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Partners in Crime

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Though they are polar opposites in many ways, best friends Bryce and Thea are both attracted to all things horror, including true crime — and to prove it, they co-host weekly podcast episodes of Perfect Crimes together with their producer, Mikey, in the dusty basement of Stone Grange’s local bookstore. When a string of murders suddenly begins to plague their small, unassuming town and the police find themselves at a loss, it seems that there’s nobody more qualified to help solve the mystery.

However, it’s soon realized that Bryce and Thea are already more entangled than they could have ever expected, because the murders follow a pattern. Their pattern. With every case discussed in the podcast comes a new imitation of the circumstances surrounding the victim’s death, and Bryce and Thea find themselves trapped in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the killer, as their friendship — and feelings that they’ve always left hidden until now — is pushed to its breaking point.

When the evidence begins to pile up, conflicting suspicions of the killer’s identity begin to rise, and friends and acquaintances of the duo become victims; things seem to get closer to them with each death. Can they survive the dark shadow following them around town, and remain the strong-willed, closely connected partners in crime they’ve always been? Or will their obsession with murder prove their undoing in a final, emotional showdown as the killer is revealed?

With a suspenseful ‘whodunnit’ storyline and a heartwarming tale of friends to lovers and found family, Partners in Crime is a cozy read for fans of romance and murder mysteries alike.

138 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2021

12 people are currently reading
210 people want to read

About the author

Rachel Bowdler

20 books156 followers
Rachel Bowdler grew up and still lives just outside of Manchester, on the edge of West Yorkshire. Her books feature queer and plus-size characters finding their happily ever afters. You can usually find her hosting the Swords & Sapphics Podcast, writing under the pen names Bonnie Woods and Bryony Rosehurst, and working as a freelance editor.

Her festive debut novel, Honeymoon for One, was brought to readers in 2022 and became a bestseller in lesbian romance.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
Profile Image for Howard.
2,154 reviews123 followers
July 22, 2021
4.5 Stars for Partners in Crime (audiobook) by Rachel Bowdler read by Courtney Bailey produced by Bryant Street Shorts.
This was a fun story. The characters are great and the situation they are in is really unique. I thought there could have been a little more romance but then maybe it wouldn’t have been a short story.
Profile Image for Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud.
Author 1 book766 followers
May 11, 2022
Bryce and Thea have been best friends for almost a decade and have a successful true-crime podcast together. Both have feelings for the other and fight them as “inappropriate”, scared to endanger their friendship.

The blurb is too revealing, the mystery really takes over in the second half, whereas the first half focuses on Thea’s and Bryce’s lives and relationship. It could have felt unbalanced yet it doesn’t. The first half sets the scene and allows the reader/listener to get to know the characters – main and secondary – pretty well. Both the MCs and the secondary characters, in particular Thea’s friend Mikey and Bryce’s sister Liv, are more developed than I would have expected from a novella. That’s what I liked best actually, that even though it’s a novella, the author takes the time to paint the characters, their surroundings, let the plot take root organically. The mystery’s resolution feels a teeny bit rushed but not in a bad way, more in an adrenaline-filled way.

It was my first narration by Courtney Bailey, and it was enjoyable. The voices aren’t distinct enough for my taste but the pacing is excellent. If you’re into cosy mysteries with a side of sapphic romance, this novella should do the trick.

Read all my reviews on my blog: Jude in the Stars
Profile Image for Rebecca Crunden.
Author 29 books790 followers
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April 12, 2023
I have adored all of Rachel Bowdler’s novellas that I’ve read so far and she’s definitely becoming one of my go-to authors for a lovely romance read. I totally recommend her books!

Firstly, how bloody gorgeous is this cover? I'm absolutely obsessed with it. I picked up the Kindle version of this one with the other cover, but I’m definitely grabbing a copy of the paperback because I am straight up HEART EYES for this cover. Strong noir, graphic novel vibes and I am HERE FOR IT. Secondly, this one is fabulously sapphic.

Partners in Crime features a podcast on true crime, and it’s fitting choice to read this month with the Book Trove book club as I was just watching Only Murders in the Building, which also follows podcasters of true crime. (And is also awesome, FYI.)

Bryce was special, Thea was beginning to realize. She wouldn’t find that same connection anywhere else.

