If you love If We Were Villains, may I recommend this book? I think the two have quite a few things in common, but this one is historical and, if my memory serves me right, more diverse. I loved it more, but this will be down to personal preference. I do think if you liked one, you'll have a good time with the other at least.

What can I even say about K.J. Charles at this point without sounding like a broken record? The writing? Super engaging, as usual. The characters? I was invested within the first couple of pages, also as usual. The relationships? Not just the romances, but all the different dynamics within the Seven Wonders were so good. And for a book that isn't even about a romance, why did the romantic elements still thrill me so much?

As a mystery, it probably could have been a bit tighter, or more effective, but I honestly just didn't care. I wanted to know what had happened, I wanted to see Jem reconnect with these people he once loved so dearly. I was salivating to get to his meeting with Nicky, because so much is made of him in the flashbacks, and it did not disappoint.

I don't know if this is the kind of book where you can predict the twists, or sleuth along with the main character, because as the reader you're missing a lot of information. But I liked how everything unraveled in the end, and if Charles chooses to write more mysteries, I'm there for them all.

ONE: I would like to thank NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. KJ Charles is my favorite X1000 author. God, I love it.

Okay... TWO: Jem as a detective is art, literally. I love his inexperience, his doubts and how he doesn't seem to have the slightest idea. 10/10
THREE: I loved the way Charles wove an ending that was both coherent and intriguing.

FOUR: I already want to read another one like this, seriously, it has left a mark on me that reading another book will hardly be able to fill. I Love it x2.

Death In The Spires delivers a gripping and immersive tale that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Ten years after the tragic murder of his college friend Toby, Jeremy embarks on a quest for truth, determined to uncover the culprit among his estranged friends. Jeremy's journey is fraught with danger and uncertainty, but his unwavering determination to seek justice is truly admirable. The author skillfully crafts a murder mystery with a diverse cast of characters, each with their own motives and secrets, adding depth and intrigue to the narrative. Set against a gothic backdrop, the story unfolds with atmospheric flair, drawing readers into a world where darkness lurks around every corner. For fans of historical mysteries, Death In The Spires is a must-read that promises both suspense and satisfaction.

This was an interesting read. I loved the thrill and the back and forth to the present and past.

The characters were good with great depth and I loved the storyline.

Very cleverly written. A highly enjoyable read.

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.
1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.
Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?
As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?
Some secrets are better left buried…
This book is not like the other books that K.J. Charles has written. It has a historical mystery and no romance. It is 10 years since the unsolved mystery of Toby’s death and the police have not been contacted. Jem is calling them together in order to figure out the crime. I loved this book and what it does to all the members when the murderer is announced. Read it for yourself and see if you can figure out who did kill Toby and why. If you love mysteries that are unsolvable then you will love this book.

The overriding impression gained from this literary, historical mystery is of lost happiness and potential, making it a poignant read. As Jem investigates the murder of Toby, his friend, who died in suspicious circumstances ten years before, he relives his and his closest friends' fall from fame and potential. The story explores social class differences and sexuality. It shows how a tragic event can change many lives, mirroring the Shakespearean literature the seven friends revered. Insightful characterisation immerses the reader into the lives of the seven and keeps you invested in the outcome. Jem is a clever and tenacious detective driven by his need to make something of his life that promised so much. The mystery is full of twists in a time of social changes and forbidden love. It's an absorbing literary mystery with historical and socio-political details and intricate characterisation.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Another excellent read from K. J. Charles!

After really enjoying the murder mystery of Proper English, I was excited to dive into this one. The setting, the group of friends and their dynamics were so intriguing. And the fact that you knew, inevitably that Toby would meet his demise, presumably at the hand of one of these lovable characters you were getting to know kept me turning pages to see what would happen. The revelations came out at just the perfect pace, and the way it bounced between present day and the past really helped piece things together just right. I had no idea who the culprit could be, I had my hopes, and what I thought might be red herrings or clues. And some breadcrumbs that were dropped earlier on had very satisfying conclusions (Oh, I totally picked up on how suspicious it was when that character said that, and I was right!) The ending had a lot that I didn't see coming, but I left extremely satisfied that everyone got what they deserved in the end.

The author may say that this is not a love story, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of moments that will make your heat flutter. It is a K. J. Charles book after all. The queer pining, and romantic scenes, while not as explicit as we usually expect are incredibly well done. And there were some themes in the book, though this is set in the past, are still extremely relevant to society of today.

