SUDDENLY A MURDER

Seven teens celebrate their graduation at a weeklong, 1920s-themed party where one friend is murdered and the others become suspects.

When Mexican American faculty kid Izzy Morales and her rich white best friend, Kassidy, graduate from their posh Maine private school, Kassidy surprises Izzy with a weeklong, all-expenses-paid stay at Ashwood Manor, the mansion on a private island that was once the set of their favorite black-and-white mystery movie. The exclusive guest list includes only five others: their classmates Blaine, Kassidy’s white playboy boyfriend; Fergus, also white, a gay theater nerd and Blaine’s best friend; queer Black elite athlete Ellison; Chinese American valedictorian and lacrosse player Chloe; and Greek American literary gazillionaire Marlowe, who’s Izzy’s crush. For authenticity’s sake, Kassidy orders her guests to surrender their cellphones and clothes, which will be returned to the mainland; she’s provided them with custom-altered vintage outfits for the week. As growing tensions and interpersonal dramas derail the party, Blaine is discovered dead in his room. Two homicide detectives arrive on the scene to investigate and try to determine which of the 18-year-olds committed the murder. Alongside the central mystery, the author successfully explores a host of serious issues, including substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, and the armor of socioeconomic privilege (the apartment Izzy lives in is worlds away from her classmates’ lifestyles). The puzzle will keep readers engaged as it unfolds through multiple third-person perspectives and flashbacks.

An un-put-down-able, bittersweet whodunit.