As always, Bowdler manages to pack a wonderful amount into a novella. There’s romance and angst and mystery and suspense. And, like all of Bowdler’s novellas, the characterisation is just wonderful. And Thea and Bryce are impossible not to root for.

Deep down, though, she knew what had really driven Thea here. She knew why her best friend could never let these cases go, knew why she took it upon herself to try to solve them. They rarely covered unsolved mysteries on the podcast anymore. Thea always needed an answer — because she’d never gotten one for herself.

Bowdler really knows how to write characters you feel for and ship from the get go. Coupled with angst and a murder mystery, and you have all the ingredients for a great novella! Can’t wait to read her next one!

Buddy read this book with The Book Trove. We’re hoping to shine some attention on independent books and authors. These books are picked totally at random and selected by vote amongst the group.

My review of Honeymoon for One is here.
My review of Safe and Sound is here.
My review of A Haunting at Hartwell Hall is here.
My review of Along for the Ride is here.
My review of No Love Lost is here.
My review of Paint Me Yours is here.

Blog | Twitter
Profile Image for Gail.
990 reviews58 followers
June 6, 2022
The first few sentences hooked and pulled me willingly into the latest book from Ms. Bowdler which features Bryce and Thea.
Take two best friends/co-hosts of a true crime podcast Perfect Crime add murder, a dash of angst, a small town on edge and an eventual sprinkling of romance and you have an intriguing storyline. Nicely fleshed out supporting characters particularly Mikey and Liv (Bryce's younger sister) add to the plot which moves to a conclusion with twists and turns.
A short read that tickled the detective in me.

I rec'd a copy through Booksprout and this is a completely unbiased, voluntary review.
Profile Image for Hayley Anderton.
Author 35 books146 followers
May 16, 2022
I absolutely love all of Rachel’s novellas, but her mystery ones in particular hit the spot for me! This book follows by far my favourite of her character sets so far, and the mystery was short but satisfying! I read this one in a single sitting and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a cute sapphic romance with a little mystery thrown in!
Profile Image for Tierney Moore.
Author 14 books93 followers
June 22, 2023
Rachel Bowdler is refreshing! She writes alsmot entirely different stories from one book to the next!

That is, in terms of setup, background, and characters. As you'd expect, and want, from a romance, the will-they/won't-they is present, the chemistry says surely they must, and the HEA is sure to happen... 😀

This time the backdrop is a smalltown murder-mystery that starts out quite light but becomes increasingly more involving as the danger creeps closer and closer to the MCs.

Another really enjoyable read from Ms. Bowdler 😀
Profile Image for kory..
1,282 reviews131 followers
January 4, 2023
first book of the year (and since november) and it’s 😕

content/trigger warnings; murder, death, blood, violence, child neglect mentioned, alcohol consumption, ableism, amatonormativity,

rep; thea (mc) is pansexual. bryce (mc) is bisexual.

a pansexual woman and bisexual woman, best friends for almost a decade, both 26 years old, host a true crime podcast and find themselves trying to solve a string of murders in their town. sounds promising, right? 😕

but it just doesn’t work for me 😕

— first, this is the kind of “friends to lovers” that i don’t like. because to me, it’s not friends to lovers. they’re already (secretly) in love with each at the beginning of the book. i’ve mentioned this before, but what i want out of “friends to lovers” is a development from platonic to romantic feelings. rather than two people already (secretly) in love just going from not dating to dating. idk about y’all, but i don’t think of “secretly in love or wanting to fuck” when i think of “friends.”

— second, there’s some amatonormativity that gets on my nerves. thea describes herself as being “perhaps too comfortable” with bryce, and this narratively indicates that her feelings aren’t strictly platonic. the issue with that is there isn’t a level of comfort or closeness that inherently indicates romantic feelings. thea also says she’s in love with bryce “not in a best friend way. in a ‘my heart bursts open every time i see you’ way. in a ‘if you killed someone, i’d help you bury the body’ way.” which has the same issue. your heart can burst seeing a platonic loved one and you can feel you’d help a platonic loved one bury a body. this is especially frustrating because thea thinks “she’s not just my best friend, she’s my person,” which is a phrase if not from then made mainstream by grey’s anatomy in a platonic context between two characters who in fact described their platonic bond as one where they would be the one the other called if they murdered someone. to take a phrase rooted in platonic love and turn it into a vehicle for a “more than friends” narrative is super disappointing.

