At the house party Kathleen confides in Beth that she is terrified of one of the guests at the party but will not say who it is as they know a secret of Kathleen’s.
The following morning Kathleen is found dead at the bottom of the cliffs at the bottom of her garden . Was she pushed or was it suicide or an acccident.
Everyone thinks it’s an accident but Beth is sure it’s not and decides to find out who Kathleen was frightened of.
The guests at the party are all close friends so when Beth keeps digging into what happen she upsets quite a few people. They all have something to hide. But can Beth find out before something happens to her.
A good read
Thanks NetGalley

The House Party by Mary Grand is a modern psychological mystery whodunit, with a traditional feel and lots of clues, hints, suspects and red herrings.

I didn’t know anything much about the Isle of Wight and I was interested to see it described so beautifully, the communities, the views, the countryside all described so warmly. It makes me want to visit – apart from all the dodgy behaviour that is!

Our protagonist Beth is a tenacious sleuth and everything is explained logically at the end, although I did feel the book was a little overlong. Some of the dialogue could also have been a bit freer, less formal with more contractions.

Apart from Beth, there’s a range of characters each hiding their own secrets, insecurities and problems and Mary Grand does a great job of keeping all the balls in the air: giving everyone a motive, slippery shifting alibis and sneaky behaviour; of keeping your suspicions on their toes and spreading the red herrings.

I did not know who the guilty party was or their true motivations right until the end and it is disturbing to think someone could be hiding in your circle of friends like this. If you are looking for a modern, un-guessable whodunit then please do try The House Party.

Thank you to Boldwood Books for my copy of The House Party and to Rachel’s Random Resources for my stop on the tour.

It was meant to be a house party for Kathleen to celebrate her new home with friends. Kathleen is scared, very scared, of a guest there.

But who?

Her friend Beth listens and tries to do what she can, but the revelation has her extremely concerned for Kathleen.

When Kathleen is found dead, Beth needs answers. Which one of their close friends is guilty of murder?

The Isle of Wight is the perfect location for Kathleen's dream house. Now she will never live there or realise her dreams.

The House Party shows how a dream setting can quickly become hostile and unwelcoming. It is about secrets and lies and how much we really can trust friends or not.

The novel is my first by Mary Grand and I was drawn in. It has suspense intrigue and a sense of things, places and people not being what they seem.

Creepy enough to make me feel very uneasy at times.

The setting goes from idyllic and laid back to chilling and sinister very quickly.

This is a slight criticism: I would have liked things to have been a little more drawn out and atmospheric at the party.

I felt the first turn of events came too quickly and the way the reveal of finding Kathleen dead played out was a little too easily guessed.

Other than that, I felt the plot was well thought out and the characters were realistic.

An enjoyable thriller.

Thanks to Mary Grand. Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

I am looking forward to more novels by Mary Grand.

4 stars.

This book starts with a bang; Beth is talking to Kathleen in the garden during a house warming party. Kathleen very much on edge confides in her friend telling her that she is terrified of one of the guests at the party who had been threatening her. Interrupted, Kathleen agrees to meet up with Beth the next day to reveal all. Unfortunately, Kathleen never gets the chance as she falls and dies the following morning.

Suspecting the fall to be suicide or accidental death, the police start their investigation. However, Beth is not convinced and is troubled by their discussion the previous evening. She sets out to find who was threatening Kathleen and in turn find out the truth behind her death.

This was a really interesting read and one where you feel you are piecing all the parts of the puzzle alongside Beth. There are so many red-herrings along the way and everyone appears guilty. It is only when you get right towards the end of the book does the 'real culprit' become apparent.

I loved the setting of the book and the fact that I had no clue who was to blame; everyone was a plausible suspect and had a motive. What was particularly intriguing was that it was someone in their inner circle of friends who was threatening Kathleen, someone they all knew and trusted. It was very interesting to see how the dynamics of the group changed once a seed of doubt had been planted. I know everyone has secrets, even between married couples, so the whole concept of the story line felt very realistic and plausible. I did feel Beth was a bit too trusting in revealing her thoughts to individuals but I appreciate these were her friends and her husband. I just feared for her as she got herself into quite a few potential predicaments, which made for a thrilling read.

