I really enjoyed this original and quirky mystery novel. Greta Gatsby is excited to finally be returning home to live with her brother Jay Gatsby. But she is somewhat perturbed to discover there are houseguests in the form of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Daisy's friend Jordan, Tom's brother Edgar and Nick (who she's quietly pleased to see).

As to be expected, the first evening she's back involves champagne and cocktails, fine dining and increasingly raucous conversation.

The next morning the group plan on going sailing and exasperated by the non-appearance of Tom, they set off without him. It turns out that Tom has a more than valid reason for not meeting the group.

This is where the mystery begins. Greta who is a voracious reader sees details others miss. She is tenacious and wise beyond her years. Slowly but surely she begins to piece together the events of the fateful night in question. The tension builds to an exquisite climax and I was wholly enthralled throughout. There was also a very skilful weaving into this period drama, a commentary on the state of affairs in the world as they currently stand.

A compelling and funny historical mystery that i thoroughly enjoyed.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was brilliant. So so clever and had me guessing right to the end about who was responsible for the death- and usually I’m quite good at working it out!!
The characters were really likeable and I immediately warmed to the Gatsby siblings. I loved reading about the glamour of the 1920s amidst the mystery. Really excellent- thank you!

I loved the original book which I have read numerous times. Unfortunately this did not live up to my expectations and I was disappointed.

A very enjoyable twist on Gatsby, a bit slow to get to to the action but nice world building, very engrossing and with a good sense of place and atmosphere..

I loved and adored the original Gatsby book and this one was so much fun and I could not put it down. It was a lot of fun, I did not take it too seriously. Definitely a bit of fun if you enjoy the original.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this book so DNF’d it at 30%, this book may have got better as it went on but it just wasn’t for me.

3.5-4. This reworking of the cast and setting of The Great Gatsby won’t please Gatsby purists and I suspect will therefore appeal more to those who enjoyed the Baz Luhrman version of the story than the F Scott Fitzgerald source material.

If you accept it for what it is, a murder mystery set in 20’s American, then you’ll enjoy the fun of guessing whodunnit alongside our intrepid protagonist, Jay Gatsby’s younger sister, Greta Gatsby. If you object to the rewriting of the plot, you might struggle a bit more. Having said that, would anyone be sorry to hear that Tom Buchanan meets a sticky end? Thought not!

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t familiar with the Gatsby novels but this didn’t stop me enjoying this 1920s mystery

It’s a good read and kept me interested right through to the end.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works continue to fascinate readerships, and the slim novel depicting confidence trickster Jay Gatsby published one hundred years ago in particularly so. This debut novel focuses not on the irreverent protagonist but instead creates a new character by way of a younger sister for Gatsby, who is at the heart of the action. This sister, called Greta but commonly known as Gigi, returns to West Egg after completing her expensive education elsewhere. She steps into some fairly familiar scenes refracted through Nick Carraway’s recollections, with Jordan Baker, Daisy Buchanan and other hangers-on continuing to enjoy Gatsby’s lavish parties – until the appearance of a deceased person among their privileged community. Will Gigi be able to solve the mystery of what happened to this unfortunate Long Islander? And what else will she uncover about the circles she moves in?

Astutely written and with a beautifully executed plot, what I liked most about this novel were its representations of femininity, as female housekeepers, former student Gigi, party girl Jordan and many other females are all afforded narratorial space and hint at the societal inequalities that already bubbled under the surface in Fitzgerald’s original work. Very highly recommended for readers whose appetite for Fitzgerald’s fiction shows no sign of abating! I wish to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the complimentary ARC that allowed me to read this exquisite debut novel, and to produce this unbiased review.

Guessed the killer in the first 20 pages. Completely ruined the vibe of Gatsby for me. Didn't hit at all got bored. Unfortunately not a book I would recommend especially is you love the great Gatsby book.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I am not familiar with this author and have never read The Great Gatsby. I did see the film many years ago. Therefore, I can not comment on how closely the characters were to the original. Set in the 1920's America, Greta returns to her brothers house after finishing university. She arrives expecting only her brother to be there, but instead he has 4 guests. Greta is disappointed by these circumstances. The first night she is home one of the guests is found dead on her brother's boat. Although, believed to be suicide, Greta has an instinct that all is not clear cut. She then, does her own sleuthing to uncover the truth. The guests and her brother are happy that it was not murder. The story is slow to develop and although I finished the book it was not really for me. Greta, is an independent young lady who is a likeable character. The others, all wealthy are not so interesting or likeable. The staff show various characteristics, but are of their time. In that they keep their feelings to themselves and it is not until later in the story that we learn more about them.
I'm sure some readers will enjoy this simple historical crime fiction, but it is not one for me.

I really enjoyed this story which I found the be cleverly plotted and completely gripping. I loved Greta, her bright curiosity and her reflections on the time. It was a great cast of characters, mostly not terribly likeable and a murder mystery that kept me guessing till the big reveal. I do hope there’s more to come.

A rather enchanting golden age mystery.