— third, bryce’s relationship with her younger sister, liv, who she has guardianship of, rubs me the wrong way. their mother split and bryce made the choice to become liv’s guardian before social services could even get involved. and it’s a choice that bryce spends the entire book complaining about; how hard it is, how tiring it is, how financially difficult it is, how it’s the reason she can’t have the fulfilling life she wants, etc. and i get it, shit’s hard. but she doesn’t just complain, she takes it out on liv. she takes it upon herself to not only raise her sister, but make up for their terrible mother. which makes her overbearing, untrusting, and a bit of a helicopter guardian. when liv throws a party with alcohol (oh no! not a teenager having a party!), bryce yells at and berates her in front of thea and liv’s friend. she literally yells at liv that she just wanted one night but liv couldn’t let her have that, which makes liv feel like she’s ruining bryce’s life. this is discussed and apologized for, but liv had no say in how her life turned out. her life has been a series of other people’s decisions. AND she’s a teenager, for fuck’s sake. she doesn’t deserve the way bryce treated her. and thea constantly comforts bryce over this situation, putting all of the focus on bryce and none on the innocent teenager, who also lost out on having a mother and just a sister. (and when the final shit goes down with the murder mystery, it suddenly transforms liv into the perfect kid who doesn’t break the rules or do anything “bad.” how convenient.)

other random shit:

— their friend and podcast producer, mikey, says he doesn’t want to hang out with them because they talk about “womanly things” like “menstrual cycles.” aren’t we beyond equating menstruation with womanhood? and cis men who can’t handle hearing about menstruation?

— you expect me to believe a millennial doesn’t know what a spam email is called? and that she was mocked as a teenager for wearing a nirvana shirt?

— bryce gets offered a dream job on a true crime docuseries because of the podcast but says she’s gonna turn it down because there explicitly wasn’t also an offer for thea. thea of course is like, girl what are talking about take the damn job. which, good. healthy. but then this is bypassed in the epilogue when thea and mikey are suddenly offered jobs on the docuseries, too. because of course.

— the whole handling of the murders is just. look, i get it, they’re not detectives, nor are they incapable of bad decisions or mistakes. BUT. they are true crime fanatics and they encouraged people to come forward with any information they might have on the murders. then they completely missed glaringly obvious things and withheld all the information they had. it just wasn’t believable. if your average joe just stumbles into uncovering a crime and fumbles their way through it, fine. but people who research and study true crime enough to host a popular podcast about it? they didn’t have to be perfect, but they should’ve been making slightly better choices.

— it’s interesting that it took becoming a victim themselves to finally realize that they shouldn’t be paying homage to and immortalizing serial killers but rather celebrating victims and survivors. kind of has “i don’t care until it affects me personally” vibes.

generally, just a disappointing read.

and as always, pansexual (and bisexual) quote: “She’d discovered that she was pansexual years ago, now - and with Bryce’s help, no less, since she’d been confident in her own bisexuality since adolescence.”
Profile Image for Chris Durston.
Author 21 books38 followers
September 14, 2021
There's a lot to like about this very quick read (I think it was something like 160 pages when I read it on Scribd on my phone, so the pages weren't exactly huge). I love the cosy f/f friends-to-lovers partnership (I don't think that's spoilers, it's pretty much a given from the start that there's a romantic dimension to their relationship), the dynamic between sisters who are more like mother and daughter, the hapless romantic life of a friendly podcast producer... yeah, a lot to like.

Funnily enough, although the blurb says Bryce and Thea are polar opposites, I sometimes found myself forgetting which was which except by remembering that Bryce was the one with the sister. I also imagined them absolutely nothing like the two women who appear on the cover!

There are some things I wish had been further explored - we get a very quickly resolved red herring early on that introduces some possible suspects and then never see those characters again, for example. And does the overall mystery work? I mean, I liked it well enough; I thought it worked well as a relatively short adventure that therefore resolves pretty speedily, although I did peg the actual murderer almost immediately! Another reviewer's pointed out that Bryce and Thea's (mostly Thea's) plan to catch the killer is utterly terrible, but I agree with their conclusion that actually it makes sense that it would be, because they didn't really think about it.

