A historical re-enactment of an old movie on a remote island? Here are reasons to read this YA Mystery:

Graduation - Izzy and her friends have graduated high school and her best friend Kassidy have thrown them a surprise trip

19020’s Recreation - they are all going to an island that was the site of a movie from the 1920’s, and they will dress up in theme. Also…no cell phones allowed!

Found - But when Kassidy’s boyfriend Blaine is found dead, what will they do?

Motives - there are a lot of secrets and a lot of them have motives.

This book ticks a lot of my boxes: YA Mystery, locked door location, multiple POVs or jumps in the timeline. But one of the most interesting things about this book is that the characters have to be in theme, which keeps them from figuring out why things might be. Also the house is foreign to mostly all of them so they don’t know those secrets either. And lastly from the first line in the book, you are led to believe you know who the killer is. But do you really? So many twists in this book, and I really enjoyed it.

Actual Rating 3.5

In celebration of graduating high school, Izzy’s best friend Kassidy booked an old mansion on a private island, hosting a 1920s-themed part for their group of five friends. While there’s some tension within the group, the trip is mostly just cocktails and fancy attire, until someone is found dead in their room. Investigators make it to the island before a storm rolls in and declare the death a murder, threatening the comfort and stability of the teens. As the investigation begins, it seems that many of the friends had possible motives to commit the crime, though only one of them brought the knife…

I quite liked the premise of this book. This is another instance where the author incorporated isolation into the setting and utilized it well. There were some chapters told in the third person that were set in the past and provided background information to the characters. It was also told from multiple POVs. The author did an excellent job balancing the past timelines with the multiple POVs. What didn’t work as well was the lack of tension that I felt during this read; even the characters didn’t seem too concerned about being in the same house or trapped on the same island with a murderer.

The characters had distinct voices and their characterization was well done. I enjoyed how genuine Izzy and Kassidy’s friendship felt. I liked the red herrings the author included as they didn’t feel like they were shoved in just to make things hard to guess, but rather felt like genuine aspects of the characters and their lives. I also liked how the MC learned about the information relating to the investigation rather than it being one of those books where the teen protagonist is “just naturally much smarter” than the professionals.

This was a fun, fast-paced YA mystery that kept me turning the pages until the end. While it was a little predictable in some instances, I still enjoyed it overall. If you enjoy YA murder mysteries in isolated settings, then you should check this one out. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work, which will be published September 5th, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a fun mystery about a group of high school friends who spend a week together in a 1920’s themed mansion to celebrate graduation. Then someone is murdered and our heroine, Isadora, has to solve the mystery because she gets accused herself! I felt the some of it was a bit unrealistic, but it was an enjoyable read!

A group of friends celebrate graduation by renting a famous silent film 1920's home on a remote island to celebrate. The main character Izzy is already on edge and has a secret she is hiding. Kassidy who has arranged the trip is making the week as authentic as possible with no phones and only period style dress.

Then one evening Kassidy's boyfriend is murdered. Two detectives arrive and all the guests are now suspects. Izzy paranoid that the detectives and her friends will find out her secret and she was one of the last ones to see him alive....or so she thinks. Who killed the victim and what is Izzy hiding.

This is a quick read that will hold your attention. I did think I was a little predictable, but I did enjoy the plot.

There's nothing like a murder mystery that has you convinced of the main character's guilt from the start - especially when they're trapped in a mansion from a 1920's murder mystery movie on a remote island! This book was addictive on audio, allowing us to feel like we too were eavesdropping on police interrogations. Throughout I was trying to glean exactly who the murderer and their motive was, but I didn't realize until the end that Lauren Muñoz had left breadcrumbs along the way. My only complaint is that I felt like the ending was a bit rushed... I would've liked a bit more tension and less exposition. And of course getting to see the fallout from after!! Maybe a cute little epilogue? Either way, this was a solid debut and I'd be excited to read more.

*Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review and PRH Audio for the gifted ALC*

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 stars

Suddenly a Murder is a fun YA thriller that is very Knives Out meets One of Us Is Lying. Seven friends throw a 1920s-themed party in a secluded mansion to celebrate graduating. The party goes downhill when a body is found and there are only 6 suspects - each other.

Locked room mysteries are very hit or miss with me, but this was definitely a hit. Muñoz excels at using multiple timelines to break up the action while keeping the pace quick. I was constantly changing my theories and loved how the story wrapped up. A solid YA thriller that makes me so excited for what Muñoz comes up with next.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the Arc! When I requested this book I didn't realize that it was categorized as Young Adult (YA). I used to be all about YA in my younger days, but not as much anymore.. Overall, it is a good book-I just am not a fan of writers having teenagers talk and behave like people in their 30s. It irritates me.

A group of teenagers go to an island for a 1920s themed getaway. One of them ends up dead though and no one is safe.

I really liked this concept but the author kept using various flashbacks that I found confusing. They weren’t consistent in POV or time period. I also think it took too long to get to the murder. Lots of promise here, but the writing didn’t meet the concept.

