1st to Die by James Patterson
💍🔪 1st to Die by James Patterson – Murder, Marriage, and Mayhem (In That Order)
Genre: Crime Thriller
Series: Women’s Murder Club, Book #1
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Vibe: Fast-paced, slightly dated, somehow romantic despite the body count
Length: 464 pages or one extra-long bubble bath (with a knife nearby, just in case)
⚠️ Spoiler Alert:
Yes, there will be spoilers. You’ve been warned. Much like Nicholas Jenks should have been.
💣 The Setup: A Killer Honeymoon Phase
Newlyweds are being murdered. Repeatedly. In San Francisco. And just when you think, Oh, honeymoon murders? That sounds personal, James Patterson cranks it to full Lifetime Movie™ with brides dying in their wedding dresses, husbands getting shot mid-snuggle, and rings stolen like they’re clearance at Kay Jewelers.
Enter Inspector Lindsay Boxer, our badass, emotionally bruised homicide detective who is (no big deal) also secretly battling a rare and potentially fatal blood disease. So yeah, she’s juggling a serial killer investigation and a life-threatening illness. She’s like the crime-solving version of that “This is fine” dog meme.
Lindsay teams up with:
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Claire Washburn, the sarcastic and brilliant medical examiner,
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Cindy Thomas, a bold reporter who kind of shoves her way into a crime scene and never leaves, and
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Jill Bernhardt, the smart, dedicated ADA.
Together, they form the Women’s Murder Club, which sounds like a Facebook group you’d join to swap true crime memes, but is actually a group of women solving murders over drinks. Honestly? Goals.
💘 Enter: Captain Chris Raleigh
From the mayor’s office comes Captain Chris Raleigh, the official “hot guy sent to oversee things.” Lindsay expects him to be annoying and bossy. Instead, he’s sweet, respectful, and completely onboard with her running the show. Obviously, she falls for him—because who wouldn’t fall for a man who’s smart, supportive, and not threatened by your ability to find serial killers in your sleep?
Romance aside, they’ve got a job to do.
🔍 The Case: It’s Giving Nicholas Sparks but Make It Murder
The killer is targeting newlyweds and leaving clues so on-the-nose it’s borderline rude. Beard hairs. Matching champagne bottles. Wedding dresses from the same boutique. It doesn’t take long for the trail to lead to Nicholas Jenks, a famous novelist and Lindsay’s personal walking red flag.
Why him?
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The murders resemble a scene from his first book.
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The killer’s left-handed and he used to be ambidextrous (convenient).
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Beard hair? Yep, that’s his too.
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Champagne match? Also him.
Too much evidence? Definitely. Jenks screams, “I’m being framed!” but the team’s like, “Mmkay, book boy.”
Things get more complicated when we meet:
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Chessy Jenks: Nicholas’s current wife and secret psychopath.
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Joanna Wade: Nicholas’s ex-wife who ends up very dead.
Oh, and right in the middle of all this? An earthquake. Because of course there is.
💔 Plot Twist: The Killers, the Rings, and the Romance That Wasn’t
The finale takes us to the Palace of Fine Arts, a location so dramatic it practically begs for bloodshed. Chessy turns full Hannibal Lecter, producing a pouch of stolen wedding rings like she’s gifting Nicholas a morbid charm bracelet. She even forces him to swallow them. That’s love.
She goes to kill him, Lindsay intervenes, and Chessy ends up dead. But Chris gets shot and doesn’t make it. Cue heartbreak, funeral, and Lindsay barely holding it together while being honored by Chris’s ex-wife, who graciously invites her to stand with the family. I did not expect to cry at a James Patterson book, but here we are.
🧠 Final Twist: We Weren’t Done
Weeks later, just as Lindsay is trying to emotionally recover and maybe enjoy a cup of tea without a body turning up, Nicholas Jenks shows up at her door. Because this man simply refuses to die until he’s made things so much worse.
He admits it: he was behind everything. Chessy was his puppet. He’s going to write a nonfiction book about how he got away with it. Classic narcissist energy. Then—surprise!—he attacks her.
And Lindsay kills him too. Because she’s tired. We’re tired. Everyone’s tired.
🛍 Buy the Book
🔪 Amazon
🔎 Would I Recommend It?
Yes! If you want:
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A fast-paced thriller with short chapters (seriously, some are barely a paragraph),
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A badass female detective who doesn’t let heartbreak OR cancer stop her,
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A sprinkle of romance and friendship with your murder,
...then 1st to Die is absolutely worth your time. It reads like a popcorn movie: dramatic, twisty, and weirdly addictive.
Bonus: There are 25 more books if you love it.
Warning: Your TBR will weep.
📚 If You Liked 1st to Die, Try:
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The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson – another twisty, fast thriller with a woman-led investigation.
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The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner – creepy, violent, and gripping.
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The Other Woman by Sandie Jones – for something a little less gory and more psychological.
Have you read 1st to Die or any of the Women’s Murder Club books?
Drop your favorite (or least favorite) in the comments! Should I dive into book 2 next or give myself a minute to emotionally recover from all the wedding-related trauma? 🤷♀️💒🔫
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