Many thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to join The House Party blog tour, a great mystery perfect for a cosy weekend read.

The House Party is a domestic thriller that starts off at a housewarming party. The next day, though, Kathleen, the hostess of the party is found dead. While her death looks accidental, her friend Beth suspects foul play. At the party, Kathleen told Beth she was afraid she had made someone angry. She had a secret. One of the guests knows. But who is evil enough to murder?
The story is pretty well done in terms of casting suspicion on every character who was at the party. I found myself wondering about different possibilities, but the farther into the book I got, the more I started to slowly piece things together until I was sure I had at least figured out who it was.
The ending is a bit depressing, and I felt bad for a couple of the characters. But at least the truth had come out for them.
I did think the book was a little slow in spots, and I did have to force myself to keep reading, but overall, I enjoyed the story for what it was. It was a decent read, and I'd recommend it to fans of suspense thrillers.
3.5 stars from me.

When I saw the comparisons between this book and those of Lucy Foley, I knew I had to read it, and I wasn’t disappointed. The House Party has all the twists and turns and intrigue you could wish for in a mystery thriller, and I flew through reading it.

Another big draw for this book was its setting on the Isle of Wight. Living just a short hop over the water, I visited the Isle of Wight many times growing up and it was lovely to see so many familiar places included.

The House Party features a cast of incredibly complex characters, each with deeply hidden secrets, which some of them will go to extreme lengths to protect. At different times through the book, I believed each and every one of them would have been capable of murdering Kathleen.

Beth was a tricky character for me – there were times when I wanted to shake her and tell her to go the police with everything she was finding out, but most of the time, I could totally understand her almost obsessive need to uncover the truth herself, and I suspect I would have reacted in a similar fashion in her situation.

The House Party moves from a slow, simmering tension to fast paced action, keeping the reader permanently on their toes, not knowing who to trust, from start to finish.

My preconceptions about this book were entirely wrong. I assumed that this was going to be a murder mystery that revolved around an actual house party and would be solved at the end of the party. This is not what the book is about, at all. It is definitely a murder mystery but it takes a lot longer to solve and all of the attendees of the house party are suspects. I think it ended up being way better than I initially expected!

We all like to think that we know our friends well and that we can trust them implicitly. This book shows what happens when appearances aren’t all that they seem! When Kathleen tells Beth she is scared of one of their friends at a house party and is then found dead the next day, Beth is determined that she will solve the mystery and is not convinced that her death is simply an accident. When she finds that all of her friends have been keeping secrets of their own, she is led down a path with more twists and turns than she ever expected…

It took me a while to fully enjoy the book, it initially seemed like it was going to be a fairly predictable read. Thankfully, there was no end of characters that could have committed the crime and it definitely threw me off the scent! The characters felt very realistic and I felt very sorry for how Beth was being treated by her ‘friends’ at times. The story wasn’t quite as fast-paced as I would have preferred, but that’s just personal preference.

A great murder mystery that will keep you guessing! I will definitely be looking out for more books written by Mary Grand!

I read The House Party so quickly! it was unputdownable! Definitely a top contender for the psychological thriller for 2020, and I will tell you why.

Set on the picturesque Isle of Wight, The House Party is a thriller with a difference. Everyone is friends, but friends with secrets. The whole story revolves around two main characters, Kathleen and Beth. But Kathleen is the one that has fallen to her death right at the start of the book. Did she fall or was she pushed? Ahh, this question pops up so many times throughout the book. I had myself changing my mind constantly! Beth is good friends with Kathleen and takes it upon herself to find out exactly what happened. But she is putting herself in grave danger.

Beth finds it hard to trust any of her friends, doubt even seeps in over her husband's whereabouts of the morning of the death. She knows it’s her job to find out what happened to her friend and she won’t stop until she has found the truth. Even if that means hurting her friends in the process.

I have never known a book like this with so many twists, and any of the group of friends could have done it! It’s actually a pretty complex plot, with ends flying around everywhere! You will get absorbed into Beth’s investigations and trust me you won’t be able to sleep until you discover the truth.