Let me tell you my absolute favorite things in books: when they're young adult, when they're locked room mysteries, and when they have a 1920's vibe. This book has all three! It's fantastic. Often when a YA book is a mystery or thriller it drags a little bit and you're like okay come onnnn - or you figure it out automatically and that takes all of the fun out of it. The writing was great, the tone of voice of the main character was a little sassy which I loved. I liked that I wasn't certain who did what, and there were some secrets that totally threw me for a loop. The little sprinkle of 1920's was fun and I really enjoyed this. Very excited to read from Lauren in the future! :) Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an advanced copy.

What was unraveled in this book, was something I was not expecting to read. The twists and turns kept me glued to this book I couldn’t help myself, I couldn’t put this book down. We have 7 teens, fresh from graduation, rich as sin except for one who is a scholarship kid, but I loved how grounded she is as a character, anyway, Kassidy is planning this huge week in a beautiful mansion, and everyone has to play a part and everything in 1920’s themed. I rambled on and on with that last sentence. Anyway, Blaine, Kassidy’s boyfriend gets killed and we think we know who did it, or who had motive, but the surprise at the end was not expected at all.

All of these kids carry something huge, and Izzy is carrying one of the biggest secrets of all. I loved the backstory, and how the book at the end shifts a little to somewhat of a happier and more clear ending, at least for some of the characters. I wanted a little more at the end of this book, I felt like we needed to know what happened with the rest of the people after the fact and with what we discovered about Izzy as well….. But I can’t fault the author for doing that because with everything happening in here I created my own little scenarios…. Lol

I will say this regardless, this book is worth the read. Thank you netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Thoughts

This might not be a serious thriller, but it's a Knives Out type of fun. It's got the atmosphere. It's got the vibes. It's like playing Clue: glitz, glamor, and a splash of blood as you work out the whodunnit.

Pros
Distinct POVs: Multi-POV in teen thrillers seems to be this year's MO, and that comes with one big potential downfall: a bunch of perspectives that all sound the same. Not so here. Lauren Muñoz really nails these voices. Each feels distinct. The differences in perspective, in motive, in intention all read through in a way that only enhances the Clue nature of this 1920s-style thriller.

Best Friends: One thing I'll never get tired of is books where girls are genuinely friends. This bestie duo really are besties. They've got their minor tensions, sure, but they've also got each other's back. They come from different social world, but that doesn't keep them apart. There's no real jealousy between them. They're ride-or-die friends, and not in a toxic way. They're there for each other, through thick and thin, and I love that.

Excellent Revelation: The real turning point in any murder mystery is the denouement, the grand revelation. If it isn't quite so grand, the book will flop. But here, here the revelation is superb. There's so much build-up, so many secrets half-buried, hinted at. There are so many reasons why this could have happened, and the ultimate villain is hidden so well (but not too well that the clues aren't there, in retrospect). Lauren Muñoz provides a masterful peak to this glamorous murder mystery.


Cons
Voice of the Commons: Though this book dips into several perspectives, the main perspective we get feels, unfortunately, a little like a trope in this particular genre. So many YA thrillers feature a middle or lower class main character embroiled in a friend group of a vastly different social class. This is a voice that, perhaps, feels more "relatable" as it highlights the evils of the rich (when told through the eyes of a have-not), and while it isn't necessarily a bad perspective, I've grown pretty tired of it. At this point, I've seen it a hundred times before. I want something new.

TV Detectives: There's a thin line between fun and cringe, and unfortunately, when it came to these detectives, that line wasn't so delicately balanced. Though they certainly feel like the quirky caricatures that made Knives Out so popular, they also feel... rather TV. That is, they feel like stereotypes, down to old, interpersonal drama spilling into their professional lives. I didn't like it. I didn't buy it.

Eavesdropping: This book has excellent vibes, but the end result is a little bit slow. Why is that? Well, most of this book is spent eavesdropping. There's more listening for secrets, more talking to detectives, than actual action. Gossip and secrets are fun, but a proactive character would have really clinched this one. That I didn't get that was a bit underwhelming.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of e. lockhart's We Were Liars will like this new group of untrustworthy narrators. Those who enjoyed Gabriella Lepore's The Last One To Fall will enjoy jumping from suspect to suspect in this tenuous friend group.

Such a great book!! I loved the characters and the story so much!! If u want a fast paced book you should totally read it. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I didn't end up liking this book, but that is definitely a me thing, and not so much the book. I could not get invested in the characters, and the division between past and present didn't work for me.

There was nothing outright bad about the writing, I just I felt it was mostly just there.

I struggled through the whole first part of the book, it was slow and felt like nothing was happening. There's slow paced and then there's so slow you don't care anymore, and that is kind of where I ended up with this book.

I just didn't care.

I think this book is going to appeal to lots of teen readers however, even if it didn't work for me.

