Quick Summary: A staged death mystery and more

My Review: Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon is a 2023 general fiction /mystery/thriller.

About the Book: "An ambitious screenwriter tries to solve her friend’s disappearance by re-creating their fateful final girls’ trip in this riveting locked-room mystery..."

In My Own Words: A group of friends gather at the site of a haunting mystery concerning their missing friend, 15 years after the fact. Secrets are revealed, culprits are identified, and an unalive event occurs.

There is an ongoing shift between the past and the present throughout the book. Additionally, narrative composition and screenwriting are the approaches used to communicate this story.

My Final Say: This story, frankly, was a mixed bag read. It definitely had a draw in and a hook that got my attention, however, the pacing and formatting did me in...and not in a good way. It made things rather challenging. As I read, I eventually predicted the what, even though the who snuck up on me. All in all, it was an ok read.

Other: Readers who enjoy twisty mysteries, stories where the past and the present merge, and/or domestic thrillers may like this novel.

Rating: 2/5
Recommend: +/-
Audience: A
Status/Level: 🌟🌟
Note: Listening to the audio version of this work may prove to be a better experience.

Appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher, and to NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to review this title.

“Scenes of the Crime” will keep you guessing, with plenty of twists and turns. The story drags in parts, but toxic nature of the characters and the question of what secret or surprise will be revealed next will make you want to keep reading. One of the main characters, Emily, is a screenwriter and wants to turn the story of the disappearance of Vanessa into a successful screenplay. Interspersed through the story are partial drafts of a screenplay that somewhat mirror what happened or might have happened or was currently happening, often followed by the next chapter addressing the events in the screenplay as they actually happened, or at least how the events were experienced or remembered by certain characters. The final chapters are full of numerous surprise twists which will alter how certain characters are perceived, with unexpected levels of deviousness and codependency.

I did not care for this one. The characters were not very likeable and the genre is just off. Doesn't mesh very well. Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

I was given this book for an honest review.

Sadly, this was a 2 star for me. The writing and the characters were just not well developed. All the characters seemed like mean girl, and the writing was average at best. Im not big on this authors thrillers, but i do enjoy her romance novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I really, really wanted to like this as the description sounded like my kind of read. Unfortunately, I found this to be a bit drug out and I found myself losing interest about half way through. I did finish it but didn't love it.

It's an okay kinda book. I usually love books about female friendships, but this one didn't really work for me.

Really wanted to love this one. I liked the setup and some of the plot points. I generally love a missing woman story, a glam setting like a winery, and a tale of complex female friendships. But overall I found the pace too slow and the voice a bit boring. I even tried it as an audiobook as well to see if that helped but I continued to find the pace slow and not enough progress or twists and turns for my liking. Maybe I'm a victim of our current suspense thriller, twist-a-minute landscape, but, while well-written, this was too slow a burn for me.

Scenes of the Crime is a captivating and suspenseful novel that delves into the complexities of female friendship and the dark side of ambition. Jilly Gagnon is one to watch!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

I always find the best mysteries are those when a reader can almost imagine themselves there. At 50% in I still felt like nothing had happened to advance the plot. As much as I hate to skim, I did skim a bit until 65% in when it picked up some.

I’m glad that I pushed through, the ending was great. I think most people can identify with the kind of toxic friend relationships we see here.

This book ebb and flowed for me, there were parts I was fairly interested in and then there were parts that felt like it dragged.

This book is different because it uses movie scripts to fill in some of the plot, or parts of the story the main character did not tell from her point of view. I think it was used in a clever way, especially at the end. I either did not pay close attention or the use of the scripts where it was made the plot/ending semi-unreliable which I thought was interesting and led me to think of it after finishing the book.

There were parts of this book I didn’t like though. The concept of friends that actually hate each other is not great in my opinion. And you are also telling me friends that didn’t like each other would reunite fifteen years later even though nothing has happened since then? I don’t think most 30-some women would do this.

Overall it was a quick read but it took me a while to actually read it just due to losing interest throughout the book. I think some people would love this book, but not everyone, !!which is totally fine!! But makes it hard to recommend to a larger audience.


Thank you NetGalley and Random House for sending me an ARC copy for an honest review.

An incredible book with wonderful characters and a beautiful setting. It will keep you guessing until the end.

I was immediately sold on the synopsis, a winery setting, locked in trope, PLENTY of secrets, and a revenge plot?! Sign. Me. Up.

