lot of potential and I was attracted by the blurb. I like mystery told using different media and thought this one was right up my alley.
I found it a bit confusing, a sort of cross-the-streams effect that made my attention wander and lose the focus on the whodunit
The cozy elements were nice, the whodunit was a bit confusing
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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"Sometimes our brain won't let us see what we believe to be impossible."

'Supper for Six' is billed as an Agatha Christiesque cosy whodunit, but to be honest, I was disappointed.

On 8 April 1977, Lady Sybil Anderson is holding a dinner party and has invited five people, none of whom were told about the other guests and therefore, arrive shocked to find them there. Among them, are her husband's best friend and his wife, her own best friend and her husband, and a private investigator, Elizabeth Chalice.

Lady Sybil's husband has gone missing. At least, he left their house but hasn't contacted her for days, though he has been in touch with others. She wants her guests to help find him. But by the end of the night, there will be two dead bodies at the Anderson mansion in Mayfair, London.

The book is in the format of a podcast script, as journalist Felix Caerphilly reinvestigates what happened, as no one was ever held responsible. The podcast is based on tape recordings Elizabeth made on the night in question, as well as interviews Felix did with the remaining guests/suspects.

The biggest problem with this book is that it is extremely convoluted. It becomes tedious to follow 'twist' after 'twist', not because it's difficult but because it becomes tedious. The story is all over the place. There are just too many plot points. The book tries hard to maintain the intrigue throughout but by the end, I no longer cared what the outcome was. There is a lot of repetition as both Felix and Elizabeth recount their interpretation of what happened and jump back and forth within the 1977 timeline in order to explain to the reader/listener the sequence of events.

A miss for me.

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A group of Lady Anderson's acquaintances are invited over to her apartment in Mayfair, which on the surface seems like a reasonably normal event. However, none of the five people knew that they had been actually been invited to attend a dinner party with other guests - including a private investigator. Already suspicious of Sybil's reasons for this mystery party, things take a sinister turn and not everyone makes it out alive. Felix, who was a rookie reporter at the time of the tragedy in 1977, investigated the events but never solved the mystery. Still desperate to find answers, forty-five years later, he hosts a true crime podcast set on exposing the truth of that bizarre dinner party once and for all.

Supper For Six was a book that I hadn't heard a lot about and I hadn't read the previous book by the author Fiona Sherlock. I went into this having no idea what to expect but I had the best surprise - this book combines all of my favourite tropes and was an intriguing and entertaining murder mystery. A dual-timeline narrative split between the dinner party in 1977 and the present day, Felix tells the story of what really happened via his podcast using a combination of live interviews and tapes to unravel the mystery.

This type of epistolary crime novel is just my absolute favourite style. The tapes Felix has acquired are set out as transcripts and it honestly feels like you are reading about a real-life case. This, along with the fact that the book features a true-crime podcast and had a vintage, 'Golden-Age' feel from the sections set in the 1970s, meant that it really did have everything I would look for in crime fiction. I will now definitely be going back to read the first novel featuring private investigator Elizabeth Chalice, Twelve Motives for Murder.

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Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me.
The idea of the dinner guests was an intriguing one but it quickly became confusing .
The writing was ok but the number of different people coming into the story had me confused and I didn’t enjoy the format of the book .
I had high hopes but unfulfilled this book missed the spot for me .
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton .

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In 1977 Lady Sybil Anderson held a dinner party for six guests, but by the end of the night someone was dead. For forty years the events that took place remained a mystery, until a true crime podcast delves into the past to uncover the truth.

Supper For Six is an incredibly fun twist on a murder mystery.

I absolutely loved the podcast format of this book, it was such a genius idea for how to tell the story. I enjoyed that it was set between the 1970s and present day and the variety this added. So much detail had gone into creating an authentic setting, from the character details to the map of the house at the start of the book (who doesn't love a map?!).

It is definitely the kind of book that will have you jotting down potential clues, which makes it such a fun read. I found that it was a perfect mix of clues that I spotted plus some great twists that I didn't see coming at all. I loved that you could instantly tell there would be exciting secrets to uncover.

Another brilliant book from Fiona Sherlock that is highly recommended.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

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I love crime fiction and mystery novels but I didn't know what to expect with Supper For Six.

Supper For Six is told as though it is a podcast and is split into episodes. In 1977, Sybil Anderson hosts a dinner party, inviting six specific people there, under the pretence that her husband, Lord Anthony Anderson, had disappeared. Whilst at the party, there are air raid sirens and the radio announces that everyone must stay inside but soon enough, one member of the party is dead. The killer must be amongst the guests.

It is now 2023 and Felix Caerphilly is looking back into the case on his podcast, Supper For Six.

I really enjoyed the format of this novel, the podcast aspect plus tape recording transcripts from an investigator who was in attendance at the dinner party. There were a lot of twists with everyone harbouring secrets. I did find a few bits unbelievable but they made for an entertaining read that had me glued until the very end.

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A different kind of cosy mystery, but no less intriguing.

In 1977, :Lady Sybil Anderson held a supper party in her Mayfair apartment. Six strangers arrived but only five left alive. What happened has never been revealed - until now.