It's really well written, though, and for the length it is I don't think you can really go wrong. It's great escapism, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Profile Image for Josie Jaffrey.
Author 56 books172 followers
Read
January 15, 2022
A great quick read for fans of murder mystery and romance.
Profile Image for Laura Swift.
Author 12 books13 followers
July 15, 2024
This novella covered off everything that I love; podcasting, true crime, queer characters and a murder mystery. The characters and setting that Rachel created were believable, and I found myself invested from the very first chapter. I really enjoyed guessing the culprit behind the murder and following the two girls in their bid to uncover the truth!
Profile Image for Merlina Garance.
Author 8 books24 followers
October 12, 2023
Once more, Rachel doesn't disappoint, with a story that strikes the right balance between angsty and cosy. I love a good pining story, and this book had loads, with the added tension of the crimes happening in town. It made me want to listen to the girls' podcast, which I sadly cannot do :(
It's a perfect book for spooky season, so cosy up with a hot drink and get reading Partners in Crime!
Profile Image for marta.
151 reviews
August 7, 2021
*rolls in on my heelys* did someone say sapphic podcaster best friends to lovers murder mystery

this is definitely a book i'll reread at least twice to pick up on all the clues and add more tabs to my paperback copy, and honestly i can't even think of anything else to say apart from i wish this was a 5+ book series and like 300 pages longer bc bryce and thea own my entire heart now <3
Profile Image for Sarah Bell.
Author 3 books39 followers
June 10, 2022
Sapphic true crime podcasters solve a mystery whilst pining for each other? Sign me up.

This is a relatively short story but it manages to pack a lot in - mystery, romance, family dynamics & friendship, all whilst exploring our fascination with true crime/ serial killers.

I loved the MC's interactions and how they related to each other - especially the realism in how we see how they both care for each other but also can be frustrated by one and other.

A particular highlight for me was the sister/mother relationship between Bryce and Liv - Bowdler does a great job in portraying this complicated dynamic. The part where Bryce is thinking about how she wants to be able to give Liv the future she deserves especially hit me right in the feels.

I would say that the plan to catch the killer felt terrible and ill-thought but as I kept reading I realised that was the point. It was supposed to be a last desperate attempt.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I'd highly recommend for fans of mysteries, true crime podcasts or Sapphics (and especially if you like all three!)
Profile Image for Ivy Marikova.
Author 1 book25 followers
July 17, 2021
Once again, we're blessed by sapphics by Rach. Partners in Crime is best friends to lovers living in a small town and who are true crime podcasters trying to solve a murder mystery. 😍 I laughed, I cried, I loved my sapphic babies so fucking much... just a whole package.
Profile Image for Nevitana.
189 reviews2 followers
May 26, 2024
3.5 - 4 ⭐️
In dieser Thriller/Sapphic-Romance-Novella geht es um Thea und Bryce, die einen kleinen True Crime-Podcast haben als plötzlich ein Serienkiller in ihrer Kleinstadt ihr Unwesen treibt, dessen Morde erschreckende Ähnlichkeiten zu ihren wöchentlichen Fällen haben.
Dabei steht neben der Jagd nach dem Killer auch die Freundschaft zwischen den beiden Frauen im Fokus, die beide für die jeweils andere etwas mehr als nur Freundschaft empfinden, aber keine traut sich, den nächsten Schritt zu machen.
Ich mochte beide FMC sehr gerne, gerade Thea habe ich ins Herz geschlossen. 🖤 Dafür, dass die Novelle recht kurz ist, hat die Autorin einen guten Spannungsbogen aufbauen können. Leider wusste ich bereits recht schnell, wer der*die Killer*in ist, weshalb es mich am Ende nicht so mitgerissen hat 😕 auch wurden manche Handlungsstränge (zB Heidi) nicht weiter verfolgt, was schade ist. Die Idee und die Lovestory fand ich aber richtig gut. 😍
Man kommt schnell durch die Seiten und insgesamt hatte ich eine gute Zeit. 🥰
404 reviews3 followers
June 4, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. The concept of a serial killer copying crimes discussed on a podcast was interesting and fresh. Both the main characters, Bryce and Thea had their back stories well explained and gave the characters seem more normal and real.
Loved the story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Steve.
6 reviews
August 11, 2025
As a fan of true crime, enjoyer of podcasts and reader of books this was an incredibly fun read! The dynamics between the main characters is great. The build up to
The climax of the story is paced nicely. The second part of the book definitely got me hooked to a degree of just binge reading it until I finished the book!