The House Party by Mary Grand is a whopping 5 out of 5 stars from me and I can’t wait to read her next book. The book of the Summer for me so far!

Beth hasn’t seen her close friend Kathleen for a while, so when there’s a get-together of close friends at Kathleen and her husband’s stunning new home in the Isle of Whight, she expects to find her content and settled in what can only be described as a stunning architectural masterpiece. The house is a dream, and everyone’s so thrilled to see it and to be together with their closest friends in a happy, intimate setting. But Beth is shocked to find Kathleen tense and uneasy, finally confiding that someone in their tight circle, who is here at this very same house party, has threatened her and that she is living in fear. Beth can hardly believe. These are their closest, dearest friends who they know so well. Who could it be. Kathleen promises she will confide more details in the coming days.

But the following morning Kathleen is dead. Suicide? An accident? Murder? Beth is determined to find out. But in doing so, is she going to alienate all those who are her nearest and dearest. It seems that she might not know her friends as well as she thought she did, and the more she digs, she’s disturbed to find that everyone seems to have something to hide … even her own husband, and teenage children!

I loved Beth’s somewhat naive detective skills. The way she goes about trying to find out what happened to her friend and her determination to get to the bottom of it all, really endeared her to me. She’s really just this down-to-earth mom, doing her best and she’s been thrown in the deep end here. But she’s made up her mind that she’s going to see this through no matter what and she sets her mind to the task at hand. She certainly has quite a few surprises in store for her. But I kept thinking that if each of us had just one friend like Beth in our lives, we’d always know there was someone looking out for us, someone who had our back, and that we’d be okay!

This is a bit of a slow-burning psychological thriller, but it does force you to question: “How well do you really, really know the people who you think are closest to you?” We tend to assume that if we open ourselves up to others that they’ll do the same for us, but more often than not, that isn’t the case. People hold back; people keep secrets … whether it’s for their own good, or whether they tell themselves it’s for yours.

This is an absorbing 4-star read that kept me guessing, and then guessing again!

The House Party by Mary Grand is an entertaining mystery story set in The Isle Of Wight. Beth attends a house party with family and friends and while there, Kathleen begins to confide in her. They are interrupted by other guests approaching them, so Kathleen ends on 'I will tell you later'. The only problem being is that Kathleen falls to her death the very next day. The question is, did she fall accidentally, was she pushed or was it suicide? Beth has her doubts after the previous evenings conversation so makes it her mission to get to the bottom of this.
I liked how every single character that was present at the house party all played their part in the events. Beth is suspicious of them all, including her own husband and children. That said, I do think that when you are left hanging on to a thread with I will tell you later and there is no later, it makes the cogs in your brain go into overdrive. Especially when you are aware it is about secrets...enough to get the blood flowing faster.
I totally empathised with Beth, not only has she lost a friend, she has lost her in suspicious circumstances AND maybe someone close to her is responsible. Her task seemed impossible but I liked how she managed to solve the clues throughout, made me feel like it was akin to Agatha Christie, a cosy mystery murder and may really appeal to the fans of such books.
The suspense and the tension builds up all the way through and the twists and turns send you running down blind alleys, the totally wrong way. Then when the ending comes, well it's hardly ever what you expect!
Thanks to Rachels Random Resources and Netgalley for the ARC of this book I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to @rachelsrandomresources for inviting me in the blog tour of this book and to @netgalley for my copy of the book and the author @maryandpepper
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The author is a completely new author to me, however I have heard of other bookstagrammers talk about her writing and knew I wanted to read one of her books so when I was invited to this tour I jumped at the opportunity.
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The house party is set in the Isle of Wight which is just over the water from where I live so I was very excited to be taken there with this thrilling story.
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This story is based around a question of murder or suicide, the characters are very well written and relatable and it’s safe to say it is full of twists and turns throughout the whole book. #blogtour #readalong #thehouseparty #thriller

The House Party was an interesting one for me as it was not what I expected. For one, I was expecting a murder mystery that more or less all takes place at a house party. However, the house party is actually a very minute detail at the beginning of the book. My expectations based on the name and blurb also led me to believe I would be dealing with a bunch of 20-somethings. As a matter of fact, the majority of the characters are late 40s+. This was not a bad surprise though; it just made for a different type of reading.

