Murder Runs In The Family by Tamara Berry

Honestly, every new Tamara Berry book is a treat, and I’m so glad I could finally get to this one! I’ve read all of her other mystery novels save one, and it was so disappointing to learn that her publishers aren’t picking up more of either of her prior series, both of which are excellently written and tremendous fun.

Which makes it feel churlish for me to say that Murder Runs In The Family was definitely not my favorite of her books so far. It starts off really well but the ending is surprisingly muddled, both in terms of what actually happened and in the heroine’s emotions. While that’s understandable in the latter instance — she goes through A Lot over the course of this novel — the many warring emotions and especially the neat resolution of same feel a little shoehorned in. It’s stuff I would expect to deal with in the next novel of what’s hopefully a series — tho given how Ms Barry’s publishers have been doing her dirty, maybe she thought it best to resolve everything while she still could!

Anyway, the story revolves around Amber Winslow, who breaks up with her private investigator boyfriend up in Seattle and heads to Arizona, in hopes that the grandmother whom she’s never met will give her a place to stay. Amber has always felt like a misfit in her straitlaced immediate family, and is relieved when Jade McCallan turns out to be as much of a shrewd nonconformist as she herself is. In fact, Jade and Amber hit it off so well that Jade insists that Amber stay with her at Seven Ponds, the luxury retirement community where Jade is pretty much Queen Bee.

For Amber, it’s like walking into a modern day fairytale with a loving grandmother who, with the help of her friends, anticipates her every need. But then one of those friends is found dead, and Jade becomes the main suspect. Good thing she has a PI-in-training for a granddaughter!

Or is it? The more Amber investigates, the less certain she becomes of her grandmother and of Jade’s smiling, secretive circle of friends. Will Amber be able to figure out who killed the man known to the retirement community as The Admiral and why, before an innocent person goes down for the crime? Who can she trust in a place where no one seems to want to tell her the truth about anything?

All of this is written with such a light touch — and with so many of the graceful fillips of humor that are a Tamara Berry trademark — that when the narrative does get introspective and heavy, it feels a little jarring. I think this is less a function of the author’s skill than of either a space or time constraint, as the ending feels more rushed than I’m used to from Ms Barry. I very much enjoyed the book tho, to the point where I’m keeping her other pen names in mind should I need another fix of her overall excellent writing. This just wasn’t my favorite novel of hers, tho that still has it head and shoulders over the majority of the cozy mystery market.

Murder Runs In The Family by Tamara Berry was published April 29 2025 by Poison Pen Press and is available from all good booksellers, including