BLOG TOUR - Making Friends Can Be Murder

Title:  Making Friends Can Be Murder

Author:  Kathleen West

Publisher:  Berkley

Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers

Format:  Kindle ARC

No. of Pages:   432

Date of Publication:   June 10, 2025

My Rating:   4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones gets caught up solving a murder in her new neighborhood after unknowingly befriending a dangerous con artist (who’s nothing like what she seems) in this playful, twisty mystery from acclaimed author Kathleen West.

It feels like kismet when Sarah Jones, newly relocated to Minneapolis after abruptly calling off her engagement, gets invited to join a group of women who share her same very common name. For years Sarah has received all types of correspondence intended for different Sarah Joneses, but now it seems that this mistake has given her the opportunity for an instant community.

What starts as a low-stakes meet-up called “The Sarah Jones Project” soon turns sinister when another local Sarah Jones is found dead, under suspicious circumstances, at the base of the downtown Minneapolis bridge. After fielding numerous calls from concerned loved ones ruling out their Sarah as the victim, the surviving Sarahs decide to take matters into their own hands. Aided by the dead woman’s nanny, a newly commissioned (and very handsome and eligible) FBI agent, and a cloistered nun with a complicated past, the motley crew of unlikely friends are determined to get to the bottom of the murder of one of their own.

Between a budding romance and best friendship, Sarah feels like she’s in the right place at the right time, right up until the facts of the murder case begin stacking up too close to home. Can their team piece together where the deceptions lead before the killer silences someone else?

Perfect for readers of Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan series and Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age, MAKING FRIENDS CAN BE MURDER offers readers a fun filled mystery populated by a quirky, multigenerational cast of characters.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

Having gotten in trouble in school, 17 year-old Sarah Jones was assigned an extra project by one of the Catholic nuns at her school. Therefore, the Sarah Jones project was born. The purpose was to create a “whimsical internet extravaganza that was designed to bring in intergenerational group of women together to explore authentic friendship”. Discovering that both Sarah Jones extremely common names in the country, the group was unlikely to become anything substantial.

Initially, there were seven of them. Again, all named Sarah Jones. To minimize confusion, they referred to one another by their ages Aside from Sarah 17, Sarah 27, Sarah 30, and the others, there was Fed Sarah, who has become Dead Sarah, apparently, the victim of a murder.  

Initially, the Sarah Jones project was going rather well for the diverse group of same namers, but with the murder of Fed Sarah, things definitely had taken a turn. Most of the Sarah Joneses, and a nun named Sister Mary Theresa, immediately become amateur sleuths to find out who was behind the murder of Fed Sarah. Enter George Nightingale, newly appointed FBI Agent, who definitely doesn’t want the actual motivation for his involvement in the goings on. 

Lots of Sarahs. Social media exchanges. An interesting plot and a blooming romance. These were some of the factors that made for a book that was an addicting mystery. 

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.