MURDER MYSTERY TOURNAMENT 📚 finding my favourite murder mystery book

hi friends how are we doing today we're bringing back a format that I did a couple times last year for five stars and one stars and we're doing a mad mystery tournament to find out my favorite mad and mystery B oh my God classic classic yeah round I'm really really really really excited for this so I've pulled together 16 of my favorite murder mystery books we're putting them against the against each other in a murder mystery bracket tournament and we're going to see what comes out on top I think I know what's going to come out on top at the moment with my current biases but I thought this would be fun to do now also don't like there could be two books here that are pitted against each other like my second and third favorit so like we're not don't take what makes the top four as like bable these are my top four met Mysteries but that's part of the fun of it part of the fun of it is when you come across a pairing that like you know really you know are a hard pairing to decide so yeah we're going to be pitting these against each other let me know what your predictions are for what's going to make the top and shall we just get going Shall We Begin okay our first pairing is the broken Girls by Simone St James versus Wrong Place Wrong Time by Julian McAllister so this is difficult the broken girls I loved it's kind of two murder mysteries there's one murder mystery in the present our main protagonist sister has died and she's trying to investigate what happened to her but also a body is dug up on the grounds of this old school and we're having a pasttime and where we're following characters from that school so kind of the implication is one of them is the bodies and this made me fall in love with some St James is writing honestly it is magical it is magical the way that she writes there's always this little speculative element I thought this was paced perfectly I thought this like the perfect little book you know what I mean I feel like I could recommend this to a lot of people and they would enjoy it wrong place wrong time is one of the most unique books I've read we're following a woman who witnesses her son kills someone she goes to sleep she wakes up it's the previous day she goes to sleep she wakes up it's a day before that so she's going back in time and she kind of figures out that she needs to uncover the truth of why her son ended up killing someone in order to stop it happening in the present um here's the thing I think if you asked me this question based on my like initial enjoyment after I read the books my answer would be different I think after initial enjoyment after read the books it would be the broken girls however I read wrong place wrong time when I was doing my first ever Vlog where I read the nominees of the good re Choice Awards in the mystery ther category and I felt like it was a little bit hampered by me having to read so many books in a short space of time and like kind of getting a bit burnt out of mystery toilers but in terms of what has really grown in my mind over time and like I've appreciated more and more and realize more amazing things about I think it's going to be wrong place wrong time that moves forward oh it's getting exciting already okay then we've got your guide to not getting murdered and acquain religion by Morin Johnson which is like half a murder mystery I think we can allow it you know it's like taking the piss out the M genre and we got the last die by Rich dosman this was the no-brainer this was the banker this was the one that couldn't fail this one the one that's never failed so the lot of is the fourth and the thirsday Club series where I mean we're going to see quite a few of these throughout the list but we're following an elderly Cass of characters at a retirement village as murders start appearing on their doorstep that they have to solve and the last over to die was the most recent one and dear God if you've read it I keep getting reactions people who have read it and like talking about the the scenes that we all have to read and we all cry and like I can't explain to you let me let me save some of my thoughts because we're going to be talking about this more but I I just love it I think the last over to die is an impeccable book and I just want everyone to read this series and read the okay I'll talk about it more then I put the man who died twice in the Billet the Miss as one entry because I'm not going to lie to you I can't really distinguish them I read them like a month apart all the other Thursday meta clubs I've read like a year apart and those two I read a month apart and I I need to do a r to remember what's in what back I can't distinguish them I can like view them as an entity together but I can't really remember the difference between them so I've put them as an entry and then we've got True Crime Story by Joseph Knox which is a mixed media about a girl who goes missing is presumed dead and it's all told through interviews of people who were in her life trying to uncover the truth of what happened to her I mean I just love the Thursday M Club so like that one okay the th okay this I feel like this this tournament is going to go it's going to lead a certain way there a certain author is is going to be biased towards I just accepted that I'm kind of a Cheesy [ __ ] that loves Richard Osman that might I don't know if that's going to continue any further than that but true CRI story I enjoyed but I remember it being a little bit of a tentative five star whereas I just love the Thursday ManUp but I don't know if that's going to make it any further because to me the first and the last ones are the strongest spoiler a l that those two middle ones I just can't remember the difference between them but richal men I I just love these books they're just so good okay the three JS by Katy Watson were following these three women who have played um Dalia Lively who is like an aupar equivalent basically throughout the years and it's set at a fan convention and they have to solve a murder and it's so good it's like the Golden Age of crime it really it like it pays omage to the genre in such a fun way it references like the character who is the author of D Lively is basically e Christie e Christie is mentioned in the story as like oh she was different from e chy but really it's like paying on my check with Christie and I just thought it was such a fun story for fans of murder mysteries to read the Paris apartment