I had a thoroughly good time reading this book, and hope you give it a read as well!

Ps. I love the audiobook narrator they did a wonderful job with all the voices.

This is my fourth Charles novel and, while Charles herself makes a point to tell her readers this is not a mystery, I’ve been thinking of commonalities. Charles tends to centre on a character who is smart, dogged, and down-and-out, either in “disgrace with fortune” or in “men’s eyes”, or both. (At least of what I’ve read of her so far.) Charles focuses on characters who are Jane-Eyre-like in one capacity or another: “poor, obscure, plain, and little.” They may have one or more of Jane’s self-descriptions. Except they’re not “poor, obscure, plain, and little,” no more than Jane. Charles places them in precarious circumstances implicating class conflict, sometimes with a love interest, in this case, not quite.

A nod to the publisher’s blurb offers details:

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

Charles’s mystery is less thriller-ish and fast-paced than what we can gather from the blurb, thanks to Jeremy Kite’s characterization. His small size, clubfoot, and working-class origins, a “scholarship” student when the Seven were formed, makes for a diffident sleuth, but one whose mathematician’s mind methodically and persistently upends every stone.

Jeremy “Jem” Kite’s anonymous letter is the first of many he receives, as have the remainder of the “Seven Wonders”. As Jem sets out to discover Toby’s killer, Charles alternates the narrative between Jem’s pursuit and the Seven Wonders’ Oxford years, their friendships, lovers, and adventures, moving the narrative from Edwardian back to late Victorian England. When the letter arrives, Jem loses his clerk’s position; near-destitute, having lived in the shadows since he left Oxford, degree-less, he tenaciously determines to uncover Toby’s killer. He knows, as they knew at the time, the killer has to be one of the “Wonders”, but which one? Jem’s search sees him call on each of the “Wonders” and we’re introduced to an ensemble of characters as he finds and talks to each one; in the meanwhile, we learn about their shared past through Jem’s memories. This may slow down the “whodunnit”, but adds depth.

We meet Toby’s brilliant twin, Ella, whose intellect can’t earn her an Oxford degree because she’s a woman; the mercurial Nicky Rook, now an Anglo-Saxon don at the very college, St. Anselm’s, where the Seven Wonders were golden…until they weren’t; Hugo Morley-Adams, an upcoming politician; Aaron, the Black medical student, now a near-Harley-Street doctor; and Prue, working-class like Jem, now a grieving widow and mother, once the girl Toby held aloft at the end of playing Imogen in the Wonders’ Cymbeline production. In Jem’s memories, we encounter a timeless world, near Harry-Potter-like, of gowned students, amateur theatrics, rowing clubs, “seasons in the sun,” in their cups, wild, funny, and awe-inspiring to their fellow-students. But as Jem encounters every diminished “Wonder,” as successful as they may be, we understand how they’re haunted by Toby’s death.

Charles’s cleverness is to make of an expanse of time, ten years, and a hero’s journey that takes him back to the scene and people of the crime, a closed-circle, if not room, mystery. I wasn’t surprised by whodunnit because that’s not Charles’s purpose. It’s the why dunnit and, even more importantly, the complicated relationships and emotions that led to Toby’s death. And, Toby, who we know only via Jem’s memories and the rest of the Wonder’s testimonies, is revealed in such a way to make his death the centre of a collective tragedy. Charles’s historical mystery is engrossing, less for its plot, and completely for its character revelations. Even though this isn’t a romance and it lacks Charles’s lighter touches of humour and wit, there’s something beautifully peaceful and positive about its ending.

KJ Charles’s Death In the Spires is published by Storm Publishing. It released on April 11th. I received an e-galley, from Storm Publishing, via Netgalley. This doesn’t impede the honest expression of my opinion, written without the aid of AI.

Jeremy Kite is scratching a living as a civil servant when an anonymous letter is sent to his superior accuse him of being a murderer, Jem loses his shit and quits before he is fired because ten years ago he was part of a glittering group of young Oxford students named the Seven Wonders. Collected by the Honorable Toby Feynsham this group of bright young lights had everything going for them until Toby is found murdered in his rooms and one of the did it. Ten years on Jem has had enough and with nothing to lose weeks to find the killer once and for all. The was excellent I absolutely devoured it. K J Charles is wonderful in all ways. The characters are all suitably sharp and brittle and not always likeable some of them are downright swines! There’s grey morals and crimes covering other crimes and everybody is hiding something and through it all Jem is entirely adorable and won’t someone please just give him a hug. Wonderful, loved it 100% would recommend.