This is a modern take on a cold case; the story is narrated by Felix, a podcaster and we find everything out retrospectively. I freely admit it took me quite some time to settle into the rhythm of this one, but by the half-way mark I was completely invested in the mystery and finding out what happened. I do love a good cosy mystery, and this one was just that bit different. Intriguing to the end, I'm happy to give this one 4*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

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I enjoyed Twelve Motives For Murder when I listened to it a while back so I was quite excited to get my mitts on a copy of this, the author's latest book. Sadly, although a decent enough story (with some reservations), I found the method of delivery - a podcast aired in the present day - didn't really work for me. I did get through it, however, and it did all come good at the end, but I do fear that it might alienate some readers who might not be as forgiving and who won't make it.
So the action takes place in London back in 1977 where Lady Sybil Anderson is hosting a dinner party. Present are - Agapanthus and Francois Langford, Jeremy and Chrissy Crowley and, familiar face, Elizabeth Chalice. The lights go out and, when they come back on, they discover that one of the company has been murdered! Dun Dun DUUUUUUUN!
So the easy thing would be to call the police to attend but they are busy with some chemical leak which is forcing people to shelter in place. Hence the reason why also no one can leave the house.
And so begins a bit of a bonkers romp which often skirts credibility, on occasion crossing that line...
And all this is delivered, as already mentioned, in the form of a podcast of several episodes. Meaning we have a whole other layer of obfuscation, secrets, lies, and other red herrings throw in for good measure. The characters are all duplicitous in many ways, all interconnected and with so many secrets that my head really did start spinning, even when the "truth" came out I was not completely convinced we had even got there fully yet!
And Felix, the podcaster, the one who was supposed to be bringing it all together, didn't really do a convincing job for me. The interviews were a bit hit and miss, containing detail that I am sure wouldn't have been recalled to such minutia. Always a tricky thing to pull off and the author didn't quite manage it convincingly.
Basically, what I am trying, badly, to get across is that the story in itself in mostly OK - with a few minor niggles - but the delivery didn't match. This will not put me off the author in the future as one swallow doesn't make a summer and all that, but I will be a bit more wary next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

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Supper for Six is a salacious, scandalous slice of something juicier than your average mystery.

I have quickly realised that I am a sucker for an originally styled narrative format within mysteries and thrillers. After all, Janice Hallett is one of my all-time favourites and delights in this. With a lot of pitfalls that could fall into cliche, these mysteries and thrillers deliver something new instead. I love stories that play with expectations and genre, which Supper for Six delivers through the use of a true crime style podcast that may be getting a bit too involved in its case. It is this mesh of the increasingly personal that elevates this mystery for me. You feel like you are watching a slice of life play go horribly wrong before your eyes. There is the added threats communicated through the radio, which add an extra layer of paranoia and tension to a household already brimming over with it.

Every character here is one that would stab you in the back and leave smiling. They are messy, complicated people, who are usually looking out for themselves first and foremost. There are layers upon layers of secrets and hidden connections that want to remain exactly that, until they are dragged kicking and screaming into the light. Sherlock revels in the nuances and the grubby little tricks pulled in the darkness of the night. This is heightened with the use of the podcast. You are left guessing about many significant details for much of the story, while other twists are revealed sooner than I expected. That was because Sherlock had far more nefarious plots still in store.

Supper for Six pulls the rug out of the classic locked-room mystery and gives it a new spin. It is full of twists, tricks and surprises.

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I am delighted to kick off the blog tour for Supper for Six by the aptly named Fiona Sherlock.

The story pulls the reader in by taking the form of a podcast meaning that the story is revealed in tantalisingly controlled little bites!

I loved the setting of Lady Sybil Anderson's Mayfair apartment - and I can imagine how exquisite this would be if it were made into theatre show or a one off TV drama. The opulence and apparel of the era came across well - as did the inconvenient powercut.

As the evening unfolds, so does the mystery and many an exploit is uncovered. This unique take on the murder mystery will delight and entertain in equal measure.

Overall, this surprisingly scintillating crime thriller/mystery has a charm all of its own

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Ahhh, I’m so disappointed by this book- I was really looking forward to it but it just wasn’t for me. There was so many times I wished I’d given up but I carried on through and now I wish I had just given up. I wanted to give the author a chance and was hoping it would pick up but it didn’t. The concept is good but it just didn’t work in this book.

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I tried, I really tried, because I liked the premise. But no. I just couldn't get past the first 15% or so. It is all very confusing, with only six people but none of them are likable. Not in the least! There are parts where Felix, who is behind the podcast, interviews Elisabeth. Well, it fell totally flat for me because people just don't talk like that.
I skipped to the last chapter to see whether I liked the ending so I could try and read it again. But no. Still confusing, still no real vibes, just disbelief on my side.
I don't like podcasts; ever since I was a child I don't like this format, even when it was still a radio program with people talking. That programmes with people talking are now reborn as podcasts will not say that they are more interesting. To me, at least. But to each his own: if you like podcasts, you may like this book more than I did.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy.

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