by Lucy Foley is a controversial one cuz I love dip and not everyone else does how do you know what's good for me that's my opinion I thought it was so good but not everyone else loves it so I I only allow missing person Mysteries into this into my categorization of met Mysteries when like it's a strong suggestion throughout the book that they've been merged and that's why they're missing does that make sense so there's like there's a few I allow in so we're following a girl who goes to Paris um to go and stay with her brother but when she gets there she finds out that he's missing and she's kind of trying to hunt him down and she's getting to know the characters who live in his Paris apartment building and like they're a bit dodgy babes they're a bit Dodge you know what I mean they're a bit dodgy it's a controversial one because I feel like everyone else hated this but I really enjoyed it I thought the Midway twist it's one of those books that like I love a Midway twist that completely flips the book on its head that completely changes what you think of the story that completely puts You On A New Path in the story and I thought it was such a good one I really don't see it coming I love a book where a Twist makes a memory I can still remember like years later where I was sitting on the sofa in Tom's house when I read that twist and I was gagged gooped and shocked and like delivered in the hands of God like absolutely I had a heart attack and died because what a good twist so I think I'm going to put the Paris apartment forward I I would recommend the three Dar to more people absolutely I would for you watching I would more recommend that you try in the three Dar than the Paris apartment cuz I know not everyone has loved it but for me personally I I just love Lucy phony and what she does and like the way she takes the piss out of rich people I think she just has a really great finger on the pulse of that okay then we've got our first a the Christie on the new next side we've got the murder of Roger akroy which I don't there's like a guy called Roger Acro been murdered that's like all you need to know about it is set in like a quaint English Village like a lot of Agatha are what really makes this book is the twist it's one of Agatha's best twists um it's kind of renowned for being an incredible twist so that's what makes the book and then we've got the devil in the Dark Water by Stuart turton which is a historical mystery set on a ship and we're kind of following a character who's kind of like the Watson to a character Sherlock the Sherlock in the story is locked up on the boat as a prisoner um and his Watson is kind of like wandling around the ship waddling no wandering he's not a waddling he's wandering around the ship and um things start occurring devil symbols start appearing animals start getting killed and then people may start getting killed and they're like is it the devil is it a person what's going on um and I really really enjoyed that I think the devil in Dark Water is crazy here's the thing with SH TT his endings don't quite stick The Landing or like his endings are often kind of so Bonkers that you kind of just have to like okay you have to suspend disbelief a little bit and that's the case in this one it's complete opposites here because the rest of the book the lead up to the ending makes this book and the ending is a little bit iffy whereas the rest of this book is a little bit you know not as it it's still good but it's not as effective but the ending makes it they're complete opposite I think for what it's done to the genre I'm going to have to put the murder of Roger arroy yeah I think I'm going to have to make that decision I think that's what I'm going to have to go for okay then our next parent we've got one by one by Ruth wear which let's just talk about it for a second Miss Ruth wear Miss Ruth Weare wrote a classic isolated murder mystery for us once with one by one she did it right she gave me what I wanted and then you all you guys didn't like it and scared her off and now she's writing stupid ass domestic Thrillers and I'm [ __ ] pissed off I can see you're getting angry angry no I'm not angry I'm livid she turned into a modern ocracy and you guys are like oh you know it was marketed as a thriller it wasn't what I expecting get do I care like support modern M Mysteries I'm I I still have a lot of grudges about that so one by one is about this company who go on like a ski Retreat to this Resort and they start dying one by one so it's set a ski resort it's it's so good it to me it's one of Ruth R's best and you guys we're just getting another [ __ ] husband and wife domestic Thriller this year and then this I just put as a place for all the lady Hard Castle Mysteries because I put in the market for murder cuz I think that is my favorite one the second but there's loads of five stars and otherwise loads of this board would have been lady Hard Castle Mysteries so the lady Hard Castle Mysteries are Edwardian Mysteries where we're following lady Hard Castle and her made flow as they retire to this qu English Village and they find out it's the murder hot spot of the world and it's them solving murder together it's very much a cozy mystery series my favorite cozy mystery series um Mama Mia here I go again m it's going to be lady hard cast Mysteries I love them I love lady hardcast Mysteries it's just the fact that I'm so deep into the series I love lady hardcast and her made flow so dearly I love them so dearly and it's just like one of my favorite series I just realized something these last four are the four that I put as my top four in my best murder mysteries video and I've got to put them against each other this is diabolical I feel sick I M I've got a headache no forget it I'm sorry Anna you'll have to swap around [ __ ] takes the piss so many of these would have made it further had had the pairings been different okay interesting why did I do this to myself okay we've got a good girls guide to murder versus murder on the or Express murder on the express let's start with that is one of eocr most unnown and I think for good reason it was the first murder mystery I ever read I might have read the guess list before it but one of the early murder mysteries I ever read and karro is on the oran Express and a guy is murdered on the train and it's under very unusual circumstances all the evidence is kind of contradictory and um he sits down with each of the characters on the train and kind of interviews them it's