With the emotional depth of the story, the mystery, the compelling characters, angsty romance, and a twist that's so satisfying readers will still be thinking about it for days, DEATH IN THE SPIRES will easily top best of 2024 lists. If you love complicated characters and those second chance romance feels to go along with your whodunnit, KJ Charles has written a book you won't be able to set down until you've finished.

When I saw a new KJ Charles book I had to request it. I really enjoyed the previous books I have read by this author and this one in particular sounded simply too good to pass. And let me tell you that I am quite happy to have read it, even if it wasn’t at all what I was expecting.
Mind me, it delivers what it promises but in the other books I read by this author there always was banter, irony, and some humor that would light up the atmosphere, it’s not that all the other books were happy and lighthearted, there were some darker aspects to them too, because life is not always a happy merry go round, sure, but the humor and the banter made for really nice reading. And in this one, we don’t have any of that. Not banter, not irony, and not humor, if not really sparingly.


But still, I had a great time with it. It strongly reminded me of The Secret History by Donna Tart, if we speak in broad terms and vibes, but while I am not the biggest fan of the more famous book, I couldn’t put this one down. Even if some things usually don’t make me so happy, like going backward in time, since the book is about a killing that happened when the characters were at the university, and now they all are grown up and have gone on with their own life. And usually, I am not so happy about a dual timeline, but in this particular case, I didn’t mind at all. And even if there was always a bit of distance between me and the characters, I couldn’t really feel them at 100%, I still enjoyed spending time with them.


Jem efforts to discover what really happened are so vivid on the pages, and his internal turmoil is made really clear to us: the problem is that when he was at the University he was in a tight group of friends who all had brilliants academic career, they were all so promising and full of life, and they were a close group. Up until the killing of one of them. And now he is sick and tired of living in a sort of standby because from that frightful day onward he was suspended in life, he went through the motions but he didn’t truly feel alive anymore. Up until this point. Something has happened and now he has reached his limit. He wants to discover the truth. He needs it. But the killer has to be one of the people in their group. So he, or one of his former friends, is the killer, and this was the hard truth that made this awful affair even more painful.
Not so easy to accept, right? And what’s more is that now everyone has a life, and a future, and the murder happened a lot of time ago. The risk is to bring to light things that are better left uncovered.


And we feel the angst and the fear of Jem. We feel them keenly. But we also feel his need to be finally free.
And it was also pretty good to see the old group come, reluctantly, together again. This author is great at portraying relationships, and I am glad to say that this book was not exception. It is really different from the other books I have read by the same author, but this is still the same!
I was fascinated by the story, and I had a difficult time coming out of it until the resolution. It was different from what I was expecting, for sure, but I am not disappointed in the least!

3.5 stars

First thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy in exchange for a fair and honest review of Death In the Spires.

I am a huge fan of KJ Charles and I was excited to get my hands on her her first murder mystery that wasn't also a romance. But, I wish I liked this book more. The mystery is fine and has decent twists but my favorite part of KJ Charles books is always the characters and I just did not get attached or vibe with any of the characters. Nothing was wrong with them I just found them lacking charm. If you are looking for a good mystery for a long train ride this is perferct. But it just wasn't what I wanted it to be.

When I started this book I thought about The It Girl by Ruth Ware. It was a fleeting impression because this one of the best book I read that features people from Oxford (the best is GAudy Night).
There's a murder in the past, a group of friend that were called The SEven Wonder til one of the was murdered.
Jem, or Jeremy, is the frailest and the one who was left behind as he dropped out. The poison letter he receives accusing him of being the murderer cause problems and he lose his job.
This is the start of a mystery that mixes past and present, people in their 20s and people who are ten years olders.
Fascinating, twisty, intriguing. An adrenaline-fuelled last chapter that surprised me
I would be happy to read more about Jem and his friends.
I throughly appreciated this mystery and it's highly recommende.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
1 like

Death in the Spires is a historical fiction, murder mystery with grabbing twists and gothic setting.
A college friendship is formed between an odd circle of friends, somehow fitting well together. They stand together, they enjoy every aspect of college life together. Until one of them dies.
A shadow of suspicion is cast on every member surviving.
Haunted by the night, Jem is affected by the murder the most. His career goes down the drain. Barely surviving, he loses his job when an anonymous letter accusing him of murder arrives at his office.
Determined to not let it affect his life any further, he sets on a path to catch the killer.
It takes him back to his college and to the people he once called friends.