Despite how great the synopsis was, though, I felt that it lacked character development, but it definitely delivered on the drama! These "friendships" were soooo toxic, though!

I did enjoy the female friendship focus, and if anything, it made me appreciate the loving friendships that I have in my life. 💕

I loved the inclusion of the screenplay sprinkled throughout the book. I'm a sucker for mixed media elements included in stories!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an eARC that allowed me to devour this one on the go with my Kindle!!

This book didn’t really work for me. I felt like it tried to do a lot but then flopped.

Thank you Net Galley & to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was amazing and everything about it was intriguing. I am so excited to read what is next by Gagnon and see what comes next.

It should have been the perfect spring break: Five girlfriends. A remote winery on the Oregon coast. An infinite supply of delicious wine at their manicured fingertips. But then their center—beautiful, magnetic Vanessa Morales—vanished without a trace. Emily Fischer was perhaps the last person to see her alive. But now, years later, Emily spots Vanessa’s doppelganger at a local café. At the end of her rope working a lucrative yet mind-numbing gig on a network sitcom, Emily is inspired to finally tell the story that’s been percolating inside her for so long: Vanessa’s story. But first, she needs to know what really happened on that fateful night. So she puts a brilliant scheme into motion. She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting. There’s Brittany, Vanessa’s cousin and the inheritor of the winery; Paige, a former athlete, bullish yet easily manipulated; and Lydia, the wallflower of the group. One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them . . . or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days? This was not the most original story I've ever read but it did keep my interest until the end which sadly was a bit predictable. There is not a like\able character in this entire book. They are all awful people and most folks do not behave this way in real life. Be prepared to hate the characters but enjoy the mystery aspect.

Five friends plan the perfect trip. Everything is great until one of the five goes missing. Years later Emily thinks she sees her missing friend. She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting.

One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them . . . or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days?

Suspenseful, propulsive, and fun to read!

Jilly Gagnon won me over with her unique but fun Clue-style novel All Dressed Up, so I was really excited to get started on Scenes of the Crime. This also had a unique setup, with past and present viewpoints as well as sections of the screenplay that Emily is writing. The theme of friendship is strong as the story involves 5 female friends, but keep in mind that these are toxic ones, and no one is all that likable. I sometimes thrive on unlikable characters, and I definitely did in this case. I did end up getting a little confused at times about what actually happened versus what Emily was making up, so I highly recommend making sure you pay attention.

I did enjoy the audiobook as well, and I thought the narrator Eileen Stevens did a great job. Her pacing was a bit on the slower side, so I sped it up to around 3x speed and that was just about perfect. The pace of the book is steady but also a bit slow, and I think listening to the audio was helpful in keeping me engaged. The remote winery was the perfect setting for Scenes of the Crime and I thought Gagnon did a fantastic job of bringing the location to life without getting too overzealous with the descriptions. The wine is flowing and the secrets are spilling, and I was there for all of the drama.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the copy of this eARC for my honest review. All ratings and any reviews are opinions of my own.

It's been 15 years since a wine-soaked getaway between 5 friends ended with the disappearance of one of them and Emily Fischer has always had questions about it. She's now working as a scriptwriter in a show she hates, but she has the bones of one based on that weekend that she just knows will be her chance at the big leagues. She's working on it in an LA cafe when a stranger makes her think of her missing (dead?) friend and it gets her to get the remaining friends together at the winery where it happened to try to get the final inspiration to finish the screenplay. What happens next is a series of revelations and events that will lead everyone to question what happened that day long ago and how close their relationships really were.

It's the ultimate unreliable narrator story as you're never sure if what you're getting is what happens or Emily writing the screenplay she's so desperate to create. An original twist that made this story really stand out in a genre that at times feels saturated. I particularly liked how creatively Gagnon goes into how different perspectives can make the same situation seem so different. Not ideal if you're a fan of getting all the nitty-gritty details of what happens, but a very enjoyable read either way.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and by Bantam Dell for the wonderfully twisty read!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had such promise and I was vey intrigued by the premise. A group of friends reunite at a winery 15 years after the tragic night that ended Vanessa's life.

The group clearly hasn't moved on and spend the book uncovering secrets they have hidden. The story is told in a script format from Emily's POV. It became choppy at times to read and for that overall reason, it was a decent 3 stars from me.