Will definitely check out other books by Rachel Bowdler!
Profile Image for Bethany.
551 reviews7 followers
August 9, 2023
Another fantastic Rachel Bowdler book! I love the romance being mixed in with the mystery going on in the town! A really fun idea.
17 reviews1 follower
June 6, 2022
As someone who doesn't partake in real-world true crime, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this novel's take on it, but Partners in Crime was a delightful read with engaging, dynamic characters, a mysterious plot, and enough family fluff to melt my heart.

I'm a huge friends-to-lovers fan, so I loved watching Thea and Bryce's relationship progress through the novel, with all the denial, attraction, and tension involved. The ethical dilemma of turning their real lives (and the lives of people they really know) into content, even for a cause, was also fascinating, especially with the switching POVs between Thea -- boundary-pushing and a bit overeager at times, but caring -- and Bryce -- strongly loyal to her obligations but longing to live a normal 20-something life.

Overall, a super fun novel and a great book if you like romance, murder, or final girls!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
221 reviews10 followers
January 10, 2026
Murder and Romance in a Small Town

Best friends, Bryce and Thea, produce a weekly true-crime podcast, Perfect Crimes, and it seems someone is using it as sinister inspiration in their small town, Stone Grange.

As we enter this story, we're drawn into this world of colorful characters contrasted with the daily hum drum of their lives when suddenly a police officer is found dead causing Thea and Bryce to use their podcast as a means of gathering clues to help the police.

What follows is a slow burn friends to lovers sapphic romance and an intriguing suspenseful murder mystery leaving you guessing until the very end.

Booksprout provided me a free copy of Partners in Crime for an honest review.
Profile Image for clara ౨ৎ.
71 reviews29 followers
January 27, 2024
1.5 ⭐️

this felt very rushed, all of it. first half of the book i couldn’t even tell you what the plot was and then around chapter 6 things starts happening, but they are rushed wayyyy to fast. the whole podcast theme felt like this was trying to be like “a good girls guide to murder”

also i fricken hateeeee thea, she’s so selfish and annoying. bryce definitely deserves better

also also, why are the chapters so god damn long
Profile Image for darcey_reads.
103 reviews20 followers
June 7, 2024
I finished this less than two weeks ago and I’ve already forgotten most of it. All I remember is that it felt quite rushed to me, especially the ending, and I thought it was just okay. Nothing amazing but it was a quick, fun little read one afternoon when I felt like ignoring all my other responsibilities.
Profile Image for Lauren loves llamas.
849 reviews108 followers
June 8, 2022
I got drawn in by the adorable cover (ok but seriously why don’t they have EYES?) and then when I found out it was a friends-to-lovers? sapphic murder mystery novella? SOLD.

Bryce and Thea have been best friends for years. They co-host a mildly popular weekly true crime podcast, though the rest of their lives is, well, mediocre at best. They’re both sort of treading water, with the podcast – and their friendship – being the bright spot in their lives. Bryce works six days a week at an arcade in order to support herself and her teen sister, Liv. Thea works at her mom’s book store. When a murder occurs, Thea’s convinced they can help solve it. After all, Thea and Bryce have probably covered more cases than the cops in the small town of Stone Grange have. But as they get tangled up in a decades-old case and small town gossip, they soon realize that investigating isn’t easy. Even worse, one of them may be the killer’s next target.

“She wished that she could find someone who slot into her life perfectly and set her on fire at the same time.
The problem was, she already had that, with the one person she wasn’t supposed to. With Bryce.”


The novella is told from both Thea and Bryce’s third-person POV. It’s clear to the reader (if not the characters themselves) that they both have romantic feelings for the other, but neither want to jeopardize their friendship. Bryce is the serious one of the pair, constantly worrying about her sister Liv. After their mother left when Liv was seven, Bryce took over raising her, not that she wasn’t already doing most of it before that. She just wants to keep Liv from making the same mistakes she did, and she’s tired of having to be stern and anxious all the time. Thea, on the other hand, is the carefree one of the pair who’s always trying to get Bryce to live a little. While they’re both horror fans, Thea’s the one pushing to investigate, needing to find an answer to things in a way that sometimes comes off as tactless.

