The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair by Mackenzie Common ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I absolutely loved this book. Nonagenarian Daphne St Clair lives in a retirement home, her friend dies and there unfolds the story of her life and the murders she committed and got away with. Ruth is a broke, out of work journalist who brings the story to life. Loved the characters, there are some twists. Published date 19 June 2025.

I was excited to read this book? I loved the premise and I have to admit I kind of loved Daphne’s character. She was not your typical 90 year old grandma, she was a sharp and take no nonsense kind of woman right up until the end, despite the frailty of her body.

Daphne’s life experiences is a familiar tale to so many women and a stark reminder of how these types of experiences can shape people in different ways. Daphne was determined to reclaim her power and refused to lose her confidence. She still tried to hold the moral high ground despite all the people she murdered.

A total contrast to Ruth who I struggled to enjoy her character, I just found her to be too self-pitying. And I absolutely refuse to believe that she never considered anyone closer to home as her father’s murderer. I feel like I saw that coming from the start! It couldn’t have been more obvious.

Overall this was an enjoyable and easy read

Great book and feisty main character. She is now 90 years old and confesses to the murdering 6 men, most of them were her husbands. A different story subject and a different type of read.

When an elderly woman calls the police to confess to killing her boyfriend the police don’t quite know what to do with her. The death had been put down to old age so a confession out of the blues has them completely stumped so they leave her in the home while they put a case against her together. During this time Daphne decides to confess all her crimes to a podcaster and so the remarkable story of Daphne St Clair is slowly unravelled.

I absolutely loved this book. Told through the podcast transcripts we learn about her remarkable life and how she came from being dirt poor to extremely wealthy by disposing of husbands along the way.

So let’s star with the pros. (I feel like this book needs a list rather than a review!
- [ ] Novel concept, elderly lady wants to confess to many murders, that’s pretty interesting.

Oh dear, I seem to have run out of pros. Let’s move on to the cons then shall we?
- [ ] I think this would just fall under literature, there’s no mystery or psychological aspect to it at all.
- [ ] A lot of luck sprinkled throughout this book to get the characters where the author needed them to be.
- [ ] Awful characters - all of them.
- [ ] Maybe a little too much creative license taken to be believable?

And that’s my review really. Basically, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m sorry to the author for being so blunt.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher to the ARC.

So engaging, twisty and it had me on the edge of my seat throughout. Five stars. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

🔪☠️ the six murders of Daphne St Clair - Mackenzie Common ☠️🔪

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Publish date - 19th June 2025

Firstly thankyou to @netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Blurb - When Daphne confesses to killing a number of men throughout her lifetime, she chooses Ruth to produce the podcast reporting her story. Each episode charts Daphne’s humble beginnings from the Dust Bowl in Canada to her glittering life in 70s New York - and a string of murders in her wake.

Daphne tells her story. Ruth listens. And edits it.

The public are hooked. Is she a feminist icon taking revenge on bad men? Or just a ruthless criminal? Then, as the podcast finale approaches, it becomes clear that neither woman has been entirely honest with the other. Who has been controlling the narrative?

After all, the truth doesn’t always make for the best story...

My thoughts 💭 - i absolutely loved this one and flew through it. It’s a real page turner. Daphne is whitty as they come and I loved the concept of Ruth interviewing her and the other bloggers online views. The story is fast past and has some really good banter. Daphne is a real likeable character 😜

#arc #netgalley #bookreview #thesixmurdersofdaphnestclair #booksbooksbooks #bookblogger

You might want to think twice about that seemingly sweet old lady down the street. We seem to forget that elderly people have a past and that past may not be the June Cleaver housewife you imagine. 90-year-old Daphne St. Clair has just confessed to murder, multiple murders across several decades. But why confess? She's gotten away with it her whole life and no one suspected a thing. Journalist Ruth convinces Daphne to let her interview her for a true crime podcast where Daphne details each of her murders. But is Daphne telling the whole truth? And does Ruth no more about Daphne's murders than we think she does?

I enjoyed getting to know Daphne and her reasons behind her favorite pastime. As much as she is a monster, you can't help but appreciate her ruthlessness in a world where women are expected to be the little wife and mother while men make the money and take care of them. Daphne takes care of herself.

A very unique story of a 90 year old serial killer who is sharp and very unapologetic,her confessions are both compelling and, at times, chilling.
I enjoyed the dark humour and fresh take on the genre,I'm still undersided if I liked the character, but she definitely gives you food for thought.
An engaging read that I'd recommend
Thanks to Netgalley and Headline Books for the Arc.

I found this extraordinary and interesting. How a woman could get away with murder (or more than one) without being suspected or found out. A cleverly woven, intricate thriller that is gentle yet harsh. Such a wonderful read.

Daphne St Clair Is just your regular 90 year old grandma living in a nursing home. That is until her boyfriend Warren dies and Daphne confesses to murdering him as well as several other men during her lifetime.
She chooses local journalist Ruth Robinson to tell her story through a podcast, unaware that she has an ulterior motive.
The book goes back and forth from the past to the present as we learn about both their lives.
I really enjoyed this book, it was deliciously dark. I also liked the way the author used social media posts after each podcast episode - it’s just how people discuss what’s going on in the world today.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

When a 90 year old woman confesses to murdering several people the world and her family can't believe it. With the help of a podcast journalist she begins to tell her story but is it all true and does the journalist have her own ulterior motive for finding out?
A fictional take on a true crime interview with a killer idea. this book shows the mind of a female killer with hints of dark humour or sarcasm brought through social media comments. There are several trigger warnings needed for this book particularly abuse, rape, murder, suicide ans cancer. The book was an intriguing read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not sure the fashion blogger sections were really necessary and I skipped a number of these bits. definitely worth a read if u enjoyed The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and true crime podcasts.

