The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club

• Author: Gloria Chao
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Publication Date: June 24, 2025
• Publisher: MIRA
• Series: Hu Done It #1

Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this laugh-out-loud murder mystery, three women dating the same man band together to get revenge, but when they discover his body, they’ll need to solve his murder before they go down for it.

The body in the closet was going to be a problem. Kathryn Hu knew it. Yes, Tucker Jones was a cheating scumbag, and yes, she’d agreed to meet Olivia and Elle—Tucker’s other girlfriends—to exact revenge for all he’d put them through… But then they found him. Dead.  

Do they look guilty? Yes.

Do they feel guilty for having wished him dead just hours before? Maybe a little.

But—solid motive and a crime scene covered in their DNA aside—they’re innocent. They swear.

To clear their names, Kat, Olivia and Elle team up to find the real killer. But as they go undercover and lie to everyone, including the hot detective working the case, they realize that every person in their ex’s life had a reason to want him dead. Will they uncover the truth before they go down for a murder they didn’t commit?

Filled with humor and shenanigans, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is a romp of an adventure by award-winning author Gloria Chao, perfect for fans of Dial A for Aunties, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and John Tucker Must Die.

It doesn’t take much to make me want to read a Gloria Chao book, but seeing her shift from romance to cozy mystery piqued my interest. Her previous books always feature Chinese-American characters, and I love seeing good representation of minorities. 

In this book, Kathryn Hu isn’t just Chinese-American, she’s socially awkward, ridiculously smart, and quite possibly neurodivergent. In short, I loved her right away and that didn’t change at any point throughout the book, even right up to the last page. Kat is hilariously sarcastic while also giving me vicarious cringe with her significantly awkward interactions at all times; she knows the origins of almost every idiom out there, and has an affinity for puns, so I automatically found her fascinating and hilarious. I’m a sucker for a good pun, so Kat had me laughing throughout the book.

Kat isn’t the only character, although she is the main character. When Kat discovered that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with one and then a second other woman (most reminiscent of John Tucker Must Die, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed), I discovered one of my favorite aspects of the novel: the three women are furious and decide to team up and plan the ultimate revenge prank on their cheating boyfriend. Rather than blaming other women and making conflict where it didn’t need to be, they placed their anger and frustration on the rightful target—the man who has successfully lied to each of them. I loved the lack of cattiness between the three women. 

As these women are in the middle of exacting their revenge on Tucker, Kat discovers that someone had an even more dangerous revenge in mind for him when his dead body is found in the closet. Leaving the tenuous alliance of Kat, Olivia, and Elle looking very guilty indeed. Each of them had a motive, so to clear their name, they work together to uncover the truth of who was really behind Tucker’s murder.

Part of the fun of a cozy mystery series is that it can be silly and a little over the top and still be a great read. And this certainly happens to fit the bill. Kat is chock full of random knowledge, as well as having very specific scientific knowledge about her graduate research in chemistry, Olivia is a lawyer which comes in handy, and Elle functions as both the comic relief and the one with some important information offered up at the least expected times. 

The plot is another fun aspect of the book—while the women are each going through their own emotional betrayal by a man they trusted, they also need to figure out who was behind his murder before Kat goes from a person of interest to the only suspect. Dating a man who was actively cheating with multiple women involves a lot of secrecy on his part, so the women really need to put their heads together and piece together enough of Tucker’s backstory to find out who else might have wanted him dead. 

It’s clear from the start that Tucker is a jerk face, but as the story goes on, they realize how many people had a motive, and they simply need to find out who that is, and not get themselves caught up in dangerous situations. I especially enjoyed Kat’s relationship with her mother, and how she sometimes has to just accept that her mother is overprotective even from a distance and she picks her battles, which sounds easier than it is. 

Overall, I can’t recommend this one highly enough. I’ve been a fan of Chao’s romances, and she really shines in the cozy mystery genre. Hopefully this continues on, because I really enjoyed following Kat, Olivia, and Elle on their investigation. Much like any good cozy, there are puns galore (I love them), a pet (it’s a bunny rabbit, how cute is that?), and a slow-burn attraction between Kat and the detective investigating Tucker’s murder. This was such a fun story, and while the biggest twist was a little predictable (IMO), it didn’t make this read any less enjoyable. In fact, I found myself shouting “I KNEW IT!” That’s always a good sign when I’ve figured out a twist, and while the storyline was busy, it worked really well. Gloria Chao has outdone herself with this new book, and I can’t wait to read more of the series.

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