“With every murder we’ve ever researched, who’s the first to be blamed?”
“The partner. The jealous boyfriend, the abusive husband, the money-grabbing wife.” Bryce didn’t miss a beat. Clearly, she’d already thought about it too. It was strange, how they could be so in sync sometimes, so out of it others. Strange, and terrifying. Thea worried that one day they’d never find that unison again. That one day, they’d fall out of tune and it would stay that way.”


For a novella, I found the characters very well rounded. Part of it, I think, is that a good initial chunk of the book is spent giving background on Thea and Bryce and their relationship. The mystery portion doesn’t really pick up until halfway through the book, though there’s some hilarious bits where Thea is convinced a new arrival to town is actually a serial killer. There’s quite a few red herrings, though I don’t think it’s too hard to figure out who the real suspect is. To be honest, their plans for trying to catch the killer are, well, hilariously awful, but that’s about what I would expect from two people whose only experience is investigating already solved murders! The side characters are interesting, too, from Bryce’s sister Liv, to their best friend Mikey, who helps on the podcast, to Peter, Bryce’s flirting coworker, which sets off all kinds of feelings in Thea that she doesn’t want to admit to.

Overall, this is a fun and quick read, and I’ll definitely be looking up more books by this author. Recommended if you’re a true crime fan!

I received an advance review copy of this book from BookSprout. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content notes:
Profile Image for Megan.
Author 3 books65 followers
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December 5, 2024
2.0
One day a week, best friends Thea and Bryce host a true-crime podcast, in which they rehash old crimes from around the world. But then a popular police officer is found murdered in their own town.

The podcast trope is a popular one in the early 2020s, especially in the Young Adult category. Thea and Bryce’s chemistry is a good one and their backstories are interesting. In fact, Bryce, at 26, has been acting as a mother to her 16-year-old sister for the last 10 year—since their profligate mother left the scene.

And that’s where one of the problems begins. Bryce and Thea act and talk like teenagers, not the adults they are. At one point, the author says that Thea responds to a Bryce taunt “as though they were twelve again.” When they are taken to task by another police officer for a minor indiscretion, it was like “a woman scolding two badly behaved children.”

Thea: “I’m an adult, remember?”
Thea’s Mother: “I’ll believe that when you start acting like one.”

So will I, but unfortunately Partners in Crime has other, more serious problems. In fact, it has what I call a Fatal Flaw—a mistake so egregious that reading any further is useless—although I read through to the end. Here’s the scene: in trying to find someone who is now a serial killer, Thea, Bryce, and their buddy Mikey find a shack in the woods containing pictures and news articles about the crimes and their victims. There is even a picture of Bryce.

But they run to the police? Does any one of the three run to the police? Do they share their findings with anyone? Answer: No. And that’s the rub. There is no one on earth who—finding a killer’s den and seeing that they were probably next on the list—would not report it. None.

As if moves along, Thea and Bryce go after the wrong suspect, set a trap, and are nevertheless waylaid ty the real killer. And, oh yes, the killer is someone they both know well, except that secretly, he is a homicidal maniac. Who knew?

Well, Thea and Bryce do get together at the end, which is nice. But nothing escapes a fatal flaw.

Final Rating: 2

Note: I read the ebook copy of this book that was available on Amazon on 08-16-2024.

Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel , along with information on over 1200 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.

Profile Image for Shan( Shans_Shelves) &#x1f49c;.
1,087 reviews94 followers
March 11, 2024
Mystery we don’t know her.

Romance, YEAH OKAY.

Apparently these two are “friends” but with the way Bryce treated Thea, you wouldn’t know it.

But don’t worry these “friends” are actually in love with each other.

Nope no they aren’t!!

Well, maybe Thea, but only because she spent the whole book following Bryce around like a love sick puppy. Or you know, accusing innocents of murder!

I don’t know who/what annoyed me more: Thea, Bryce, or that pathetic whodunnit. Anyone who has watched an iota of fictional or true crime will guess the culprit.

Okay it was Bryce. She was hands down the most whiny character I’ve ever read. She COMPLAINED ABOUT EVERYTHING. Like yo Bryce you do know you don’t have to do the podcast??! Seriously why even bother having her a co-host she HATED it. If she wasn’t complaining about that, she was making snarky comments about Thea’s interest in true-crime ( and yes okay, there were times Thea goes overboard) but what kind of friend does that? And I’m suppose to believe they’re in love. I don’t even believe she really even likes Thea.

