This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

There is something very appealing about the widows as they Ilive their lives in Little Shaw, they attend their yoga and keep fit, weed the community areas and gather at the library. The idyllic life that could work for so many has a twist as murders keep happening and Ginny and her fellow widows look into things.and see what they can find out. Lives aren’t perfect and there are mistakes made, balls dropped and arguments had, and that adds to the book . Whilst it clearly isn’t real, with older ladies digging into police business and setting up murder boards and taking notes in their address books, there is something fun about it all. A lovely read.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine


Its been some time since I have read this author and I'd forgotten how enjoyable their books were
I really enjoyed this

very much recommended

I requested this from NetGalley before realizing it was book three in a series—but how could I resist a title with the word skulduggery in it?

Set in a mythical English village that could almost pass for rural Ireland with its endless cups of tea, this cosy mystery was a delight. From the moment a human skull crashes a wedding, Ginny and her fellow widowed amateur sleuths—JM, Tuppence, and Hen—get drawn into a mystery laced with old grudges, family feuds, and charming village drama.

Even though I hadn’t read the previous books, I still enjoyed getting to know Ginny, (I will grab any book featuring a library or a librarian) with a wry sense of humour and a job that “literally requires her to read the latest Lisa Jewell” (who is an auto-buy author for me!). I loved her relatable quirks—like preferring bikini shopping over certain encounters (no spoilers), and attending a “shake and shuffle” fitness class—and her friendship circle, complete with duck-egg blue dinner invitations and relatable introvert Connor, who declares “that was way too much peopling for this time of day.” – these characters are my people!

There were only a handful of moments where I felt I’d have known the characters more deeply had I read books one and two, but it certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. The mystery had depth and a little twist, but it was the tone—that warm, witty, tea-and-biscuits energy—that really won me over.

Beneath the mystery were threads of grief, aging, and widowhood—handled with heart and subtlety. The widows’ bond, their determination, and the small-village secrets made this both a page-turner and a feel-good read.

I can’t wait to recommend my book club try this series.

Perfect for fans of: Richard Osman and anyone who loves their mysteries with heart, humour, and a whole lot of tea.

I haven’t read the first two books in this series but I had no trouble getting right into the feel of the town and our main character. The mystery gets going right from the beginning and I was hooked from the first chapter. It’s a cozy small town British mystery, which is always a yes for me. This book is written well and keeps your attention. I love the dynamic of the group of sweet and sassy older women solving crime together. I will definitely be going back to read the first two books in this series and anticipating the next!

When a skull is found at a wedding, the widows suspect that the wedding has been sabotaged. Once another body is uncovered, Ginny and her friends must uncover family secrets and village rivalries to get to the truth. An enjoyable cozy mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This was a fun mystery novel, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

Lacking some of the sparkle of the first two novels in this series it is still an enjoyable addition to the Widows' Detective Club, a truly compelling series. What I really missed was the rapport between Ginny and D.I. James Wallace - which didn't materialise until the very end, but it was nice to see a bit more of Brandon - definitely one of my current favourite canine characters.
The plot didn't really grip me this time either, it wad convoluted rather than complex, and the 'guest' characters were under developed and thus under written.
I can't help thinking that it is always better to spend some time refining plot and characters rather than churning out novel after novel to add to an ongoing series.
I hope the fourth in the series will be a return to form from an author I highly admire.

Little Shaw’s librarian Ginny Cole is attending a wedding which, from the start, has been a little strained! When a skull rolls to a stop at the feet of the bride chaos reigns and it's clear no-one will be getting married anytime soon! After it becomes clear the skull is part of a case years earlier the police lose interest, meaning Ginny and her three friends can investigate to their hearts content. Secrets, village rivalries, and an unapproachable new police inspector mean the four sleuths are left to decipher everything themselves, but when a second murder takes place and the danger increases they find they're once again at the centre of everything!

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Storm Publishing, but the opinions expressed are my own. Book three in this fun series is the best yet. It's definitely found its feet and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Amanda Ashby’s The Widow’s Guide to Skulduggery is a charmingly quirky entry in the cozy crime genre — think The Thursday Murder Club meets Midsomer Murders, with just the right mix of mischief and mayhem.

When a skull shows up at a wedding (delivered by the ring-bearing dog, no less), Ginny Cole and her fellow widowed sleuths — JM, Tuppence, and Hen — dive headfirst into yet another mystery. What starts as a strange disruption quickly unearths long-buried secrets, tangled village rivalries, and a decades-old death that may not be as settled as everyone thought.