kind of an interview format which I love and then a good girl guide to murder many of you all know is a mixed media murder mystery Series where pip is trying to solve the Cold Case Of The Disappearance SL possible probable on my nail just broke that's not fun um probable murder of a girl from her school I actually can't talk cuz I really don't know what I'm going to pick what am I going to pick I can't I can't make this decision please I can't make this decision I haven't read either of these in such a long time that it's difficult I love a good God's guy to murder I love the mixed media but I love the interview format of murder on your Express and I love the twist in Murder on your Express these could be like these are up there these four are so up there that this is painful I don't know Jesus Christ I I could flip a coin I genuinely I don't I I don't know what to pick I keep flipping between the two I keep flip-flopping what am I supposed to pick what am I supposed to pick a good girls guy to murder or murder on the or Express um murder on Express or good girl gues murder it's more the fact that like if this was further deep in I could deal with it but it's like consigning one of these to not making pass the first round is really painful to me I think I'm leaning towards mud on the own own Express that's painful I don't know if I stand by that I don't know if I stand by that that's really painful if it was As Good As Dead As Good As Dead isn't a murder mystery but like I think as good a dead might have won and I know that's a controversial opinion cuz some I saw this Tik Tok the other day well not Tik Tok it was on YouTube shorts it was obviously originally Tik Tok bless this girl I'm not recing her out but she was like yeah read the first two in the good girls gu to medic and then don't read the last one don't read it and I'm like she's like it's a different series it's a different character I'm like you you understand that is the perfect to Pip's journey and it is an incredible crique of True Crime and a true crime genre and I was angry I was angry it's a perfect book I I love as good as dead I know it's an unpopular opinion I I love both of these These are both top top tier you know this is painful this is painful painful and then we're going to get into more painful cuz I know these were my top two when I did my favorite murder mysteries video we've got the guest list by Lucy Foley which again was a transformative book for me in getting into murder mysteries it was one of the first murder mysteries I ever read and we're at this wedding on this island and we know at the from the first chapter that someone's been killed that night and then we go back to kind of the day before the wedding and meet our characters and travel through time with them with occasional flashbacks to the night of the wedding I think it is so good the guest list is so good and the Thursday Murder Club is of course the first in the Thursday met colover series my favorite met mystery series and I think the first one is really strong [ __ ] this is horrible I can't do it you can you can do it you can you can I love the first one the first one made me cry I think it's a great introduction to the characters I think the mystery is very strong here's my thinking right if I was to rank these today in terms of ranking I think I would put the THS in a card above the guest list however I feel like it's represented it's Legacy is represented in the next round so I am tempted to move the guess this forward because I think that the Paris apartment is something different right this is a series right and I don't do I need half of the next round to be Thursday meta Club books probably not probably not you know even though I think this Thursday meta Club is better than those and like if I was to rank it in terms of like third fourth whatever I think the THS cup would be ranked above the guest list but I think I'm going to move the guess list forward because of how transformative it was for me in terms of reading met Mysteries and I I do just love it I I love that book but I love that th medic Club no I'm just going to pretend this is in with these like over or something well no it's not cuz I'm going to probably make a decision I don't know I don't know I'm going to move the guesses forward but I think I as a book I do prefer the THS Med Club but I feel like it's represented that's that's the way I'm getting out of that does that make sense no you've made the wrong decision Vision okay we're into our rounds now I don't have to give you synopses we know what we're dealing with this is a very tough one because I think again if I was to make my best meta Mysteries video today these would both be up there I love wrong place wrong time I love it I'm so excited to read more from Julie McAllister I think it's a wonderful book I think it's it says it's one of those M Mysteries that says so much about human nature and about our need to love for the people that we love in the moment and living in the moment I think it's wonderful but like it's it's against the last devil to die like what do you what do you want me to do what do you want me to do what do you want me to do it's last devil to die I just want to talk about last devil to die and Rich do men and THS Series in general because this I I say this all the time but I have never I have never ever ever read books distill human nature down to its core and Essence Like Richard Osman does he is a genius I can listen to his man talk forever I'm obsessed with his podcast now that he's got a podcast I think the way that he looked looks at the way that we as humans behave and what we love and what lights us up and what the little thing the little nuances that we have I think he is the best the best at knowing that I love him I love him I love him I love him I'm so glad that he's an author I'm so glad that he's writing books I'm so blessed like think of how many like Richard's he's he's like he's got a lot of years left in him think of how many Richard Osman books I make it sound as if he's old he's not like he's not but like just think of how many Rich Osman books we could get in our lifetimes he's publishing one a year like I could die having read like I don't know 40 Rich dman books wouldn't that be a blessing isn't that incredible I love it then we've got the man who died twice in The Bu Miss versus the Paris apartment see because I as much as I love them I can't remember much what happened between these two I'm going to move the