Daphne is 90 years old grandma and lives in a care home for the elderly. An old man dies in the home who Daphne was supposed to be courting”. Daphne decides just after this to confess to murdering people throughout her lifetime. Why is the obvious question. Ruth who is a podcaster and broke is “chosen” by Daphne to tell the story of her 90 years. They are an interesting pair and butt heads on many occasions during their talks. Ruth is relatively mild mannered and just wants to get the story out there whereas Daphne leads her along and can be very cutting in her remarks. Ruth sometimes wonders what she has got herself into but she has a hidden agenda herself which comes out in the book. Daphne tells her story and throughout does not really see that she has done anything wrong as the people she killed on the whole deserved it. They were either not nice people i.e a man who beat up his wife and children or Daphne became disillusioned with the particular man she married mainly for the money and lifetime they afforded her and which she felt she was entitled to after a very poor childhood. One of the things that drives Daphne is that she wants her children to have everything she did not have and will do anything to make that happen. As the story continues Ruth finds it difficult to understand the reasoning behind Daphne’s life and the Police certainly are struggling with what to do with a 90 year old serial killer especially as the crimes which she is confessing to are difficult to prove. Obviously a story spanning so many years takes her through many eras of time and Daphne loved it all other than her young life was the most difficult for her living, as she did, in Canada through the Depression on a farm with nothing hence why she ran away to find her riches. The story is gripping and also sets out her relationship with her children, not quite estranged but almost. A story well worth reading

An elderly serial killer with a story to tell and a podcast to tell it through. Not your usual story and some suspension of belief required but then this is fiction so that's not unusual. Cleverly told and compelling.

Although this book was well set out and well constructed I sometimes had difficulty identifying whether it was Ruth or Daphane doing the narrative in between the podcast recording. There were so many names I got confused who was who. Quite a unique storyline, but left a lot of loose ends and unfinished business.

Have you ever wondered what The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo would be like if Evelyn killed the husbands? Meet Daphne St Clair.

When an elderly man is found dead at a care home everyone thinks he just died of old age, but then fellow resident Daphne St Clair confesses to his murder, and to more before him.

Podcaster Ruth decides to try and find out the truth about Daphne - why did she kill these people and more importantly- why did she confess?

On the surface this is another book in the popular ‘good for her’ killer woman genre, but it’s actually much more nuanced than that.

This book explores our obsession with true crime, the perfect victim and of course, the perfect killer.

In The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair, MacKenzie Common offers a moody, layered narrative that attempts to blend celebrity intrigue with a dark mystery—territory that will no doubt invite comparisons to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. While it's perhaps inevitable that readers will come to this novel hoping for a similar experience, it's important to approach Common’s work on its own terms. This is not Jenkins Reid, and expecting that level of polish or emotional complexity is setting the book up for unfair scrutiny.

That said, Daphne St Clair has a compelling pulse of its own. The premise is ripe with potential, and Common shows flashes of brilliance in atmosphere and character exploration. However, the writing doesn’t always live up to its ambitions. Certain elements, particularly the inclusion of internet sleuths, feel undercooked and at times insult the reader's intelligence, pulling away from the gravitas the story seems to be striving for.

Yes, the twists are largely predictable, and the "big reveals" lack the shock value that the genre often trades in. But strangely, that doesn’t diminish the book's appeal. Common manages to maintain a narrative grip that keeps the pages turning, and the emotional undercurrent—though not subtle—is effective enough to make the journey worthwhile.

In short, this is a novel that may ride the coattails of a more successful predecessor, but it still stands as an entertaining, if imperfect, mystery which I really enjoyed. For all its flaws, The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair is a book I thoroughly enjoyed, and I suspect many others will too—so long as they know what they’re getting into.

Daphne St Clair has lived an interesting life and she caps it with announcing she is a serial killer, after a man died in her care home. After several approaches, she decided that Ruth will be the one to tell her story through a podcast.

I enjoyed reading this but did feel a little unsatisfied at the end. There weren't particularly surprising twists and I don't think the book fully grappled with the ethical dilemmas of true crime podcasts despite briefly nodding to it with snippets of social media reactions. I thought more could have been done to intertwine these commentators with the plot as generally they faded away without much payoff. I also disagreed with the implied sympathy the book gives Daphne, even despite the challenges of her circumstances so struggled with some of the conclusion.

Overall, I'd say this was well written but not a book I'd be likely to reread or recommend to others.

I loved this. A totally different twist on a murder mystery where the murderer is a 90 year old woman who decides to confess. Why? We read on to find this out and what a back story she has to tell. Going back in time we learn that Daphnes treatment at the hands of certain men turn her into a strong and clever woman who ends up taking No nonsense. Ruth gets to tell her tale in a podcast and we learn that she has a hidden agenda in speaking to Daphne. I so enjoyed hearing of Daphnes life journey, the only thing that stopped me giving 5 stars wer the Reddit snippets which I ended up skipping as they just got annoying. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this early copy, and I will definitely be looking out for books by this author in the future. .

The Six Murders of Daphne St. Clair is a dark, atmospheric mystery that hooked me right from the start. MacKenzie Common creates a haunting setting and an intricate plot, weaving together suspense, character drama, and emotional depth. The slow unraveling of Daphne’s story was compelling, and I loved how the narrative played with memory, perception, and truth.