I was drawn in by the Oregon winery setting but sadly this one just didn't work for me. I found the format to be clunky and the characters to be grating - maybe I also just need a break from the trope of toxic female friends that reunite with a secret as another reviewer noted. Hopefully others have better luck!

The motives in this book truly made no sense to me, both as college students and later as adults. It was confusing how it jumped between the past (maybe?) and present with the screenplay, the timeline was never consistent. I liked this author’s first book but this really didn’t work for me and I skimmed the majority of it.

Thanks the Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I guess the title should have been a clue that this was written in scenes, but I was unprepared. I did not enjoy this format at all and felt like it took away from me enjoying the book. It was disruptive and unnecessary in my opinion. I liked the idea of the book, but the execution needed work!

On the fence about this read. Parts of it I could not put down while others dragged. I did enjoy the screenplay addition…great connection to Emily’s back story. I found myself wanting to know more about each of the girls as I was reading but finally realized that Jilly Gagnon was controlling and releasing the information as a tool to ratchet up the tension. The dual time lines in the screenplay definitely contributed to my understanding of their back stories.
The girls were each so manipulative that I found myself disliking each of them. Brittany’s mother won my wrath in the way she treated Vanessa. The setting of a beautiful secluded Oceanside vineyard with underground tunnels added to the suspense and set the tone. I think those sections were my personal favorites. The ending was predictable but also satisfying.
Many thanks to Jilly Gagnon, Bantam Dell, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of Scenes of the Crime, to be published on September 5th.

Scenes of the Crime
Written By Jilly Gagnon
Publisher Random House Publishing Group/Ballentine Bantum
Release Date September 05, 2023



Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Pace: 4/5
Suspense: 4/5
Overall Enjoyment: 4/5

Fifteen years ago a group of friends visited a winery and one friend, Vanessa, went missing. She was presumed dead as her body was never found nor was she found alive. Present time….the friends again decide to visit the same winery to gain some type of closure. While the Emily swears she has seen Vanessa at a local coffee shop and decides that she wants to write a screenplay using the disappearance of her friend. She is a well known screenwriter now and wants to investigate what may have herself. This story is told in flashbacks between present time and past tense.
While the writing is well done, I cannot say much for the premise of the story. The blurb made it sound like a really great thriller but there were too many issues with the characters and how they treated each other and how the banter went between them. There was so many accusations and conflicts between them that it deterred me from having any type of connection to them. This story premise has been done many times and while this is a tad different, I was hoping for something more. I do want to say that the authors writing was perfectly written and made it easy to follow the flashback style of this book.


4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

Four college friends get together again at the winery where fifteen years prior the fifth friend in their group disappeared without a trace. They are coming to gain closure, but each of the four friends comes hiding their own secrets. They each have something to hide, but as the secrets start to come out will they be able to figure out what happened to their friend all of those years ago?

The description of this book sounded intriguing, but once I got into the story I found that I didn’t really connect with or like any of the characters that much. I found it hard to get into this book because of this, but I do think it was a well written book and it was a fast read. Most of the characters came off and childish and petty to me, which made me dislike them. I really did enjoy how the story was laid out with half of the writing in screen play format. I thought this was a fun break from the typical writing format and it added a little something to the story. Even though I didn’t connect well with these characters, I still found myself surprised by how this book played out. I didn’t see some of the twists coming which added a little something to the storyline. Overall, this was an okay book for me. If was easy to read and I never thought about giving up on it, I just wasn’t as engrossed in this book as I could have been if I felt more of a tie to it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

The blurb sounded fun and I mostly enjoyed Gagnon’s previous book, but I’m afraid that without some new and unique take, the old toxic-and-complicated-female-friendships-where-something-happened-in-the-past-and-they’re-now-reunited trope is getting kinda old. This was a little different and entertaining just in how the scenes from Emily’s screenplay is interwoven, leaving the reader to guess exactly how much of what we’re reading is the truth. But there was nothing that had me so gripped in the story that I had to put everything aside just to keep turning the pages until the end.

This is a DNF for me. This reads like YA and I don’t read YA. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest opinion. 2.5 ⭐️

I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley.

A locked-room mystery, a determined screenwriter takes it upon herself to uncover the truth behind her friend's baffling disappearance. Set against the backdrop of a remote winery on the Oregon coast, this thrilling story follows Emily Fischer and her group of friends as they attempt to unravel the enigma surrounding Vanessa Morales' vanishing. Vanessa was the heart of the group, and her unexplained absence has haunted them all.

Years later, Emily stumbles upon someone who could be Vanessa's look-alike, sparking her resolve to tell Vanessa's story and unearth the truth of that haunting night. With a brilliant plan in mind, Emily orchestrates a reunion weekend under the pretense of reconnecting. As the group reconvenes, secrets start to unravel. Among the friends - including Vanessa's cousin Brittany, strong-willed Paige, and introverted Lydia - lies the key to understanding what truly happened. Emily must navigate a web of hidden truths and confront her own memories to uncover the reality of that fateful night.

