Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry Review

Happy Wednesday Sweet Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I'm so thankful you've taken the time to drop on by The Preppy Book Princess today for another book review.

Today I'm going to be sharing my review of an upcoming (cozy?) mystery with you all, and I hope you'll all stick around to hear what I ended up thinking about this particular title.

Let's go right ahead and dive into today's review.

Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: April 29th, 2025

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Synopsis:

Amber thought she had troubles before her grandma was arrested for murder…

Amber Winslow's life has taken a serious turn for the worse. When an impulsive decision forces her to flee her former life carrying nothing but the clothes on her back, she heads to the sunny state of Arizona and the luxury accommodations of her grandmother's retirement community. Never mind that Amber's never actually met her estranged and eccentric grandmother.

As soon as she sneaks her things into Seven Ponds (a place she technically doesn't qualify for and definitely can't afford), she's shocked to learn that George Vincent, a.k.a. the Admiral, was found dead the very night of her arrival. Much to Amber's dismay, no one seems particularly distraught over the news of the Admiral's death or the disappearance of his prize pet tortoise. All anyone can talk about is a missing Vincent family heirloom, and they're quick to blame Jade for both the Admiral's murder and the theft of the priceless ring.

Amber doesn't want to admit the woman she's just met—and who accepted her without question—could be a villain, and she's determined to clear her grandmother's name no matter the cost.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I picked up Murder Runs in the Family after being intrigued by the synopsis, but unfortunately I paid no attention to the author. I've read Tamara Berry before, and just find that her writing style doesn't usually work for me, and unfortunately that ended up being the case with this one as well.

The plot is unique and original, especially within the cozy mystery genre, and I did enjoy the fact that the pacing was fast and engaging, so even though I wasn't enjoying certain parts of it, I still found myself staying invested in the story.

However, I didn't care for the majority of the characters, and this unfortunately didn't change before the end of the story. Amber's backstory wasn't intriguing enough for me to care about what she's going through, and I found the grandmother and her friends to all be extremely annoying and hard to read about. My favorite character ended up being the tortoise which sounds ridiculous but it's definitely true.

That being said, I did enjoy the mystery development, and the way it kept me guessing right until the final pages. I also enjoyed the way that Grandma and her group of friends take care of their own, and how strong the family/friendship bond is between this unlikely group of individuals.

Unfortunately, I ended up having the same opinion of this one that I had with the previous titles I've tried by this author, and that's the fact that I don't enjoy her writing style. It's always crass and focused around weird humor, and for me it just doesn't mesh with what I'm expecting from a cozy mystery. Also, after being invested in the mystery part of the story, without spoiling anything all I'll say is that I found the ending to be a huge disappointment which I was not expecting.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Overall, it's not my favorite cozy and I don't think this author is for me personally, but if you enjoy your cozy mysteries to be edgier and with more weird humor incorporated throughout, this may be a book you'd find yourself enjoying.

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to advance read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Poisoned Pen Press) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)

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