The strength of this book lies in its characters. The “Widows’ Detective Club” is full of wit, loyalty, and unexpected emotional depth. Ashby writes older women not as stereotypes, but as vibrant, clever investigators who are still evolving in their second act. Their camaraderie is the soul of the story, and it’s easy to root for them.

That said, newcomers to the series may find the large cast a bit overwhelming at first. The plot can also feel more whimsical than logical in places — with a few red herrings and detours that don’t quite land. But those are minor quibbles in a story that’s clearly designed more for fun than forensic realism.

This is a feel-good mystery with teeth. There’s enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages, but the real pleasure is in the ride — cocktails, curses, chaos, and all.

Verdict: A warm, witty, and lightly twisted cozy mystery that proves murder is just another reason to get the gang back together.

A wedding that didn’t happen led to the uncovering of previous murders, infidelity and cartography lies. This is the third in a series, but could be read as a standalone. A wonderful array of characters, interesting villages and a subtle use of humour all leads to a most entertaining story. I eagerly look forward to the next instalment to see where life takes Ginny and her friends. I also enjoyed reading about the West family, and hope they have a role in the next book. This is a delightful series, partly because it has older women as the main characters, but also the plotting is very good. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an ARC to read and honestly review.

Title: The WIdow’s Guide to Skulduggery
Series: The Widow’ Detective Club Book #3
Author: Amanda Ashby
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pub Date : June 30, 2025
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages: 280

Saturday July 26, 2025 is a perfect day for a wedding. The sky is blue with a light breeze keeping the July weather any bride would kill for that is if this crazy wedding party didn’t already kill each other first.
The wedding photographer calls her employer that she had not signed up for this circus and isn’t staying any longer!
The next thing a human skull gatecrashes this big day, as a dog digs up a skull and dumps it at the bride’s feet. The wed it officially becomes the worst wedding ever!
The widows are attending this wedding and Ginny Cole suspect that this day was deliberately sabotaged. Together with her fellow widows in crime-solving: JM, Tuppence, and Hen, she decides to uncover who wanted this marriage dead on arrival.

The police have no interest in a twenty-year-old skull, so Ginny and her friends have free rein to investigate. But untangling a web of family feuds and ancient village rivalries soon escalates into much more when a new body turns up…

Although this is Book #3 in this series it was my first - so I had a bit of catching up. I did enjoy it and I just may go back and read the other two!

Want to thank NetGalley and Storm Publishers for granting me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 30, 2024

I am really into this series. It’s cute and funny and has great characters. It’s also a good mystery! Very happy to read this and can’t wait for more!

Thankyou Netgalley for the digital copy!
I struggled a bit to get into the story as I hadn't read the previous volumes. The plot is interesting: during a wedding a skull, belonging to a murder/suicide case, is found, after that the widows murder club starts the investigations; who put it there? Why? Unfortunately, I found all the story a little bit complex to follow because of the large number of characters. A lot of them had posh and pretentious names, them and the village setting reminded me some episodes from Midsomer Murders(I love this series, so it was a good thing). Overall I found the narration a little bit slow for my reading standard, with a lack of climax, but the last chapters were more dynamic and I didn’t see that plotwist coming.
The cover was really pretty!

In the third instalment of the Widows' Detective Club series, THE WIDOW'S GUIDE TO SKULDUGGERY, we return to the small village of Little Shaw when the discovery of a human skull on a wedding day threatens to tear the happy couple and their families apart. We follow Ginny as she and her group of friends (and fellow widows) investigate the truth behind a long-solved murder case and unravel an old village rivalry.

With relatable characters and twists at every turn, this is an un-put-downable cosy mystery with surprisingly good representation of small British village bickering/rivalry. What really sets it apart, though, is the interweaving of widowhood, grief and aging. The author touches on them delicately - even with humour - without dwelling, without cliché and in a way that feels wholly organic to the characters who still find room to grow. Grief becomes a person's new normal, and it's comforting to see this represented - don't worry, this book doesn't wave it around as a giant plot point and it's still cosy.

Rating: 4.5* rounded up for NetGalley (not quite 5* due to large cast making it a little harder to keep track of, mystery sometimes far-fetched but not a big deal)
Pages: 280
Vibes: small community, family/village rivalry, mystery
Verdict: If you like cosy mysteries I recommend this series - read it in order though, or you might be a bit lost with the cast list!

