I liked the characters and the setting. The characters were complex, flawed, and believable. The story was told by alternating two different time periods: modern day and 1932. The narrator/main character managed to solve multiple mysterious deaths in both time periods while navigating romantic interests. The ending was very exciting and dangerous.

The mysteries were pretty good. I did manage to figure out one of the killers before the reveal, but the other was a complete surprise.

Marlowe is struggling in her home town and after an unfortunate event she needs some distance to breathe without hearing what rumors are being said. She's able to find a job working as a tour guide for a mansion with a tragic history that also has some secrets. She finds herself in the middle of some mysterious circumstances.

This has a past and present timeline. The past is telling the story of the owners of the mansion that Marlowe is now working for. The Ralston's are a unique family with a tragic past.

I preferred the past timeline, I found that story more interesting. The present timeline was slow at first but thrilling during the last half. The past timeline gave me the vibe of the home-life of the Umbrella Academy without super powers.

The mystery was decent but I felt it was a bit obvious. It's a closed door mystery so you have only a few people to choose from.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of YA mystery/thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Teen for allowing me to read an eARC of Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson.

After accidentally burning down a house, Marlowe flees in embarrassment to take a summer job on a small island near the US/Canadian border. She is the outsider in an existing friend group with secrets. Together this group of teenagers is responsible for giving tours and taking care of the island house where two unexpected deaths occurred over 90 years ago, supervised by aloof Dr. Henson who is writing a book on the island’s mysterious history. A dual timeline explores the mysteries of both the past and present.

The characters are likeable and the writing is fun and engaging at times and thrilling at others. Overall this was a fun and engaging read.

This book was a wild ride! Not what I was expecting at all! Definitely read this one if you want a truly shocking ending!

Maureen, you can’t keep getting away with this! Writing bangers left and right and *whispers* not finishing The Name of the Star series 😂 But in all seriousness, this was such a treat to read and perfect to read during the summer.

Atmospheric, mysterious, FUNNY, all the things. I loved the main character Marlowe - she was anxious and witty and absolutely hilarious. The side characters were also lovable, especially my guy Van.

I loved the weaving of two different stories and timelines for it to all come together beautifully. A great read and I highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I love a good mystery, but I didn’t really connect with the characters in this one. I was engaged at the beginning of the book and then my interest started to wane. The pace went a little slow for me. I did not care for the dual timeline because it didn’t really feel like the stories were connected well. I would’ve liked the focus to be on one of the story lines or the other. There is a little bit of a love match going on in the story, but I was disappointed with who Marlowe ended up with. She seemed to have more chemistry with another character. Even though it didn’t really connect for me, I’m sure there is a large audience for this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books/HarperTeens for the opportunity ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is the perfect summer mystery.

In the summer of 1932, Max is found having drowned in the lake and shortly after Clara Ralston, the oldest of Phillip Ralston’s adopted children falls from a balcony and dies the same day. Because of this tragic story, Morning House, the former home of the Ralston family, has become a tourist attraction for one summer only, before the new owners turn it into something else.

And so enters Marlowe, a girl escaping her (untrue) reputation as an arsonist for a summer at a historic house on Ralston island. She has always been a wiz with puzzles and problem solving, but she might be a bit in over her head as she begins to uncover the secrets of her fellow tour guides- a group of friends who grew up there- and of this incredible house.

Maureen Johnson does an excellent job of overlaying and intertwining these stories together. This is truly a masterpiece of mystery and I could not put this down. I felt equally invested in the lives of Marlowe’s crew and the Ralston family. I am only sad that this doesn’t come out until August and more people won’t get to enjoy this during the summer months when the story takes place.

Also, I now need to read everything Maureen Johnson writes.

I will read anything by Maureen Johnson! I was hooked from the very beginning when Marlowe is having a rough start to her summer and the Ralston family.

I enjoyed the dual timeline, fast-paced, and a good mystery novel. 4 Stars!

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Teen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was my first read from the author outside of her Truly Devious series and I was relieved that the magic didn't end with Stevie Bell! I found these characters funny and quirky in a believable way which can be a hard balance to find. While some of the final reveals were somewhat predictable, Dual time lines can sometimes really inhibit my enjoyment of the story (let's be real, one is always more interesting) but I found both of these storylines captivating. Definitely recommend this fun YA, especially great for a summer read!

Um, wow. This is a great freakin’ story. I basically did nothing but read until I was finished. Like a great, devouring reading mammal.

Household chores? Who cares if we have to wear dirty laundry? Errands? They can wait until next week. Hanging out with my husband? Ok, we did watch Hit Man and we recommend. But other than that?! Nothing but reading Death at Morning House.

@maureenjohnsonbooks knows how to write a funny, yet also high-stakes mystery. This book is fantastic! The mystery (mysteries?) is compelling, and revealed so brilliantly. The characters are top-notch. Love, love, love Marlowe Wexler. And who doesn’t love a lil romance thrown into their suspense?!

Marlowe has had a rough start to her summer. She finally landed a date with her dream girl, Akilah Jones, but things went awry when the house they were kissing in went up in a blaze. She’s miserable and wants the earth the swallow her when she has an opportunity to be a tour guide at a mansion on a nearby island. The mansion is, of course, Morning House, which was the center of some terrible tragedy almost a hundred years ago.

I’m going to let the rest go, so you can be sufficiently impressed as I was with how this story unravels. It’s sneaky, fun, and so so good.