Then there’s the dilemma with her sister who apparently Bryce loves but again you wouldn’t know it, not only is she completely overbearing, but she likes to remind EVERYONE (woe is her) that she’s only 26 and has to be a mother to her sister. Okay I got it, I didn’t need to be reminded every second paragraph.

Let’s skip the whodunnit because why?? It was so unoriginal and I’m not lying, you’ll guess it the moment the character is on page.

I think maybe with a little more character work, a whole lot more romantic build up, and more pages to work with, this may have had a chance. For me, it’s a no go. But if any of this sounds like your thing, or you’re in it more for the sapphic rep( Thea is pansexual and Bryce is bisexual, we love it see it) rather than the “mystery” - give it a shot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for EM Harding.
Author 2 books21 followers
May 28, 2022
When I saw the ARCs for Rachel Bowdler’s latest book, Partners in Crime, get announced I practically threw myself onto booksprout to grab a copy. I didn’t even have an account set up, but I knew that this book would be a five star read for me. After all, it ticked literally every box: friends to lovers, sunshine x grump dynamic, sapphic romance and a murder mystery with a whodunnit puzzle for my sleuthy brain to munch on while I waited for these two disaster queers to say, “I love you”.

I’ve been following Bowdler on Twitter for a while now, but had never read one of her books before. I knew she had strong romance game, so I was expecting characters I’d fall in love with and a nice easy read. Somehow, though, I was still bowled over by how much I loved the characters, and how compelled I was to keep reading.

There’s a great nuance to the way Bryce and Thea are written. I think there’s a tendency in romance to give us characters we’ve seen again and again, and that’s fine. Sometimes you want the comfort of things you’ve seen before. But Bowdler doesn’t stop at trope level. Bryce isn’t just a grump, she’s a high school burn out who’s scrabbled to get her life together so she can parent her younger sister and give her everything that their parents just couldn’t be bothered to. And Thea isn’t just your standard dollop of sunshine, she’s a true crime fanatic who sees murderers everywhere because of her own past trauma. It was a wonderful surprise to uncover all the little details of these two and see them work together to get past their issues. Honestly … I’m a little obsessed.

And that obsession showed in how quickly I ploughed through the book. Normally, I’m a slow reader and, even though this is a novella, I’d usually take about a week or longer. However, I tore through this little gem in a couple of days and was VERY unhappy that I’d finished it. For me, that means every spare moment I had I was whizzing through the kindle app open on my phone, instead of wading through tiktok. That’s no small feat.

I loved the ease of Bowdler’s writing style, the witty little interactions, the tiny details of character and relationships drizzled in. And the tension, both on the romantic and mystery side, was incredibly well strung.

Did I spot the murderer very early on? Yes, absolutely. But as any fan of a good murder mystery will tell you, the anticipation of being proved right is half the fun. And for those of you who are aware of the debate around the ethics of true crime podcasting, know that this book does not shy away from that discussion. While Partners in Crime starts with two women who enjoy horror movies going over the details of grizzly murders, it does not end that way, something which I very much appreciated.

So in summation, I really loved this book, I fully intend on buying a paperback and re-reading it soon, and I may have found a new favourite author 😀 100 stars, would set up a booksprout from scratch just to get an early copy again.
Profile Image for Annette Jordan.
2,843 reviews53 followers
April 9, 2025
Partners In Crime has such a great premise- best friends who host a true crime podcast together fall in love while investigating a series of copy cat crimes that seem to be linked to their recent episodes. It's a great idea and one that I almost wish had been developed into a longer book as it was a lot to put together in a novella. That being said if my biggest issue with the book is that I wanted more it's not exactly a complaint. I really liked both Bryce and Thea as characters and I loved that we got to see a lot of Bryce's relationship with her sister Liv, in fact I think that the character development in general and not just for the main characters was more in depth than I would have expected in such a short book. That does come at a cost however, the pacing is a little on the slower side, especially in the first half of the book and the romance is very much of the slow burn variety as Bryce and Thea both try to figure out if it is worth risking their friendship in the pursuit of something more. The mystery element is clever and well handled , I appreciated that the author kept me guessing. As I said there is a lot of depth to this story and I certainly wouldn't have minded spending more time with these characters, and who knows, maybe that will happen at some point in the future.
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