Scenes of the Crime by Jilly Gagnon started slowly for me and it took until the 3rd chapter to get my interest.
The storyline became more interesting, as it became more complex with Emily, Brittany, Vanessa, and Lydia, the main characters.
It wasn’t until the middle of the book that I became invested in the story, and was reading each page with anticipation.
The devil is in the details at the Scenes of the Crime, of how one of them was killed, and which one might hold the key to why.

I was a big fan of All Dressed Up so I was excited to get an early copy of the authors new book. This novel also has a gimmick (which I don’t intend perjorarivitly). Each chapter begins as traditional narrative but ends with a version of the same story being told in script form.

The story centers around four friends reuniting at a winery 15 years after their college friend disappeared mysteriously. Emily has gathered them together for ‘closure’ or maybe just to find inspiration for the scripts she’s writing? It took me a little bit to get into the book, but I did enjoy it. It was fun to see two versions of the story play out and the commonalities between them.

I do admit to having some questions about the one particular point of view based on the ending, but it didn’t hold me back from liking the book.

4 ⭐️

This is a very fun and fast thriller about old friends coming together because a friends that I thought was dead might not be *wink* *wink* ( I thought I was hilarious).

Are main characters a screenwriter so half of the book is told through screen plays retailing what happened in the past, which was an aspect that I’ve never seen in books but I love. The only downside is I was enjoying the past more than the present until a certain point. at the end of the book I was really into what was going on but at the beginning I did not care about the story as much.

No matter what this was still a book that I read in one day and I would recommend it for anyone asking for a recommendation for thrillers. I’m excited to read more from this author.

Thank you so much to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me too read this book early.

thank you to Random House/Ballantine for sending me an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.


This is basically like an adult version of Pretty Little Liars and i couldn't put it down. I loved every character and how each of them were toxic and the writing was fantastic. this story is told in a mixed media kind of format so you get the basic book format and then the "script" format that the main character Emily is writing.

I highly recommend this!

3.5 stars

Jilly Gagnon is becoming a must read for me. This book was very engaging and full of suspense. I didn’t love or hate the format, it was just different. Overall this was a great fast paced and twisty novel.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

SCENES OF THE CRIME
BY: JILLY GAGNON

About 4.5 Stars!

This novel was eerie, edgy and spooky throughout most of it, and I said to myself as I was reading: Why do I keep reading thrillers and scaring myself? I guess that I am sometimes more in the mood for it than others. Or as the saying goes--why do I keep doing the same things over and over, and expecting a different outcome?, which is the definition of insanity. This was creepy perhaps because of its remote location. This definitely had a sense of atmospheric Gothic vibes that takes place in a millionaire's cliff side Winery. It certainly isn't a new idea, but there was something about this one, that gave me goose bumps, and was also chilling.

Also, not a new idea or trope featuring originality. The idea of a reunion of four out five friends getting together, who were inseparable during College, getting together fifteen years later to find closure regarding the missing fifth one's untimely death. The one that's not in attendance is named Vanessa. Her cousin is the one hosting this get together. The narrator is a screenwriter named Emily. I liked Emily, and found her to be the nicest one there. Emily feels as if she is in a dead end job, having made some promotions working for a production company in Los Angeles. The young woman hosting this retreat is sort of hard to relate to, or perhaps I'm influenced by Emily's description of her as being a bit of a snob. Emily describes another one of the women attending named Paige, who is a follower of the host. Lydia is the one who Emily feels most comfortable with, although she is the quiet one, sitting off to the side, just taking everything in, but not really participating.

The novel does have a dual timeline which flashes back fifteen years ago, alternating with the present day setting. I thought that the format was different, which upon reflection read just like a script would, but I just went with it. Two of the four of these young women feel responsible for their dead friend Vanessa's demise. So at first, when someone said, I killed Vanessa. I said to the author: why are you telling me so soon, Jilly Gagnon? I don't want to know who murdered her, yet. The revelation
is made in private- only to the reader. Then a different young woman did the same thing. This admission, from at least two, of the four individuals, who were attending this reunion, feels guilt for killing Vanessa. I was grateful that I didn't know. I was glad that I wasn't told who did it. There is plenty of drinking wine, and enjoying good food going on since they arrived. They each have the choice to pick their own rooms, which are all very plush.