Greta Gatsby, sister of the famous Jay, is finally finished with education and, sporting her new bob hairstyle, heads for West Egg to spend the summer in her brother's mansion. On arrival, she finds that they are not alone - Jay is hosting a house party and the evening stretches before them with a candle lit dinner and dancing to the latest music on the gramophone. However, come the next morning one of their party is missing. A murder has taken place and while Greta didn't plan to spend her summer playing sleuth, she doesn't fancy just waiting around to see who's next to turn up dead!;

It is several decades since I read The Great Gatsby and I have to admit that this is a new author to me. However, the beautiful cover drew me in and I'm so happy I decided to read this one. It's a fine read and one I enjoyed. The period setting was maintained throughout and it was well-written with a grand cast of characters and a puzzling mystery. If you enjoy period mysteries, I would definitely recommend this. For me, 4*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

It’s 1992, and Jay Gatsby, his sister Greta, and some friends gather for a get-together at Gatsby’s mansion. The next morning, Tom is missing. His wife, his brother, the other party guests, and the staff all come under suspicion, especially when he is found dead.

Secrets and lies, and past family issues come to the surface during the investigation, throwing in misdirection with the police getting nowhere. Greta steps in to carry out her own sleuthing; I liked Greta’s character, but felt that some of her exploits were a bit far-fetched for the era. There were a few references back to the original Great Gatsby, which was enjoyable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Renegade Books and Claire Anderson-Wheeler for the eARC.

As a fan of the original Gatsby, I had fairly high expectations of this spin-off. I rather enjoyed that the objectionable Tom got his comeuppance rather than Jay Gatsby and applauded the new Daisy, who exhibited some backbone. Some of the other characters paled in comparison with their originals, but it was good to ‘meet’ them again. Greta proved herself, though one or two of her exploits gave me pause – I just couldn’t picture a young woman of those times in those particular circumstances – but it is a good fun read when considered as unrelated to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story.

Finally free of the educational demands placed on her by her older brother Jay, twenty-one-year-old Greta Gatsby returns to the palatial Gatsby Mansion in West Egg. With a new, and very modern, haircut that she is sure her brother will disapprove of, she has plans to have an idyllic summer before deciding where her life goes from here.

When she arrives, she finds Jay in company with his usual set of friends drawn from New York high society - Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Tom's brother Edgar, Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker. she is less than pleased about some of these people being here when she was hoping for some rare time alone with her brother, but settles in to make the best of a glamourous evening of eating, drinking, and making merry to the sound of the latest gramophone tunes.

Inevitably, the night ends with drama brought on by too much alcohol, but no one expects one of their number to be missing when the morning comes. Tom Buchanan is found dead, with a gun shot to his head. Suicide seems the likely cause, but Greta is not so sure. Instead of leisurely pursuits, Greta is determined to get to the bottom of the death by emulating her favourite Agatha Christie detectives and turning sleuth.

In a delicious twist on one of my favourite classic tragedies, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Claire Anderson-Wheeler takes his unforgettable characters and shapes their story in a very entertaining Jazz Age, country house murder mystery.

The story unfurls through the eyes of Jay Gatsby's determined young sister Greta, who brings Enola Holmes energy to the piece by not taking the death of overbearing, and morally dubious Tom Buchanan at face value as a suicide. While plenty of drama takes place in the Gatsby household, in the wake of the death, rife with complicated tangle of grief-fuelled, guilt ridden, and recrimination rich emotions (with the added spice of a jewel robbery), Greta (an avid Agatha Christie fan) gets to work tracking down clues which might reveal a murderer amongst them - and her investigation takes the story to some surprising places.

There are lovely twists and turns, with plenty of Christie like misdirection, and Anderson-Wheeler pays homage to Fitzgerald's original by delving into the same themes of old vs new money, reputation, social mobility, and love. She also incorporates a host themes about the hopes, dreams, and freedoms of women in the 1920s by telling her story through the voice of Greta, especially around the social conscience she develops over the course of the book. There is a of thought-provoking hard-edge to the whole piece about the horrendous history of the American Protective League too, and the shocking misdeeds perpetrated in the name of enforcing patriotism and stifling dissent, which sent me down a lot of unsettling rabbit holes.

Inevitably, Anderson-Wheeler's characters differ from Fitzgerald's in a number of ways. Gatsby here is much more vulnerable than we have seen him before, and the self-absorbed Daisy actually redeems herself somewhat before the final page is turned. Jordan is much more likeable too. But the winners for me are Nick Carraway (as always), with his sense, bravery, and depth of feeling, and the eminently charming, plucky Greta. I also loved the way Anderson-Wheeler adds a bit of frisson through the gentle romantic tension she builds between Greta and Nick.

I thoroughly enjoyed this page-turning reimagining, and all its lush Jazz Age vibes. There is scope for a sequel too, which I would dearly love to read!

1922:

Greta Gatsby is 21, he younger sister to Jay and has finished finishing school. A long summer awaits her at the Gatsby Mansion.

However, when she arrives at the estate she finds she isn't the only visitor. Jay is hosting a party for the great and good of New York: Daisy and Tom Buchanan, along with his brother Edgar, Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker.

They all meet for dinner but at the end of the evening one of them has dissapeared.

I'll start by saying that I didn't really gel with this book, although I don't know why. It is broadly based on the same characters as the Great Gatsby, I've never seen the film or read the book, which doesn't help, but it is a standalone book in its own right. It is at heart a murder mystery, with little or no romance involved, which is the audience that it is intended for, but not what I normally read. There are plenty of twists and turns and the reveal was totally unexpected for me, those who enjoy such mysteries will surely enjoy it, hence my scoring of 4*.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

The Gatsby Gambit is a cracking golden-age murder mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

It takes place in the world of Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and Daisy Buchanan, but it needn't have. The characters could have been anyone; the plot needed only a historical setting with a big house and servants.

If you enjoyed Golden Age whodunnit mysteries then I would absolutely recommend you read this book.