Every character has their secrets closely hidden and also, they each have a motive to kill.
A captivating read though overly descriptive at times, it deserves 3 stars.

1905. Ten years after the murder of Toby Feynsham, one of the 'Seven Wonders' of Oxford University, Jeremy Kite, receives another anonymous letter accusing him of the murder, resulting in losing his job. He decides to finally find out the truth of that night.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its varied and interesting characters.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to start with saying this is a mystery, not a romance, which is what this author is known for. There are romantic elements, but the main focus is the mystery of who killed Toby Feynsham ten years ago.

Jem’s life changed irrevocably when Toby died. And he is tired of not knowing what happened. There are twists and turns as he tracks down his group of friends that haven’t seen each other in the last ten years. One of whom killed Toby.

I was kept guessing til the end. I’ve enjoyed KJ Charles’ romances, and I hope this mystery wasn’t a one and done.

KJ Charles is one of the few period romance authors who you can trust to do full due diligence to the period the characters inhabit, especially since they're often queer, disabled, people of color or women of substance. In this one, the excoriating social commentary is front and center, and the romance is extremely incidental. The story not only leans into the very real darkness that is the class, race and gender discrimination in what is so often overlooked or worse, romanticized, as dark academia. I wish there was a little bit more on terms of consequences faced by those who quite literally destroyed their friends' lives instead of the whole "we've all suffered enough" conclusion. For all the righteousness rage I got whipped into, there was very little in terms of vindication all around.

Oxford 1905 Jem aka Jeremy Kite loses his job after receiving a letter thar says Jeremy kite is a murderer, he killed Toby Feynsham, ask him why.
The letter has him wondering who did kill Toby? He starts to investigate a decade old murder of one of his college friend's.
He's convinced one of the group of Severn friends he went to college with did it. He revisits his old friend's to find out the truth.
First time reading a K J Charles book, it won't my last!

[I received a digital arc for an honest review]

Death in the Spires by KJ Charles is a new standalone historical mystery. Jeremy ‘Jem’ Kite has been coasting in a menial job after his time at Oxford ended abruptly with the murder of a close friend. Having lost his friends to the scandal, Jem is shocked when he finds that he and the group are now being dragged back into the darkness that was Toby’s murder. With no more job Jem starts hunting down his ex-comrades in an attempt to solve what was left behind in Oxford. With the charming group of characters ten years older and much more jaded, Jem learns that there was so much more to those last moments at school than he ever realized and that unearthing all the secrets could destroy everyone’s life, even his own.

I really enjoyed this mystery from the beginning to the end. Jem makes for a likable narrator who regularly questioned his own motives and memories. He had unique relationships with each of his former friends, especially Nicky. Nicky was complicated in ways that Jem viewed himself as simple so seeing their relationship evolve from school and then ten years later offered comfort to Jem at his lowest points. I appreciated the slight romantic subplot which didn’t take away from the mystery itself.

I found myself surprised the entire time as the secrets unveiled themselves and caused history to become even more muddied. It was interesting to see the characters reveal their true feelings about their time at Oxford through the lens of adults in their 30s versus students in their early 20s just learning to stand on their own. I would recommend this historical mystery if you’re looking for a whodunit that keeps you guessing until the end.

4 stars for Jem’s deep dive into Toby’s murder and all the secrets he uncovers on his journey to the truth.

Quite a few of KJ Charles’ historical romances have a mystery subplot, but Death in the Spires is her first historical mystery ‘proper’. She’s taken pains to make sure readers know what to expect – that this novel is, first and foremost, a mystery and not a romance - so I’m echoing that here for anyone who hasn’t seen the disclaimers. There is a romantic sub-plot running through the story, but there’s no HEA (although there’s the tentative suggestion that there could be one somewhere down the line) and while it’s an important plot point, it’s not the main focus.

Our protagonist is Jeremy – Jem – Kite, a young working-class man from the Midlands who, in 1892, gains a scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford. On his very first day, he’s sought out by Toby Feynsham, the handsome, charming and generous – though spoiled - heir-apparent to a marquess, and the centre of a group of friends that becomes known as the Seven Wonders.

