This week we are discussing Murder at the Book Club by Betsy Reavley. Ch. 7 - Ch. 12.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for Murder at the Book Club by Betsy Reavley.
Trigger/Content Warning!!! This book has scenes and discussion of such themes as: fatphobia, description of violence, violent crime.
Discussion:
Jacilyn: Hello friends, welcome to our second discussion of Murder at the Book Club. This section was basically just the detectives working their way through the gossip mill of the book club. Turns out, there’s a handful of members who had some tea on Toni, but it seems like much of it hadn’t come out before? With how catty these women seem to be towards each other, I’m honestly shocked that these things weren’t whispered behind backs before. But, then we have Kim saying that Toni was “the life and soul” of book club. Which is it? Was she as awful as she seemed? It didn’t appear that Toni made book club fun or fulfilling with her presence, to say the least.
Michaela: I’m very confused on how everyone felt about Toni. The way everyone talks about her it seems like none of them liked her but she’s “the life and soul” of the book club. Those two things don’t add up. Maybe they just mean it’s happening because of her and they felt like they couldn’t branch off without her. That I can understand.
What I thought was kind of sad is that Kim and Toni clearly used to be quite close. I wonder what really triggered their friendship to start distancing. Toni is incredibly secretive about her life for someone who thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention. Toni is a very confusing character and I don’t understand a lot of the choices she’s made or that people have said she’s made.
She was super protective of what was happening to her. She only told one person about the affair she had and that didn’t even seem like it was necessarily on purpose. Her current husband didn’t know about her previous affair. Most of her friends didn’t know much about her previous or current marriage besides who it was too. And she definitely was not going to tell anyone about her abortion. That isn’t something you ever need to share but most people tend to have one person to turn to, I don’t think Toni trusted anyone enough to do that. But I think a lot of these women didn’t trust the other women in the group. There’s a lot of secrets floating around this group.
Jacilyn: From the brief snippet we got from Toni’s perspective, it seems to me that every move of hers was calculated. She had an appearance she wanted to portray to the world. If Toni and Kim were ever as close as it seems, I have my doubts that Toni actually trusted her - or, that she had any sort of fondness for her at all, honestly. I think the only reason that the truth about the affair came out is because Toni got a little too drunk… which explains her distaste for alcohol at book club meetings.
I think the secrecy stems from that calculated control. The whole thing with Pauline and her husband feels like a move meant to ruin them. But that leads to the question - why? What was it about Pauline and her husband that threatened Toni? What about them caught her ire?
Speaking of Pauline, I was actually shocked that the police arrested her. There’s a motive, yes, but they didn’t even check her alibi before taking her away in cuffs. I guess I don’t know how similar the laws and police customs are to here, but the way Barrett and Palmer operate seems bizarre. I don’t know if it’s my ignorance, the writing itself, or what, but it’s been bothering me. I do agree that Pauline had a motive for wanting Toni dead, but she wouldn’t have benefited in any way beyond perhaps the satisfaction of revenge.
Michaela: I want to know why Toni was so guarded, she kept secrets from literally everyone in her life. Why didn’t she trust a single person? Wanting control is one thing but she took it to the extreme. I wonder if Toni started distancing herself from Kim partly because she thought Kim knew too much and she didn’t like that. The other reason Toni pretty much said herself, she didn’t like that Kim “stole” the attention a lot of the time when Toni liked being the center of attention.
Screwing over Pauline and Roger seems so random at this point for what we know of Toni. Why? Did she truly want to support someone but then lost the money? Or did she always intend to screw them over? But why? Why, why, why? I feel like that’s all I’m thinking about at this point in the book. Why is any of this happening?
I was also very surprised that they arrested Pauline but honestly Barrett seems just a little too excited at every interview to find the killer. And not in a “I want to do a good job” kind of way, he’s determined but almost in a bad way because of how fast he jumps to accusing people.