Paris apartment forward however I just want to let you know if in this first round here it was a good God guide to Manda versus the Paris apartment a good go gu to murder would be here but it's in this it's lost in the first round like that is absolutely crazy do you know what I mean this isn't this is difficult this is difficult but I think because of my memory it would be it would be a dishonest of me to move this forward anymore I kind of know what they were but I just I read them too close to another I read them in the month of each other and it's too it's too they blurred In My Memory that's why sometimes I don't like reading series close to one another cuz I I do find it hard to differentiate what happened in each book you know sometimes that's fine like I read Jade war and Jade Legacy from Fond back to back and so those kind of like form one book in my mind and that's kind of a good thing cuz it's so epic but um yeah sometimes it's not a good thing then we've got the murder of Roger akroy versus lady Hard Castle Mysteries lady Hard Castle Mysteries moving forward these are one of my top recommendations for you guys if you're wanting a historical cozy mystery I think they are written so well and they're like book 11 is about to come out like there's so many books to read the audio books I would always recommend you listen to the audio books I get the physicals now because I love them so much but like I think for the first like three or four books I just read them via audio and I loved them I love this series I love lady har Castle her made flow the humor the wit The Joy the fun they're so fun they're so happy they are so even though it's about murders I just think they are the most fun read ever I love them I just do because I feel better if I feel better I'm nicer if I'm nicer my life goes better because if I'm nicer then you're going to be nicer to me and then we've got murder on the Orin Express versus the guest list oh a I can't do it my heart is saying no they're so different I love them for such different reasons that I find these very hard to compare like because it's an older book right the Mur Express there's certain moments of that like the opening of m Express it's a little bit boring you know what I mean it's a little bit boring but the guest list is so readable but I think in terms of twist murder on Express is a better twist murder on Express is one of the best twists in a murder mystery ever to exist in my opinion and I love the interview format but the guess is more readable and I just love it I love the way that it was formatted I love the characters I love the way Lucy Foley has these kind of archetypal characters I think I got a move mod on theor Express forward I think it is just it's probably my favorite Christie it's my favorite Christie then we got last verse of the PR department it's easy I'm sorry yep yep yep yep yep yep the parents apartment should probably not have made it this far it just got lucky and it's in its battle it just it made it out lucky you know it shouldn't have made it this far again if it had been a good girl guide to murder a good guys murder would be up here and that would be a better you know battle it out this this four these two pairings here absolutely diabolical then we've got lady hardcast Mysteries versus Mur on Norine Express is it crazy crazy I think I got to go with the lady Castle Mysteries I think because it's a series and I now this series for me is like almost always going to be a five star I love this series it's such a comfort series to me um that I think I got to move that forward even though act chrisy arguably you know probably higher quality and then the final battle it's the last devil to die versus the lady hardcast Mysteries we all know we all know that the last devil to die is going to in now like I said at the beginning this is recency biased because I read this fairly recently and so it's in my brain but what a book and like the fact that we're not getting a new THS Mur Club this year I know he's publishing a new um richual is publishing a new series I'll put the cover here it's called we solve murders I'm very excited I love the cover all all murder mystery covers are going to look like this now cuz they all look like the thir in M Club series I just think a the mystery in this is wonderful but without spoiling anything the human I'm going to cry the human the human story in this book is amazing it's amazing and I love what Richard Osman is doing in the genre and I hope that we keep and keep I hope the success of him you know being the most successful here in the UK these are the most successful series they are some of the most successful books they're the most bought they're the most lent in the library you know he's really like it's really massive here in the UK and I I just hope that we keep getting more mainstream murder mysteries because of this and not just ripoffs not just cozy murder mysteries with elderly characters like I want I want all types of murder mysteries because of the success of these I does that make sense I just I I I hope publishing wakes up to the fact that we don't just want old people serving M Mysteries we want all types of met Mysteries but I I mean I love old people serving met Mysteries but there's just so many that are like identical to th met club and like think of all like let's get more the guest list let's get more one by ones let's get more wrong place wrong times like let's get all different types of Med I just need more I just this is my this is my push for just every book to be published to be a mder mystery no we're not surprised that it won I am surprised that certain books made it like probably the th mother Club should have won over the guess this probably the P apartment should not have made it this far like that that's the thing about doing a tournament like this like it's this is not my ranking of this it's just when you put these books to battle it out against each other on a certain day I might choose a certain book you know but anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this video of me battling my Mur Mysteries against each other and putting them in a tournament format not ranking them but putting them in a tournament format to find my favorite and I mean my current favorite is the last a to die we're not surprised but yeah if you if you doubt some of my my my uh decisions that's okay I do too anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I'll see you very soon in another one bye