A Killer Wedding by Joan O'Leary is a slow-burn mystery following Christine Russo, an ambitious junior editor at Bespoke Weddings Magazine, sent to cover the glamorous wedding of a beauty empire tycoon’s grandson at a luxe Irish castle. Told from multiple perspectives and jumping between timelines, the book blends mystery, family drama, and the toxic dynamics of the glitzy elite.
Christine is thrilled when Gloria Beaufort—the formidable matriarch of the Ripton family and founder of the global beauty empire Glo—asks her to cover her grandson’s wedding for Bespoke. But when Gloria is found dead and the family wants it hushed up until after the wedding, Christine realizes she’s walked into more than just another wedding feature. She’s warned to stay silent—or face the music.
As she starts digging into the past, secrets are revealed and tensions run high. Everyone has something to hide—be it the incompetent entrepreneur, the alcoholic and hot-tempered grandchild, the unfaithful wife, or the wedding planner. Not all that glitters sparkles, as Christine will come to learn.
On paper, the book had everything: a luxurious setting, a murder, secret passageways, a dysfunctional family, toxic dynamics, and an outsider caught in the middle of it all. The writing is good, the multiple perspectives are easy to follow, and the mystery unfolds with several well-placed twists. I particularly liked the flashbacks, which helped flesh out the characters’ backgrounds. The interstitials between chapters added a nice stylistic touch (though some were hard to read due to tiny font).
Despite the intriguing premise, the book dragged. The pacing is very slow, and the story takes its time getting to the heart of the mystery. The abundance of wedding-related details weighed the narrative down, and the characters—while interesting—often leaned too heavily into familiar archetypes. I didn’t connect with any of them, which made it harder to stay invested. Still, I was curious enough to stick with it and see how it played out.
In the end, I’m giving A Killer Wedding 3 out of 5 stars. It’s a well-constructed story with a strong atmosphere and thoughtful plotting, but it didn’t fully engage me the way I’d hoped. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy slow-burning mysteries with a heavy dose of toxic family and unlikable characters, and who don’t mind a very leisurely pace with lots of descriptive detail.
* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.
* For more info about the book: "A Killer Wedding" by Joan O'Leary
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