Now that we know the positioning of the body and that there was flower petals left in her hair, this was definitely a pre-meditated murder. For a while I considered it to be a spur of the moment, high emotion, unplanned murder kind of thing. But Toni was found not only naked, but in a compromising body position with a calling card of sorts. I think Barrett is too quick to dismiss Palmer’s serial killer idea. It’s not impossible that someone related to the book club is or is turning into a serial killer, it definetely seems like that kind of murder. Palmer may be wrong but Barrett doesn’t seem to respect his idea which bugs me.
Jacilyn: Barrett is just an asshole through and through, but I’m sure no one wants it to be a serial killer…. The work it would take and the fear they would have to contend with from the public would cause even more pressure than they’re already under. I do think Palmer is onto something, though. It’s certainly premeditated. I can see the petals and positioning being a calling card, or I could see it being symbolic of something personal.
Further evidence that this may be something personal would be Toni’s abortion, especially if she was raped by someone she knew, as Marion seems to suspect. I’m really not sure what to think as far as suspects yet. Despite some motives, none of the book club members seem like likely subjects at this point.
In addition to my ignorance of British police procedures and laws, I will also confess my ignorance of British medical privacy practices. That being said, I think Erica made it clear that she wasn’t supposed to be talking to people about Toni’s visit to the clinic. I would be absolutely furious if I had found out that a clinic employee had told someone I knew that I had been there.
Michaela: I have experience working in hospitals and through that have had the HIPPA privacy documents to sign and listen to informational lectures on many, many times. This is a full on HIPPA violation in the United States and I can only assume it is similar in England. I understand wanting to tell people juicy things that you see at work but with this kind of stuff it’s a really big no no. I would be devastated if someone told something like this to someone I knew without my permission. This is such a personal procedure, Toni did not need that. Erica made a mistake but I also think Marion shouldn’t have said anything either. She wasn’t supposed to know and Marion confronting Toni must have been such a terrible feeling for Toni especially with how much she liked to control her personal information. I feel horrible for Toni with this situation. At least Marion didn’t lecture her about not getting an abortion because let me tell you I had major anxiety waiting for that debate to happen (thankfully it never did). I was going to throw hands if it did. None of that in this space. Her body, her choice, people.
I’m very unsure about who may have committed this crime. I feel like there’s a few people who are a little suspicious but nothing concrete. Alfred, Marion’s husband, was a little suspicious with his not-so-willing-ness to help Roger with finding a lawyer for Pauline. He was not at all concerned about helping them in a timely manner. Janet and Shirley are very suspicious since we saw them agreeing to combine their alibis, which will definitely fall apart at some point. Side note, but do you think Janet might have a thing for Shirley? Because I am totally getting that vibe, that or she just really wants a friend’s company. I still think both Mike and Gerald are suspicious just because of Mike’s seeming hatred of Toni and Gerald’s love-obsession thing he seems to have for Toni. Gerald just gives me a really weird and off putting feeling. But with all of that in mind I still have no real idea who could have done this to Toni. It was such a specific positioning and it’s really troubling.
Jacilyn: The closest we got to anti-choice bullshit was Marion saying that Toni did a “terrible” thing, thankfully. I agree that it was probably awful for Toni to be confronted by Marion in that way. Even though Erica told Marion, she should have kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her business, and she knew it.
I can’t tell what Janet’s deal is, but I do think there’s something about the way she interacted with Shirley that felt off. It could be that Janet is just lonely and has an unhealthy attachment to Shirley for that reason, but I couldn’t tell you at this point. So far, it doesn’t seem like Shirley or Janet are really involved, but you’re right that their alibis are not likely to hold up. Perhaps we’ll be surprised, and one of them will start to seem more suspish.
Our next discussion will cover chapters 13-18, and will be posted 11/6/21. Maybe next time we’ll come to discussion with some hunches on who the perpetrator may be…. Join us then to find out!