WeaveReads

I went into “Mother-Daughter Murder Club” expecting something light and cozy, but this actually surprised me in the best way. The opening fake-out with the “body” turning out to be a seal?? Weirdly hilarious. It immediately set the tone: this book knows it’s a little quirky and leans into it.

We follow Lana, Beth, and Jack — three generations of women who could not be more different but somehow work SO well together. At first, Lana feels like your classic rich, slightly overbearing mother, but then the story hits you with her cancer diagnosis and suddenly everything softens. The way we move through her treatments, hair loss, everything; it’s fast, but still really impactful. I ended up loving her character so much. She’s strong, sharp, a little dramatic, and honestly giving Emily Gilmore energy in the best way.

Beth and Jack’s dynamic took me a second to settle into. Jack being super independent at 15 felt a little off at first, and I did want more context there, but it eventually clicked as the story went on. And the constant tension between the three of them? More “Gilmore Girls” chaos, and I was eating it up.

The mystery itself kept me guessing more than I expected. I was genuinely going back and forth between suspects (Diana vs. Martin had me STRESSED), and while the final reveal surprised me, I do think things wrapped up a bit neatly. That said, Lana being ten steps ahead of everyone kind of made it work. She’s basically operating on another level the entire time.

I will say, the occasional “modern” references (like random meme-y stuff) pulled me out a bit. It always feels slightly cringy to me when books try too hard to sound current. But thankfully, that wasn’t enough to ruin the overall vibe.

What really made this for me was the heart of the story. Underneath the mystery, this is very much about family, complicated relationships, and showing up for each other, even when it’s messy.

And the ending?? I was SO relieved Lana didn’t leave. Moving into the garage instead of disappearing back into her old life felt like the perfect compromise and honestly just made me really happy.

Overall, this was such a fun, cozy mystery with a lot more emotional weight than I expected. It’s missing that one spark that would make me want to immediately reread, but I had such a good time with it.