At that first meeting, Toby is clear about wanting to “collect the interesting people” rather than just “mingle with all the men one went to school with” and at first, Jem can’t quite believe his good fortune in being welcomed into such a bright, witty and popular group of people. There’s Toby’s brilliant, fierce twin sister, Ella, and her quiet yet determined roommate, Prue, who are both studying at the women’s college; Toby’s childhood friend, the louche and waspish Nicholas Rook, whose unrequited love for him is common knowledge (although is never spoken of); Aaron Oyede - the only Black student at the college, whose upper-class background does nothing to protect him from discrimination; and the supremely likeable Hugo Morely-Adams, whose principal defining characterisic is his ambition. Becoming friends with all of them and being known as one of the Seven Wonders is like a dream come true, and Jem’s three years at Oxford pass in a glorious whirl of academic success, sporting glory and wonderful friendship - until the fateful night just before Finals when everything falls apart and Toby is killed. The murder and events leading up to it have a profound effect on Jem, and he never really recovers from the shock, his once bright future crumbling into dust when he fails his exams.

The novel opens in 1905 when Jem, tired, downtrodden and just about making ends meet, arrives at his dreary office job one morning to discover that his boss has received a letter containing three lines:

Jeremy Kite is a murderer.

He killed Toby Feynsham.

Ask him why.

It’s been a while since the unsolved murder of Toby Feynsham has garnered Jem any attention, and although it’s not the only malicious letter about it he’s received over the years, this is the first one that has not been addressed to him directly. His boss is not impressed, either by the letter or by Jem’s reaction to it, and Jem decides to resign before he can be sacked. Badly disillusioned and fed up to the back teeth with the suspicion and rumour that continue to dog him, even so many years later, Jem realises there’s only one way he’s ever going to be able to shake the shadows of the past and forge a better future for himself. It’s time to find out what really happened on the night of Toby’s death – and which of their group killed him.

Death in the Spires is a compelling, twisty and atmospheric story featuring an interesting cast of characters and into which the author effortlessly interweaves bigger, topical themes of women’s agency and bodily autonomy, racism, homophobia and social inequality. The pacing is brisk, the prose crisp and insightful. The wit and humour that generally characterise the author’s work are a bit thin on the ground here – which is an observation rather than a criticism – but as usual, she creates a fantastic sense of time and place, skilfully contrasting Jem’s time amid the dreaming spires - where optimism reigns and everything is a new adventure - with the sadness and melancholy of his present, where it’s almost always foggy, rainy and cold. Most of the story is set in Jem’s present day – 1905 - but there are some well-placed chapters that detail the key events from his time at Oxford, and the structure works extremely well, the flashbacks offering greater insight into the complex dynamics of the friendship group and helping to build an encroaching sense of disquiet.

Unlike some murder-mysteries where the characters take a bit of a backseat to the intellectual exercise of uncovering clues and theorising about the crime, those in Death in the Spires are pivotal and their interactions and strongly-crafted relationships are what give the story its emotional heft. Each of them is well-drawn and intriguing, and they have all been badly affected by Toby's death - but they have secrets to keep, and none of them is pleased to learn of Jem’s determination to get to the truth. So while this is a whodunnit and Jem does find out who killed Toby (not without some risk to life and limb along the way), the resolution is about so much more than that. Jem and the others have been living with the consequences of the murder for a decade and only one of them seems to have been able to move past it; for the rest, it’s been ten years of suspicion and gossip and looking over their shoulders, so for them, it’s as much about finding hope for the future and a way forward as it is about uncovering the truth. And even then, the truth is not black and white and they – and we - are faced with the sorts of complicated questions about truth and justice and forgiveness that will resonate with anyone familiar with the author’s work.

Death in the Spires is a gripping murder mystery, and while the plot is complex, it’s neither difficult to follow nor explained to death. Jem – quiet, stubborn, broken but loveable Jem – is a wonderfully engaging protagonist, and one of my favourite parts of the story was watching him gradually finding himself again after ten years of drudgery and trying to fade into the background. This might not be genre romance, but different aspects of love – romantic, familal and platonic – are strongly woven into the story alongside themes of friendship, regret and healing, and we’re left with a sense of optimism for Jem and his friends.

KJ Charles has clearly found another niche, and I’d happily read more historical mysteries from her – although I’m grateful that she’s said she doesn’t intend to abandon historical romance any time soon. But while we wait for the next one of those, Death in the Spires is utterly captivating and a splendid way to get your KJC fix.