The overall plot line of the story seemed to take an unusual and almost unbelievable turn, which left me feeling quite puzzled and disconnected from the narrative. The progression of events felt rather unusual and even bordering on the absurd, which made it challenging for me to fully engage with the story.

Additionally, the scenes involving screenwriting appeared to lack a certain level of authenticity or resonance. These moments didn't seem to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the story, and at times, they felt out of place or disconnected. As a result, these scenes didn't manage to capture my interest as I had hoped they would, contributing to my sense of disconnect from the overall narrative.

The author writes an interesting "return to the scene of the crime" mystery by taking four former classmates back 15 years to see if they can discover what really happened to their classmate and friend Vanessa. Is it possible she is still alive, and if she is not - which one of them may have killed her? Screenwriter Emily comes up with this idea after she sees a woman who looks like it could possibly be an older Vanessa......is it possible? Plus - Emily is questioning her current job and has been thinking of writing a screenplay about what happened back then - but first needs to find out what really did happen! So she, Brittany, Paige and Lydia return to Brittany's family winery for a weekend to "get closure". What follows is written in two methods - storytelling, and set up as what Emily writes as a screenplay. In this way - we see the best of both worlds - but what is real and what isn't? It's difficult to become wrapped up in the characters as they all have their flaws and are somewhat unlikeable. Emily seems the most down to earth, but she also has a lot riding on finding out the truth. As memories and family secrets are revealed the sense of "be careful what you ask for" comes to mind. Overall the book was a good read and the author has can write a good who-dun-it that keeps the pages turning. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley#ScenesoftheCrime

Fifteen years ago Emily’s friend Vanessa disappeared on a girl’s weekend away at a winery. Present day Emily is getting all the remaining friends back together at the winery to try to figure out what happened to Vanessa that night. Secrets come out and trouble arises.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for this e-arc.*

I was excited to jump into this book and loved the whole premise of the story. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

The cast of characters has a variety of personalities to make up the group of friends. Other than the main character, Emily, I struggled to really connect with any of them. The format of going back and forth between the story and the screenplay was difficult when I had to use my text-to-speech feature. However, when reading directly it made more sense but I still was never sure if the screenplay was supposed to be true as it happened, or fictional in the way she could imagine it would happen.

The mystery itself never really captured my attention to any real degree as I was pretty sure what had happened almost from the beginning. The rest was just going through the motions to get to the end result. While it was still enjoyable enough, it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Emily is writing a screenplay to capture an incident that happened with her friends while they were in college. As she gets the friends together and revisits the incident she finds that things are not as they had appeared. The story is told in dialogue and screenplay format which is an interesting choice.

Jilly Gagnon's writing is excellent. She knows how to keep you glued to characters that are completely undesirable human beings.

Written as a story and a screenplay, this book is definitely different than what is customary. I enjoyed the complexities even though I did not enjoy the characters.

I recommend this book to all who like suspense.

It’s been 15 years since Vanessa disappeared on the girls weekend away. Now the friends have all gone their separate ways but when Emily swears she sees Vanessa in a local coffee shop, she decides this will be her new screenplay. She just needs to get the girls back together at the winery to find out what really happened that weekend…

Ok mean girls but add some murder. Seriously though, these girls were all so freaking terrible to each other! Like if this is how you treat your friends I would really hate to be your enemy! I enjoyed the winery setting and I always love unlikable characters, so while this story dragged a bit at times, I still fully enjoyed the mystery of what actually happened to Vanessa all those years ago.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This is a story which is about 5 college girls who go on break to a winery in Oregon. While there, one of the girls, Vanessa, goes missing and is ultimately presumed dead. The story then goes forward 15 years when the remaining 4 go to the same winery to get closure regarding the death of Vanessa. While there, strange things begin happening. The story is told with flashbacks to various events which happen on the first visit.

Scenes of the Crime is about friends....and I use that term loosely, getting together after being apart for 15 years after a life-altering event. The book has a screenplay interwoven throughout.

The characters were unlikeable and I found myself drifting off, thinking about other things while reading. This was just an okay book to me.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

This was my first Jilly Gagnon read but definitely not my last. Interesting storyline with some great characters. The format was fresh. Lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming.
Thank you NetGalley, Jilly Gagnon and Kathleen Quinlan at Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book

While I found certain aspects of the book enjoyable, there were elements that left me feeling underwhelmed. The writing style held a certain charm, yet the plot failed to captivate my interest. The characters' continuous conflicts and accusations detracted from the potential for deeper connections, and the expected twist did little to enhance the story's impact. Overall, the book left me with a feeling of indifference rather than excitement.

"Scenes of the Crime" by Jilly Gagnon is the story of 5 college girls. They go away for spring break to the winery owned by 2 of the girls grandparents. But then one of the girls disappears. Fifteen years later the remaining 4 go back to the winery. What happens during that trip and their memories as they try to figure out what happened to Vanessa and if any of them are responsible keeps the reader intrigued throughout the book.
Part story and part screenplay keeps you guessing on what is truth and what is fiction.