During a round of scouring lists for my next batch of reads, a little voice in my head told me that I should probably cool it with books with “murder” in the title. I didn’t (immediately) disagree. However, I spotted Welcome to Murder Week among other new releases. Reading the description I saw phrases like “witty,” “murder mystery,” and “small British town.” Thus, I had no choice but to pack that little voice away where it would be snugly stowed until a later date (TBD).

 

Mystery lovers are invited to Peak District to immerse themselves in a classic English village whodunit as townspeople all participate in the performance that challenges attendees to identify the murderer by the end of the week. Village cottages become packed with excited and eager fans who sought out this specific adventure -- with one exception. When going through her late mother’s belongings, Cath discovers two tickets to the event. Cath is confused and struggles to figure out why her mother would want to travel to England for this and bring her along. Her mother was barely in her life so the difficulty in deciphering her intentions is perfectly understandable. When Cath learns the ticket is not refundable, she decides to go --  if only to try to solve the mystery of her mother’s motivation for the trip.

 

Cath is assigned two teammates, Wyatt and Amity, who are also each traveling solo. Luckily for Cath, they’re just as invested in her personal mystery as the staged one they came for. (They are, of course, even more invested in Cath’s potential relationship with a local bartender named Dev.) With additional support from the event’s organizer Germaine, Cath starts to uncover clues that slowly reveal her mother’s connection to the town of Willowthorp.

 

Welcome to Murder Week was a fun twist on typical mystery novels with the meta element of trying to solve the fake murder along with Cath and her team. The pacing and affable characters also made for an engaging read. While the central murder mystery might be fake, the appeal to lovers of classic British whodunits is very real.