Book: Invitation to a Killer

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Author: G.M. Malliet

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Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced audio copy.

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Invitation to a killer was an interesting idea that had a bland execution but was still very enjoyable.

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Author Augusta Hawke is approached by the wife of a political lobbyist, Callie Morgan, to ghostwrite her memoirs. Augusta does not want to do it but she attends a dinner party thrown by Callie anyway. A respected doctor dies at this dinner party, and the assumption is a heart attack. Augusta is not convinced and later invites everyone who attended the party to a writer’s retreat to solve the mystery.

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The idea of a locked room mystery where all the players get to leave the room was very intriguing. All aspects of that worked really well and were written well. My problem with the book was how over explained everything is. I felt like author G.M. Malliet did not trust I would be able to draw any conclusions that she did not spell out and clarify for me. This was frustrating. The worst case of this was the epilogue. The epilogue basically summed up the whole book and explained it to us like we were a child. I can only speak for myself but I do not need that kind of hand holding in my books.

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Despite the issues I described I keep thinking about the story. It was so well crafted. Just how great the story was is enough for me to deal with the explanations and want to recommend this book. It’s quick and a lot of fun.

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Final score 3/5