The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao

Published in 2025, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club has become a USA Today Bestseller and now has a sequel called The Mortal Enemy Murder Club, releasing in July of this year. It features amateur sleuths and unlikely friendships, as well as a man that doesn't have a sense of smell. It deals with death, gun violence, infidelity, kidnapping, grief, murder, and a run in with a loan shark.

Kathryn Hu is in love and her boyfriend Tucker is basically the perfect guy. He understands about her long work hours, he's a hard worker himself, he's compassionate and caring, and he always knows the right thing to say when she's had a terrible day - which is happening more and more often! But after one particularly hard day at work, she surprises him by showing up at his apartment to find him not only with another woman, but proposing to her. Devastated doesn't even begin to cover it. But what Kat finds in Tucker's other girlfriend Olivia is a understanding ear and maybe even a friendship she never expected. Which is exactly what she needs when they find another girlfriend of Tucker's, and then his dead body. Now, fresh off of heartbreak and with chips on their shoulders, these women know that they look like prime suspects. They must put their new friendship to the test and work together to clear their names and the only way to do that is to find out who killed their ex-boyfriend.

This seemed like such a fun premise to a book, I picked it up at the beginning of the year and have been excited to read it. I will admit I was a bit disappointed. It tries to be a funny, quirky, cozy mystery and it just doesn't fully deliver. It wasn't particularly well written and the characters come off flat, it's hard to identify or to empathize with them because I just didn't care enough about them. The best part was finding out the roots of common sayings. And I really didn't like the ending when you find out who the killer was. There's not really much else to say.

I'm giving The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club 3.25 stars out of 5. There was nothing wrong with it, there just wasn't much right with it either. It was just middle of the road and nothing exciting. As for the sequel, I'm not interested.

For more from the author, check out https://gloriachao.wordpress.com/

Pairs well with scallion pancakes and subscribing to life alert.

The best quote:

"What was the worst that could happen? He comes home, sees us, and tries to propose to all of us at the same time?"