What I had more of an issue with was that the characters weren’t very developed, besides Beth, who I really felt went on a journey throughout the book. It was hard not to like Beth. She was an ordinary person and a good friend. Lord knows some of the other characters didn’t deserve her friendship. I didn’t appreciate how cruel they could be to her when she was clearly distraught about the death of Kathleen. I guess that’s what happens when you have secrets to hide that could easily put you in the frame as the killer.

The House Party is more of a classic mystery, meaning it is slower-paced than more modern mysteries. I read some other reviews that had an issue with this but I didn’t mind. I found it to be well-written and plotted with enough drama to keep me interested. The author did a good job of having suspicion fall on each character at different points in the book, but not in an obvious red herring kind of way.

Readers who like stories that have a Judas in a seemingly tight-knitted friendship will appreciate The House Party.

This house party was definitely missing the party!

The story begins with many secrets. First, we have a character admitting to her best friend that she herself has a terrible secret that she is greatly embarrassed of and she will not even admit to her what this secret is. Secondly, she also admits that she knows another secret, but this one is something terrible about one of their close friends. This friend has threatened to ruin her life if she tells anyone by revealing her secret to everyone. She says this person is not who everyone thinks they are, in fact they are a terrible person and someone whom she has become very scared of. However, once again, she refuses to reveal who the person or what the secret is. The next morning she is found dead. A “fall” in her back yard, down her steep back cliffs. Supposedly an accident, but her best friend thinks otherwise and decides to investigate for herself.

An interesting plot, that could have been an entertaining read. Unfortunately, the writing and the tone was basic, elementary. As a result it was very difficult to build any quality of suspense or pull emotions from the read. This was ultimately a lackluster read that generated a need within the reader to skip pages to reach the end.

*Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing me with the digital review copy.

Loved this book it was a really good mystery book.
Kathleen tells her friend Beth that one of their friends is dangerous but she can't tell her now who or why but will chat to her more tomorrow before she has chance to do this she is found dead at the bottom of a cliff.
Was one of their friends really responsible and If so why would they kill her??
A gripping read

The House Party is dark and menacing and all the more sinister because the killer is one of a close group of friends. Someone has put on a very convincing act of being respectable and friendly, but only Kathleen, the victim, knew that he or she was fooling everyone.

The story is narrated by Beth, who is the last person Kathleen spoke to before her death. Beth also feels driven to find out who was threatening Kathleen despite getting a few threats herself. In my opinion, she is foolhardy because she throws herself open to danger by questioning her friends openly and telling them her theories.

We are led through a maelstrom of emotions in the close-knit group–jealousy, deceit, boredom, rebellion, anger, and suspicion. The author has the reader going in circles, even though she rehashes the events as Beth presents her theories to her husband and her friends each time she stumbles upon a new clue.

The final clue, which led to the revelation Beth was looking for, was easy to spot. However, what was mystifying was why Beth did not have her guard up by then.

Nevertheless, Beth teases apart the web of lies bit by bit while dealing with her suddenly secretive husband and openly rebellious teenage daughter. She’s also hiding a secret of her own–something that brought tears to my eyes. Her adorable cocker spaniel, Ollie, provided a light-hearted, positive contrast to the gloomy atmosphere in the novel. Dogs can make anything better!

Masterfully written, The House Party will lead you to examine the dark and dirty secrets between a group of families who are supposedly close and it will shock you to see how wrong you could be about your next-door neighbor!

Thank you to the author and Rachel for my review copy!

When I first read the synopsis and saw the cover & title, I was intrigued. I have been trying to read more thrillers and mystery novels, especially this summer because it's a genre that usually blows my mind and gets me excited and curious to read the next page, which I believe is a perfect recipe for a beach day.

That been said, this book I didn't read it at the beach, but still, I read it during a hot night. Which ended up being an even better combination, although I couldn't put the book down until my eyes and hand couldn't deal with the light. Nevertheless, the next night I was back at it again.