The following morning they are all a bit hung over from overdoing it, drinking too many glasses of wine, and they meet in the huge kitchen for coffee. Emily and the woman who owns the Winery decide to visit the chic resort town. The host offers to pay for Emily to accompany her to the local spa, but Emily declines, saying that she wants to check out the used bookstore. When they both return to the Winery, the host tells the two young women who stayed behind, that Emily went to the Salvation Army.

I left out that during the night before, after all four women go to their separate bedrooms to sleep, Emily hears a blood curdling scream. She gets out of bed, and follows the host down into the basement where there are tunnels that lead underground to interconnected caves. They lead out to the ocean, or a huge drop down from a cliff. Nothing is mentioned by Emily to the host of her following the host. The other strange thing to occur is that Paige gets a paper that she wrote during their college years, left on her bed, of someone else's work, who she secretly copied passing it off as her own written work, without citing the author, that was not given credit, that is punishable by expulsion. That's one of the first things we are all taught never to do, which freaks her out, because it's supposed to be a secret. The host gets left on her bed, Vanessa's mother's ring, that Vanessa wore on a chain, that she never took off, which was why the host screamed, which led Emily to follow her to the basement, where the wine is stored. There are a lot of things happening that the reader is only aware of. These women don't communicate, which made me wonder--why on earth agree with this reunion? What kind of friends were they?

Who is responsible for leaving these tokens from their past? Why are these four young women gathering in honor of Vanessa, when they don't seem to particularly care for one another? This was certainly suspenseful, and held my interest. Besides being edgy and scary, something happens that I never saw coming, and it is an important discovery that I will guarantee nobody who reads this will see it coming or predict it. When the author reveals the major twist, I was still invested deeply, but admit this grew less spooky for me.

There is just no way to predict what that big twist is. There is a whole lot of action to come. If you like thrillers this is one you will not want to miss. I know I have suggested that this trope has been done many times before, the thing that I said is impossible to guess, makes this worthy of reading. In that sense it's definitely original. I guess to be fair to the author, that this is actually a 4.5 Star reading experience. In the past I would award it the full Five Stars, but I am attempting to give Five Stars with more reserve. This is just me being more reserved, with my ratings. I feel that I was automatically giving that rating out if I really liked something, so I am taking a pause from that mindset. Don't get me wrong, this was well written, totally held my interest, dark & Suspenseful, I totally recommend it to thriller & Mystery fans. I think 4.5 Stars is indicative of this being Great writing of which I am grateful that I was fortunate to read. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading this talented Author again.

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley, Jilly Gagnon, and Random House Publishing Group-- Ballantine. Bantam for generously sharing your DRC with me in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#ScenesoftheCrime #JillyGagnon #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantineBantam #NetGalley

This was mysterious and thrilling and even a little eerie for me at times. I enjoyed the atmosphere and writing style and was sucked in from the start. First time reading anything by this author and I think it was fantastic!

I love a good fiction | mystery | suspense book and I’m a sucker for a great story about a get together gone mysteriously wrong but this one just didn’t hit that ‘got to have more’ note for me. I love good twists and turns that leave me turning the pages one after the other & anticipating the next and guessing what was going to happen but I sadly didn’t get that from this.

I did love all the characters, I felt like I could relate to their relationships to real life girlfriend relationships and the screenplay pages were fantastic and I love that concept. I would have enjoyed more of those but this was still wonderful!

I think that overall this is a great mystery book for a weekend away or a fun book club read. Simply because it didn’t hit that craving for me in the right spots does not mean it won’t for others, this was OVERALL good and aside from it all, I will absolutely purchase it for my own personal collection. I enjoyed the ending and I will absolutely be reaching for Jilly’s other work but I gave this particular book a 4-star.

A huge thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to provide my honest feedback of 'Scenes of The Crime’.

Quick, propulsive, twisty read with an interesting structure of interspersing present moments with flashbacks and a proposed screenplay of the story that adds a layer of "what really happened" to the novel.