I wanted to like this one. I love the 1920s as much as the characters and the idea of having a best friend rich enough to rent a historic mansion for a week and furnish an entire party with a week's worth of legitimate period clothing would be a dream come true for me.
I even liked the characters for the most part, except I kept getting a couple of the boys mixed up, I'm not sure why. It just seemed like maybe the characters' speech and demeanors weren't different enough to keep them straight? The amount of diversity crammed into one story was huge - there were at least four different ethnicities, a mix of athletes and theater "nerds" in a friend group, a character with synesthesia (which didn't really seem to affect him most of the time or play into the story except for a minor detail...), and characters who were gay, straight and bisexual. For anyone who wants content warnings, there were no explicit details, but the story does reference multiple instances of teen alcohol and drug use (and selling), and a lot of who's sleeping with who.
The mystery itself had me turning pages until the big reveal, at which point I felt like some of the story didn't make good sense anymore. Without spoiling anything, I didn't see that the level of angst and guilt throughout the story made sense with what actually happened.

Thank you Penguin And Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I’ve been wanting to read this book for so long, and I devoured it! Izzy, her best friend Kassidy, Kassidy’s boyfriend Blaine, and some of their other friends all go to a remote island for graduation. They’re staying at Ashwood Manor, where a popular 1920’s movie was shot. Izzy and Kassidy are super excited as everything for the week will be on theme, 1920’s clothes, food and no electronics. Of course with a group of rich kids who just graduated there’s bond to be secrets, lies, and betrayal. And when one of them ends up, one of the others has to be the killer right? Can Izzy protect herself through the investigation? Who did it? What is everyone hiding? I was so hooked from the very beginning and didn’t want to put it down! I love that the book starts off with us being in what could be the killers pov. It makes the book more intriguing! As do the flashback chapters that give everyone motive for the murder! Plus seeing from Izzy’s POV also kept me guessing! I loved Pilar de Leon and the style of them breaking down the case, very Knives Out style! Plus the side story was unexpectedly fun as well! Highly recommend this to mystery lovers! Can’t wait to read again!

This book was a fun short read. I enjoyed the main character Izzy. She was an intriguing main character who I as the reader felt sad and happy for her throughout the story. I liked that the story took place on a island in a mansion. It was fun getting that 1920's vibe from the story. It felt like a Agatha Christie novel in a way.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an arc copy, in exchange for an honest review!

While the premise of this book was intriguing, ultimately it fell flat.

I read an e-copy on my kindle and the formatting was a bit wonky, which made it a bit more difficult to read. The book switches perspectives and timeframes often and suddenly, which made it confusing to understand the story or who was speaking. Overall, it felt repetitive. The suspects go in for a round of interviews, Izzy eavesdrops from the secret passageway, rinse and repeat. Of course this is a murder mystery, but there is a level of "realistic" that adds to the story, and that unfortunately just wasn't there for this one. I had no real connection to any of the characters and they all felt rather two dimensional, but especially the detectives, they almost felt like a parody.

The ending was surprising but there was such a lack of suspense building throughout the book that it still felt like a letdown. There were both too many strange coincidences and random things strung together that made no sense...again, back to the detectives as one example. For a murder mystery, even a young adult one, the tone was always so light and fun, there was no real feeling of risk or danger at all, leading it all to feel like one big game.

While the premise of this book sounded promising, unfortunately it isn't able to give much apart from a unique atmosphere and vintage outfits. The overall storyline is confusing and repetitive, and I found the ending to be lacking and generally disappointing.

This is being sold as One of Us is lying meets Knives Out and it’s another YA thriller/mystery (a lot of thos coming out in September!) set in an old creepy mansion in the 1920s with obviously murder. A sudden one I assume and I assumed right. No thanks to the title.
We have a group of teens who are celebrating their high school graduation at Ashwood Manor. Everyone is super excited to have a party at this fancy place. Everything is going well and then someone winds up dead. Soon the police show up to investigate and of course everyone has to go through a grueling investigation all while locked in the estate with a killer on the loose. So very locked room mystery if you like that trope. I know this is going to be someone guilty pleasure so I wanted to be sure to highlight it and I also just really like this minimalist ominous cover.

A group of high school graduates are off to celebrate at Ashwood Manor for a 1920's themed party. What possibly could go wrong? Murder, plain and simple. Well, not so simple, as each "friend" not only has the means and motive, but they are each hiding some secrets.

Murder mysteries are right up my alley, and I definitely enjoyed this one. I thought this book was really good, it didn't offer up anything new, but it didn't have to. I really adored Izzy, she was someone that I thought lots of people could connect with. Her and Kassidy's friendship was great to read. A super fun entertaining read!

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Teen for letting me enjoy this title early in exchange for my honest review.

Part Clue. Part Hollywood glamour.
This was such a fun and well-rounded locked room mystery that's reminiscent of a YA Agatha Christie. There's lots of conflict and motive within the friend group, there's quirky characters, there's misdirection at every turn. Add a beautiful isolated setting and a 1920s themed party, and this story was a real winner.
The ending was a touch rushed, and maybe unbelievable, but there was such a haunting elegance to it that I loved it despite its flaws.

If your a fan of locked room mysteries, YA thrillers, and/or 1920s Hollywood, give this one a read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.