With thanks to NetGalley, Storm Publishing & Amanda Ashby for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4* A cosy British mystery

The widow ladies are sleuthing into a 20-year old crime in this third book of the Widows' series.

Carrying a skull in it's mouth, a ring-bearing dog disrupts a wedding group about to enter the church, the occasion turns into chaos. The skull belongs to a local woman believed murdered by her husband who promptly committed suicide. As the official case was closed long ago, when the ladies decide to discover who/why/what uncovered the skull, for once they won't be accused of meddling in current police matters.

Jealousy, intrigue, revenge, battling families, rival towns and a decades old curse, all make up life in the Lancashire village of Little Shaw. Most of the characters from the previous two books reappear, DC Wallace returns from his holiday in the nick of time.

A fun easy read, don't question the plot too much, it's a light-hearted read with everything neatly tied up in the final pages.

With thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this book, this review is my personal, unbiased opinion.

"When a human skull gatecrashes her friends' big day, it officially becomes the worst wedding Ginny Cole has ever been to. But as the assembled guests await the police, the two families staring daggers at each other across the aisle, Ginny starts to suspect that these nuptials were deliberately sabotaged. Together with her fellow widows in crime-solving, JM, Tuppence and Hen, she decides to uncover who wanted this marriage dead on arrival.

The police have no interest in a twenty-year-old skull, so Ginny and her friends have free rein to investigate. But untangling a web of family feuds and ancient village rivalries soon escalates into much more when a new body turns up...

The widows have stumbled into a devious plot decades in the making, but can they find their way to the truth before one of them joins the village body count...?

An utterly delightful and gripping cozy mystery full of unconventional characters, fantastic twists and shadowy village secrets. The Widows' Detective Club is perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Sarah Yarwood-Lovett and Robert Thorogood."

Wait, the police really don't care about a twenty-year-old skull!?! That's a crime right there!

This starts off right away with a wedding that goes wrong. With all the fighting and a skull turning up, the widow’s are off and running. They think because the case is closed, that investigating won’t cause problems. I like this small town and the group of people that form it. The investigation was ok until towards the end when a new murder happens. Then the story picked up. The last few chapters were the best, especially the reveal because I didn’t expect who it was. Look forward to more of this setting and characters.

It was so good to be back with the Detective Club again! I fell in love with the characters in book one and have since enjoyed the next two mysteries, Ginny is the new Jessica Fletcher with her ability to be found amidst murder and mayhem and with her clever ways of piecing clues together.
In this mystery, a beautiful wedding is interrupted, firstly by arguments between the warring families of the bride and groom and secondly with the discovery of a human skull.
This reopens a case from 20 years ago- one that was thought to be solved. Ginny and her friends begin hunting for clues, chatting with people and trying to stay out of the way of the police, It turns out there is much more than just one murder to solve so the ladies have their hands full.
The stories are perfectly crafted and cosy and the characters leap off the pages with their big personalities and unique perspectives.

Love this series and can’t wait for more!

This is a cozy mystery written for light reading, though I found it heavy-going and throughly predictable. There's a library, a cat, and a cartoon village rivalry which would give the Hatfields and McCoys a few tips.

This book follows a group of four late-aged women who fill their time investigating murders, or in this case a curse that is strong enough to break up Romeo and Juliet.

This is the 3rd book in the series for Ginny Cole and her murder club. The premise of the series is that a widow could relocate and have happy, friend-filled, adventures in a second life. Some readers will find this fantasy alluring, though the grief of losing a spouse permeates the book. We have our heroine but there's a whole collection of folks doing that actual investigations. The characters aren't very distinct so it's hard to follow, or know why, there are four when one or two could get the job done.

Lots of the plot is under-researched and contrived so that the investigators can't find answers. But they seem to be looking in the wrong places or stopped by artificial road blocked constructed by the author. I was willing to go with the flow, but the ending just pissed me off. The author's plot gymnastics to get her heroine in place for the big reveal just took things a step too far. I deducted an entire star just for the ending. It's a slap in the face for any thoughtful mystery reader.

It feels like I should go back and read the first two books in the series before this one. The author tries to get the reader up to speed about the characters, but I was more than a little lost in all the new people and relationships tossed into the first chapter. Not to mention the curse and a gruesome find.

The characters are written for an older generation who seem to wear their technophobia as a badge of honor. The audience for this type of book is definitely aging-out.