[Review] A Killer Wedding - Joan O'Leary

Summary: Christine can’t believe her luck. The iconic Gloria Beaufort, founder of the billion-dollar beauty empire Glo, has personally chosen her to cover her grandson’s wedding for Bespoke, the cult fashion magazine that every A-list bride dreams of being featured in. A career-making scoop and a free trip to a castle turned five-star hotel on the Emerald Isle? It feels too good to be true…

Because it is.

Gloria is found dead on the very first morning of the celebratory weekend, and her entire family wants to keep her death a secret and for the wedding to march on. When Gloria’s heirs issue a chilling warning to Christine to keep things quiet, she can’t help but wonder if one of them is guilty. There’s the son who’s hiding a damaging lawsuit; the resentful daughter-in-law; the grandson who’s had a few too many run-ins with the law; his ambitious wife who’s hiding more than one secret; and Gloria’s favorite grandchild, the picture-perfect groom. As Christine navigates a world where glamour masks grimy secrets and everyone she meets is a suspect, she realizes that among this glitzy elite, nothing is as it seems.

Set against the dazzling backdrop of ultimate luxury and an endless reveal of surprises, A Killer Wedding is a fast-paced, humorous mystery the pulls back the curtain on toxic family dynamics hidden beneath the surface of billionaire-level wealth. (Pub Date: Sep 23 2025)

Christine has betted everything, she's even gone behind her mentor's back to ensure she'd be in the wedding of the great Gloria Beaufort's heir, right next to legend herself. But her dream starts crumbling when Gloria is found dead the morning after they arrive in the Irish hotel for the celebrations.

2.5 rounded up to 3.

The plot is intriguing and even though there are so many characters stuck in this hotel, it wasn't hard to keep track of them. However, I had a problem with the writing and with the story itself.

The writing made me think of those old detective series where people didn't have much of a name of a characteristic. The tall one, the old one, the widow, the son. This book was a lot of that, which got on my nerves. And then the story... Since the beginning, it is a familiar one, but we hope it'll deepen, it'll show us what it was written for. Only, it doesn't. We have the elements for great plot twists, like how Gloria sees that Jane is a potential mastermind, or how Gloria herself is seen a real power, or how one character had great potential that was obliterated after marrying into the family, or the dad that could or could not be dead. Each of the points I had high hopes for let me down. In the end, I found the story underwhelming for so many seeds of something amazing that had been planted.

This could probably become a fun movie for Netflix but it won't be the next Academy Award winner. Which is too bad because it had potential.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.