This story follows Beth. And after her friend is killed thing take a thrilling turn, that lead us to trying to figure out what really happened, side-by-side with Beth. With a group of characters that have secrets, which we uncover as the story goes, we are taken on a mystery looking for answers and theorizing who's responsible.

It is a 'who done it' kind of book and for people that enjoying the uncover of secrets and to figure out the truth, creating theories along the way... then this is definitely a book you should consider.

The scenery and the flow of the story helps with the tension and mystery of the plot, which is a good thing to have in this type of book. Also, it's a group of friends, and that makes things even more weary, because we are suppose to truth our friends, especially if we know them a long time. Although, that means nothing, and this book reminded me of that.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I could say I had fun. I was hooked at various points of the storytelling because of the revelations or the questions. And I was satisfied with the ending, which is something that I hope for once I finish reading this genre of books.

[I want to thank Rachel, at Rachel’s Random Resources, and Mary Grand for the eCopy of this book and for allowing me to join in the fun and being a part of the blog tour with my honest review of the book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.]

This enthralling thriller is narrated entirely from the perspective of Beth,a stubborn and fiercely loyal character who was determined to uncover the truth behind the death of her best friend's death despite the fact that in doing so she was jeopardizing her relationships with both her husband and her group of friends. Each member of her inner circle had their own personal secret including Beth's husband Sami and were constantly telling her to leave the investigating to the police. I thought that Beth was a mostly a likeable character and I admired her determination to uncover the truth but I also thought that she was a bit of a hypocrite because whilst she was getting upset with Sami about keeping secrets, she was harbouring one of her own. I can't say that I liked Sami very much, he seemed to have a high opinion of himself and his group of friends. According to him, none of them could have been involved in Kathleen's death because they had decent jobs and were respectable people. Right.... There has been numerous serial killers throughout history who have been hiding their true nature behind a mask of respectability. As Beth dug into Kathleen's life,she was shocked to discover that her best friend wasn't the person that she thought she was. But who within their inner circle would want to hurt her and why? And could Beth's determination to uncover the truth placing her own life in danger?

This story is a complex, slow burner that captivates the reader and draws you into the author's realistic character's lives. The twists and turns kept the reader guessing and the isolated location added intensity to the story. The island being a intoxicating blend of beauty and danger. I really enjoyed this well written, gripping mystery/ thriller and would happily read more of this author's books in the future.

When a woman’s best friend is found dead, she can’t help but think it was foul play after her friend tells her someone was threatening her. The shocker is that the murderer could be someone close to her.

Beth does what any true friend would do by finding out the truth about Kathleen’s death even at the risk of her own life. Normally a quiet person who doesn’t make waves, Beth confronts all her friends who attended the house party where Kathleen told her the person threatening her was at. What she finds out is that everyone is holding secrets about Kathleen including someone very close to her. Along with Beth, the reader can’t help but analyze all of the suspect’s reactions to Beth’s very direct questions about Kathleen’s death and with the new threats to Beth’s life, time is of the essence.

The complex characters are well-developed and I like Beth’s bravery to find the truth even dealing with problems of her own at home. Everyone’s lives are gradually dissected and revealed to find sad and surprising secrets.

Overall, this is a riveting who-done-it thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. What the reader finds is that not everything is as it seems in the lives of people you think you know. Recommend highly!

Thank you to Ms. Grand for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

The premise of this book really appealed to me but it didn’t quite live up to what I expected. I really enjoyed some parts but other sections I felt dragged a little. There were also a lot of red herrings which I find can be a little off putting. I did keep reading though as I wanted to find out what had happened.

A good whodunit.

Kathleen was scared of someone in her house warming party and the next she lay dead. Her good friend started investigating, sure that it was not an accident.

My first book by author Mary Grand, the setting of a foe between friends was exciting. It gave me a chance to play Detective. There were secrets and hidden facets in all the characters. I liked how Beth persisted in her interrogation.

The author revealed details slowly over the pages. The road was winding, too meandering, the characters were shallow. Emotions needed to break control. But the need to get to the end was highly motivating.

Overall, it was a pleasant read as I do like to be surprised when the killer is revealed.