This week we are discussing Murder at the Book Club by Betsy Reavley. Ch. 13 - Ch. 18.
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:
Michaela: Hello friends! Welcome to our third discussion of Murder at the Book Club. This section of the book definitely gave us some developments but not quite the ones we were looking for. We now have two dead women, each murder being different from the other. We also got to see a lot more of the book club member’s husbands. These men are quite interesting and all very different from each other. Also, even more secrets came out during this section. It was a little bit of a whirlwind of information.
Jacilyn: There's both similarities and differences between Janet and Toni's murders. It's clear to me that Toni's murder involved a lot more rage than Janet's… I mean, the culprit didn't even ensure that Janet was dead before tossing her into the water and leaving the body. But, both sustained blunt force trauma to the head, and both were killed in the commons.
I'm a bit confused on the connections between everyone, where all the feuds are. Janet and Shirley have this friendship that honestly seems quite toxic and one-sided. And the way Shirley treated Dean when he first raised the alarm about Janet was awful… even with the concern she showed for him later on. And then everyone else seems to see Janet as untrustworthy and manipulative, which confuses me a bit based on what we saw from her perspective (with the exception of her being nosy and getting the tea from Pauline).
Michaela: I’m really unsure why Janet would be killed. Toni’s murder we have a few different theories for why it happened. But so far we know nothing about Janet that would trigger this kind of response from someone. The way her body was found just seems so random as opposed to how Toni was found. Toni’s body positioning was very particular and then Janet is just left in the water? Why, what is this person doing? Is it just one person? It’s possible it's not the same person killing these women. I’m still very much on the fence about who I consider to be a suspect, I keep jumping to different people the more we learn.
Janet and Shirley’s relationship is incredibly toxic and one-sided. Almost everyone who talked about Janet mentioned that they thought she was either rude, manipulative, and untrustworthy or all of the above. But I have to say, from what we had seen of Janet I do not know what people are talking about. Janet being rude is the only thing I can kind of see, but honestly I still don’t agree. I kind of wondered if it was people pushing Shirley’s traits onto Janet because she’s an easy scapegoat. Maybe I’ve just totally missed these traits in Janet but I don’t see it. Even if her being nosy was part of their reasoning they all need to look in the mirror, every single woman in this group is gossiping about each other. This is a murder investigation and these women are calling each other up like it’s high school rumors.
Jacilyn: I'm not sure if I'm convinced that Janet and Toni were murdered by the same person, but I feel like the chances of it being separate perpetrators has to be low.
Speaking of rumors….. Marion and Alfred (an adorable couple, by the way) tell Barrett and Palmer about Toni's affair having been with Grant, Shirley's husband. Here's where I come in with a theory… I wonder if Janet, in her friendship with Shirley, somehow found out about Toni and Grant's affair. Perhaps Grant killed Toni in a rage over some dispute, and when he realized Janet knew of the affair, he knew he had to get rid of her to prevent suspicion being cast on him?
Then again, Janet ran into Gerald on her walk, presumably shortly before her death. But honestly, I don't see him being the killer. I feel like he's a red herring. I just don't know what to think!
Michaela: Marion and Alfred seem like such a lovely couple. But why does that then make me suspicious of Alfred? I feel like I am suspicious of everyone right now, I can’t trust anyone!
Shirley doesn’t seem to know about the affair, if she did I think she would be a whole lot worse acting than she already is. So if Shirley doesn’t know I’m not sure how Janet would know. But also if Janet did know, why would she not tell Shirley? It’s all very up in the air right now.
If it was Grant who killed both of them, I’m not clear on his motive to kill Toni. Their affair was years ago according to everyone who knew about it or was involved, but I suppose it could have started up again and Grant is lying. Then this affair brings us back to Mike, Toni’s ex-husband, because people have said this Grant-affair was the cause of the divorce. But Mike is married now with kids so why would it matter enough now to do this to Toni? Grant is definitely a shady guy but so is Gerald. If it was Gerald then I’m not sure of his motive for Janet’s murder. I really don’t know what to think.
Then we have Johnny who also had an affair though this one was not with Toni, again I’m not sure how this is meant to tie in. I don’t think I suspect Pauline and Roger very much anymore, it doesn’t quite fit. Money is a good motive but I can’t really see it. So many people, so many secrets, so many questions, and no answers. I have a feeling that this book will be one of those mysteries that all falls into place right at the end, keeping us guessing the whole time.
Jacilyn: I am hoping that Amy and Johnny’s little side drama they have going on ends up being relevant to the murders at some point, but so far I have no idea how they could be connected. Johnny’s affair clearly bothers Amy a whole lot, and I can’t say I blame her. When Johnny said it was Alice, I was worried that I forgot the name of one of the book club members! But, it doesn’t look like Alice has any connection to the book club… yet. That we know of.
All in all, I really have no idea what to think still. The story got a bit more interesting, but the many of the events still seem to add up to pointless space-filler, with no clear line. I like to be kept guessing in a mystery, but I can’t quite tell if this instance is due to good storytelling, or not-so-great writing. With our final discussion coming up next, I’m hoping we’ll get a satisfying ending and answers to all of our questions! Until next time, readers.
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