I really enjoyed this book. It had a great storyline and setting. The characters are very believable. An easy read and entertaining.

The Widow’s Guide to Murder is a delightful cozy mystery that checks all the right boxes for fans of the genre. Our protagonist, 60-year-old Ginny, is starting over in a new town with a fresh job as a librarian—only to stumble upon the body of her boss on her second day.
Ginny is a wonderful main character, and the library setting (plus the presence of a cat!) makes for a charming atmosphere. The pacing is a bit slow at times, and it took me a little while to warm up to the other widows, but overall, this was a lovely read with just the right mix of mystery and warmth.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this booked. The cover really captured my attention from the off. Looking forward to more books in this series!

The Widow's Guide to Murder (The Widow's Detective Club series) is the wonderful debut British cozy mystery by Amanda Ashby. The characters are likable, caring and humorous. The cozy mystery kept me guessing with some twists to keep it interesting. Ginny Cole recently lost her husband and is grieving and is at a loss on what she wants to do. She moves to a small British village and begins work at the local community library. She has no library experience and her boss is unpleasant and demanding. When Ginny finds her awful boss dead, things get interesting. Ginny meets three widows, Tuppence, JM, and Hen who help her with her grief and they investigate the suspects and gather clues together. They are great characters and friends. Hen's daughter is one of the suspects. Ginny's next door neighbor is he Detective on the case and they don't get along at first. There is friendship and humor that make this book so enjoyable. The 2nd book in the series is due out soon which I am looking forward to seeing the escapades of the widows. This is a very enjoyable cozy mystery. #TheWidowsGuideToMurder #TheWidowsDetectiveClub #StormPublishing #AmandaAshby

☆5☆

⇝ Chicklit
⇝ Women's Fiction
⇝ Thriller
⇝ Mystery
⇝ Crime
⇝ Series (1 of ...)


Main Attention ~ Ginny
The only thing Ginny thought she was best at was being Mrs. Cole, Cole's wife. After his death, she has been adrift - moving to a new to a new town where she doesn't know anyone, starting a job as a library assistant when she has no experience in that field, and backing into her shell of loneliness as the days passed by. However, when an unexpected death occurs in the small town, Ginny teams up with the other widows to get to the bottom of it.

I loved Ginny a lot. Patient, kind, reliable, intelligent, trustworthy, and resourceful. I enjoyed reading her solve the mystery one by one while maintaining her composure around the other wild widows. It was beautiful to see how she opened up to her new friends and quickly fit in with them.


Other Voices ~
Hen, JM, and Tuppence were funny yet amazing part of the story. Each with distinct personalities and expertise but one thing in common - they were widows. They decide to take Ginny under their wing when the murder gets pinned on Hen's daughter.

I loved Conner too - a misunderstood teenager whose default mode is indifference. It made me like Ginny more the way she treated him throughout the story.


Musings~
The writing and the plot were such a page turner! I was hooked right from the beginning, guessing alongside the characters the answers to the mystery. I enjoyed the comedic breaks too which were delivered perfectly by the other characters.


Parting Thoughts~
I am really excited for the next book in the series. This was a very good cozy mystery and I highly recommend.

If you are a fan of The Thursday Murder Club, I would say this has similar vibes. Maybe a little more of a homely vibe than TMC.

This book follows some widows in a small English town who are trying to solve a murder. It quickly becomes quite the case, and they are thankful for their new addition Ginny.

This story offers crime/mystery, funny older ladies, a young grumpy detective, and small town drama. It was a fun read, that left you guessing who was behind it all! I changed my guesses multiple times and didn't arrive at the right conclusion until it was revealed. It was nice to be kept guessing!

I definitely recommend this book!

Thank you Net Galley and Amanda Ashby for the ARC.

I really enjoyed The Widows’ Guide to Murder, which is the first book that I’ve read by Amanda Ashby. The story is very much a cosy crime novel with a cast of wonderful older ladies - Ginny, Hen, Tuppence and JM are a likeable group of widows who decide to investigate a murder which implicates Hen’s daughter. The plot twists and turns in very unexpected ways and kept me guessing right up until the very end as I found myself suspecting anyone and everyone! If you love books by Richard Osman and Robert Thorogood then this new series is for you! I’m looking forward to reading book 2. Highly recommended for a fast paced, fun read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A quick and cozy little murder mystery set in a small town in England. Ginny doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into when she accepts a part time job as a librarian in her new town, only to find the curmudgeonly head librarian dead in her office. After a group of fellow widows take her under her wing and solicit her help in finding the murderer, Ginny finds herself on a whirlwind adventure. Perfect book to cozy up with a good cuppa tea and snuggle down.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book. This is an easy read story. Ginny, a recently widowed lady has moved into a new village and on her second day working at the library finds the body of her boss! As the story unfolds Ginny is drawn into a friendship group of Widows who are trying to solve the murder mystery. The characters are all slightly quirky, but mean well.
A crime story that never challenged the reader. The culprit was unexpected though.

I loved this first book in the Widows' Detective Club series! It's a wonderful addition to the works featuring more seasoned protagonists heading into a new chapter of their lives. Ginny and the other widows were interesting and well-developed, and their adventures were so entertaining. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters and the village. I have the next book ready to go and I can't wait to read it! Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the advance digital copy!

