Book review: Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by KJ Whittle

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by KJ Whittle was a surprising read. Fun. Clever. Perhaps a little unevenly spaced (as opposed to paced) as Whittle skipped past passages of time… though it did help move the book pace-wise as we jumped from ‘action’ scene to ‘action’ scene with weeks, months or years passing inbetween. It’s perfect for lovers of cosy crime, golden era mysteries or traditional whodunnits. We head-jump a little (as in we move from different people’s points of view) but it’s easy to follow and we get very differing accounts as a result – given human nature’s propensity to share the good with others, and not the bad.

Three courses. Seven guests. One evening they'll never forget.

Seven strangers meet at Serendipity's for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening reaches its close, small black envelopes are placed in front of the diners… revealing the age at which each will die.

Spooked, but not wholly shaken, the group disperses into the rainy night with the hope of forgetting the ghoulish stunt.

But two weeks later, one dinner guest dies at the age foretold. Was it a tragic accident? Or something more sinister?

Vivienne is our main narrator and we grow to like the rather prickly magazine editor, and her character’s ‘journey’ reflects an underlying theme… whether we can change ‘who’ we are once we’re confronted with the shameful reality.

Ostensibly seven very different guests arrive at a mysterious dinner, awaiting a host who doesn’t appear. Each of the guests have a place card, complete with etching – that means more later – though clues are shared from the outset. They’re well fed and ‘wined’ before each receiving an envelope which – they discover when opened – tells them when they’ll die. Or more specifically, the age they will be when they die. The guests don’t take it seriously until weeks later one of the guests (already at her ‘death age’) is hit by a train and killed.

The group come together, but agree it was an accident or suicide…. until the next death. And the next. Akin to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Many theories are discussed – self-fulfilling prophecies that results in them doing something dangerous, or sheer coincidence. It’s only as numbers dwindle those remaining start to suspect someone is behind it all.

Vivienne is sure it’s their absent host and they unsuccessfully try to consider what or who they have in common (and I’m kinda surprised some didn’t pick the connection). Complicating things is the fact that Vivienne’s experiencing fugue states and missing time. She misplaced her envelope so never saw her death date which is initially a relief, but she becomes more fearful of her ailing health as time passes.

What I liked about this is the way Whittle shares the characters’ stories with us. Those that last longer obviously feature more prominently and we get to know them quite well. So much so I was a bit affronted at how easily and casually they’re picked off, Whittle sometimes informing us in a matter-of-fact way of their demise. I suspect it’s part of the uneven (s)pacing I talked about earlier – throwing us off a little and getting us more invested in the lives of our characters.

My only disappointment perhaps, was more about the fact that it’s unlikely most of the victims were never told the ‘why’. I did however appreciate the deeper questions – as I mentioned… whether it’s possible to change your behaviour, and – potentially – your fate; and whether you’d want to know when you were going to die. Some of the characters here find it a relief. Others less-so.

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by KJ Whittle will be published by HarperNorth on 9 September 2025.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.