This is a great twisty (and twisted) thriller about five girlfriends and their trip 15 year ago to a family-owned winery where one of them ends up dead. Emily is now a screen writer who still mourns friend, Vanessa's death as it's surrounded by mysterious circumstances and the body was never recovered. So as she plans to capitalize by writing a screenplay, she revisits the past and the details slowly emerge as the novel alternates between past and present. Great suspense as themes of friendships, secrets, lies, and jealousies reveal themselves before the exhilarating conclusion! Couldn't read this one fast enough!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

this was a unique concept for a mystery novel, I really enjoyed that the main character was trying to solve their friend's disappearance. Jilly Gagnon does a great job in telling the story and had a great writing style. I enjoyed the plot overall and thought the characters were wonderfully written.

“I hear you. Do you want to talk about it?” “No.” The word bulleted out of me before I could stop it. I winced, fear spiking through me again. Hopefully the expression would come off as apologetic. “I don’t even know what I’d talk about. Honestly, it’s probably just the hangover making me feel maudlin.”

Emily, a TV sitcom producer and writer, is haunted by a tragedy that occurred 15 years ago when her friend Vanessa vanished near the top of a cliff during a girls’ drunken spring break weekend at a winery (conveniently named The Cliff’s Edge). Emily has no recollection of the night except for a text exchange. Apparently Vanessa wanted Emily to keep quiet about something. A chance encounter with Vanessa’s doppelgänger prompts Emily to convince the three remaining spring breakers (Brittany, a privileged stay-at-home mom, Vanessa’s cousin,and heiress to the winery; Paige, former athlete, who works in liquor/wine sales; and gloomy tech coder Lydia, the one who had a goth phase) to reunite where Vanessa disappeared. Emily believes if she finishes a speculative screenplay about that night, she can recover her memory and the group can get some closure.

The structure of the book is distinctive: as the reunion is set up, chapters are interspersed with pages from Emily’s screenplay and its imagined (?) scenes. The group dynamic has changed — Vanessa was probably the center of a spoked wheel. Now Emily is only partially friends with Brittany, Brittany has stayed close to Paige, and snarky Lydia is back to brew up confrontation. Their desire to just talk about the fateful evening gets spooky when personal effects of the missing girl show up. Is Vanessa still alive? Or was she murdered? Is there an outsider taking advantage of the reunion?

I could understand the present day tension and cattiness, but the same group 15 years ago seemed like an odd bunch then with their shifting alliances. Most of these women suffer from hangovers and over drinking in the present as in the past — apparently not having matured in their drinking habits. Add a cavern system that connects to the wine cellars from the beach below the cliff, and the plot gets more twisty. This is a tale about friendship, some that turn toxic or always were that way.

As noted, the screenplay pages were clever and moved the action along in ways that a story could otherwise be spoiled. The book is compelling and enthralling. It seems a lot like a locked room mystery. 4.5 stars for Jilly Gagnon’s second major release!

Thank you to Random House Publishing/ Ballantine Bantam and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Only Lydia’s “slightly bulbous” eyes are described as brown.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO There is a scene where tables are decorated with “lush bouquets of rare flowers” and I wish I knew what kinds that meant. Proteas? Sea Holly? Birds of Paradise?

Woahhhh this book! So good! This was a new to me author and I can't wait to read more! Thank you for the ARC

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the copy of Scenes Of The Crime by Jilly Gagnon. I loved the idea of a reunion of college friends overshadowed by a friend’s disappearance in the past. I wasn’t a fan of the screenplay scenes, and they were much more difficult to read on a Kindle. I know it was part of Emily’s story, but the excerpts felt so random. Maybe having more would have made sense.
The reunion is at a winery that is closed for the season, so the only characters are the women at the reunion. I never warmed up to any of the characters - talk about secrets and flaws! They are just together for a weekend and old hurts come out and they are so nasty to each other it was disturbing. I liked the idea of the story, but the execution was flat. There were ‘twists’ but none were a surprise or a shock. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t great either. I probably won’t remember it tomorrow. 2.5 rounded up to 3.

Solidly a not-for-me. I stopped at 10%. I liked the "Scenes" playing into the title, but I really didn't enjoy reading the format. It felt too much like a screen play and not enough like a novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I loved the premise of this book, but I couldn't connect with the characters. None of them were particularly interesting, including the narrator, Emily. Additionally, the interspersed "script" chapters were hard to follow and distracting. While I'm sure there's a great story in here, I couldn't stay focused long enough to get to it.

Great book! This book was definitely a page turner and heart pounder lol! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, A good who done it, and a few crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!