ARC Review📚 Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. The Widows Guide to Murder by Amanda Ashby. This is the first book in The Widows Detective Club series. I really love a good cozy mystery! Ginny moves to a small town after her husband passes away. She becomes an assistant librarian at her local library. A few days later she discovers the body of the librarian Louisa Farnsworth. Who could have possibly killed her? Ginny notices some details on the body that the police didn’t notice. In comes a group of local busybody widows who befriend Ginny. Together they decide to investigate who murdered Louisa Farnsworth. But this is only the first murder! There are lots of twists and turns, dead ends and mayhem. Overall I found this book to be very enjoyable and fun to read. Looking forward to reading the second book in the series!

Ginny is a widow that has moved to a small community, she volunteers at the local library, but the second day she turns up she finds a body. She starts investigating on who would kill the woman, she’s a great sleuth and finds out she needs to find something. Along with a few others in the village will they find the killer? This was a fun murder mystery, it’s easy going and the chapters flow. Loved the wee cat too, he was a good character in the book. Looking forward to reading the next one in this series. A 4 star read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Thank you Storm Publishing for the ARC of this book.

The Widows’ Guide to Murder is a delightful and engaging cozy mystery, filled with wit and charm. As my first cozy mystery, this was a refreshing change from my usual reads, and I found it highly entertaining. I also found it heartwarming to see Ginny gradually open up to the community and the friendships she formed in Little Shaw Village, even in the midst of a murder investigation. It is a pretty short read as well, although I did feel that some part of it on the beginning and the last part were kind of stretched out, it is still a charming read and I recommend checking out when it releases.

I enjoyed this cozy!! The main character, Ginny has recently become widowed and has moved to a small town to start over. She meets a group of women, also widowed who welcome her into their silly, meddling antics around the town.
Taking a job at the local library seemed like a low-key way to get out in the community but when the head librarian is found murdered, she is caught up in a mystery that her new friends need to solve.
I enjoyed the point of view from an older main character and will be looking out for others in the series!
Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this advanced reader copy.

The Widows’ Guide to Murder follows recently widowed Ginny Cole as she leaves Bristol for Little Shaw, and joins a hang of fellow widows, JM, Tuppence and Hen. When Ginny new boss is murdered at the local library, the four local ladies take it upon themselves to solve the case.

If you love books like The Thursday Murder Club and The Marlow Murder Club, you’ll love The Widows’ Guide to Murder. I instantly fell in love with the characters Ashby had created, and was so drawn into the story.

Ashby kept me guessing the whole way and the twist at the end was so unexpected. Highly enjoyed this cosy mystery and cannot wait to read the sequel.

Thank you for an advanced copy of this book. I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next instalment of this series! I was kept in the edge of my seat all along and just when I thought I’d cracked the case, everything changed!

Recently widowed Ginny moves to a small and quiet (or so she thought) village. There, she starts working at the local library and meets a quirky group of widows, who help them solve a murder.

I enjoyed this book, although sometimes I got confused with so many characters.

This is perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club.

I'm so happy to see more and more books set around midlife and later women. Ginny was a hoot and the mystery kept me guessing! I'm so glad it looks like this is the first of a series because I didn't want it to end! I cant wait to see where this series goes next!

As far as cosy mysteries involving old ladies in quaint villages go (I know that sounds oddly specific), this was a pretty standard read. Someone knits. Lots of tea. A grumpy policeman. A large number of suspects and plenty of red herrings.

Oh, there's a cat too. Obviously.

In other words, I find this to be a pretty average read? This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you're looking for. If you'd want something undemanding to read, I'd recommend this book.

Ginny is quite a sweet character. Still mourning the death of her husband, Eric, and finding herself in an unfamiliar environment, she struggles to navigate life. Even so, I liked that even though Ginny is unsure of herself half the time and is reluctant to try new things (at her age, that's pretty understandable), she still goes for it anyway. Her kindness is also an asset; without being conscious of it, Ginny is actually really good at keeping the peace and getting through to people.

Having said that, I find the rest of the widows to be somewhat background-ish. Hen did get some screentime as her daughter Alyson ended up as a prime suspect for the murder, but on the whole Tuppence and JM didn't seem to have very strong presence. However, this is the first book in a series (at least 2 books are out now), perhaps they are meant to do more in the future. Fingers crossed.

For the murder mystery, I did find myself very intrigued by the case. However, I'd have to say that I find the resolution to be rather disappointing, given that I didn't see how some of the details fit together. I'm not saying it's downright impossible for the murderer to do those things, but it certainly was stretching my disbelief.

**spoilers alert**

At the reveal, I had so many questions. Really, Rita is strong enough to do wrestle two other ladies into a van? The book tried to explain how she got that strong (she works at a pub and had to lift beer kegs), but there's a difference between carrying beer kegs and fighting live human beings. Also, she had an affair with Tom Allan just so she could find more information? I felt that given how Tom just started blabbing about the murder he witnessed when he got tipsy, couldn't Rita just I don't know, get him drunk more often, especially when she has access to copious amounts of alcohol? Also it was revealed that Tom, initially thought to have drowned in a flood, was actually strangled beforehand. How did the police/forensic scientists miss that cause of death?

**end of spoilers**

All in all, this was a decent read despite the solution to the murder mystery wasn't all that satisfying. Maybe keep your expectations low? Ginny, for me, is a character worth rooting for and I'd like to see more of her growth. I certainly enjoyed it enough to continue with the series, as I am already reading the sequel 'The Widows' Guide to Backstabbing'!

This was a really cute cozy mystery read. I enjoyed the flow of the story and the characters were likeable. A very easy going lighthearted read. Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this