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts are mine alone.

#mystery #contemporarymystery #youngadult #teen #lgbtqia+ #arc #netgalley @harpercollins @epicreads

This was another really great read from Maureen Johnson. It is definitely in the same vain as Truly Devious and I saw a lot of similarities between Stevie and Marlowe. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks that were present throughout the novel. It made the house and the mystery seem more alive and like it was a character on its own. Would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys complex mysteries.

Death at Morning House takes the concept of the first Stevie Bell mystery and multiplies it in a single book. There are deaths new and old. There are deaths in the middle of the book. There are deaths we hear about and deaths that hardly make a mention. But all of it is important. It’s a book written about Marlowe, who through some unfortunate happenstance comes to Ralston Island, a place where a lot of death has occurred. All are believed to be accidents, but nothing quite adds up. While Marlowe gets good at her job and becomes friends with the group of kids who are employed on the island, Marlowe’s mind gets stuck on the puzzles. It’s a wonderful and confusing story about what it means to be brave. It takes a journey that we’ve seen from Johnson and transforms it with the cruel sadness of circumstance. It also allows us a beautiful and winding journey in what it means to be in love as a new adult. How love can be hard and lead us to paths we’d never thought we’d end up taking. Overall, the book reaches its intended audiences of teens and young adults and nails the complicated nature of that time period in a young person’s life.

Marlowe is not having any streaks of good luck, and things get worse when she accidentally burns a house down while on a date with her dream girl! Down and depressed, one of her teachers reaches out offering a change of scenery when her friend, a Doctor, who is researching The Morning house and the Ralston Family, is in need of an extra hand at giving tours. Marlowe has a great memory and is the perfect candidate for the job. When she packs up and moves for the summer, she starts hearing all the towns rumors and stories about The Ralston Family & The Morning House. What happened at The Morning House and why is the whole town so obsessed with it? Marlowe gets more than she asked for, but her and her fantastic memory are going to figure it all out!

This was my first book by Maureen Johnson, although I own several of her books, I have not got around to reading any, so this one was my first! Overall, I thought that this book was decent, it was an easy and fast read, I think this author does a great job with words, and I especially loved the dual timelines. It took me a few chapters to really get into it. I’m glad that I stuck it out though because those chapters are important to tie the story together. I do also feel that the ending was kind of just rushed and wrapped up and came together rather quickly in more of a tell-all type of story. I did expect more (I’m not sure what I expected more of and this falls on me lol) based on the reviews on her other books. Overall I give a solid 3.5 stars!!

Thank you NetGalley & Harper Teen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"Death at Morning House" is a YA mystery thriller by author Maureen Johnson, who wrote the popular "Truly Devious" series. Similar in some ways to "Truly Devious," the protagonist, Marlowe, finds herself at the site of two long-ago deaths. Were they murders? Marlowe has her own problems, trying to fit in as a tour guide at Morning House, the former home of a "cursed" family whose luck turned bad after the death of their youngest child. The novel switches viewpoints between the past and the present, but keeps you guessing as to who might be a murderer. A must-buy for YA collections where mysteries are popular.

This book started a little slowly for me but once it picked up I was hooked. I love a good historical thriller and the way the author blended with past and present was so interesting! There was a lot of suspense and some chilling moments that had me gripping my kindle. I give this 4.0/4.5 and would recommend it to my reading friends.

I enjoyed the pretty cover on this book and I liked the author's Truly Devious series, but this one fell flat for me.

It felt slow, convoluted, and I never found myself really connecting with the characters.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a solid, fun YA mystery. It’s back and forth between present day and 1932 summers on Ralston Island. Present day, Marlowe has been “banished” there for work and in 1932, the unique Ralston family spends their summers there. During each timeline there is something a little off and creepy going on and Marlowe finds herself in the middle of it. If you liked Johnson’s Truly Devious series, particularly the first few, you will like Death at Morning House. Each time line could have been a stand alone story as they overlap in the smallest of ways. The 1932 storyline was actually more interesting to me, but Marlowe’s character makes up for any lost interest in the present day timeline. I could see Marlowe driving her Smart Car at a quick 21 miles per hour into her own series, but this is perfect as a stand alone. I liked the characters, the representation, and the fact that these kids were capable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

I have really enjoyed other books of Maureen Johnson, and this is a great one to add to that list! It by far isn't my favorite, but it still hooked me and kept me in the story until the very end.

After an accidental fire ruins her first date, Marlowe finds herself in a depressive slump. A summer job far away may be just the thing to take her mind off the disaster of her life. But when she arrives at Morning House, she finds that things may be just a little off there. All of the other summer employees are locals and know each other from school and they all just lost a friend a few months ago, leaving a void in their group and a lot of questions for Marlowe. Did someone push Chris? Or did he have a horrible accident? And what happened almost 100 years before with the original residents of Morning House? How did two children die on the same day? Was the family cursed?

As Marlowe searches for clues to the historical mystery, she may just stumble across the information that leads to a modern-day killer. But will she put the clues together fast enough to escape with her life?

This is a fun new series very similar to Truly Devious. Part modern-day, part historical, the clues are slowly revealed as the story progresses. Relationships between characters and conversations they have felt realistic and read true to life, and the inner turmoil of the MC also felt authentic.

A great new read for fans of the mystery genre, especially Johnson's Truly Devious series and Jennifer Lynn Barnes Inheritance Games.

You had me from “petrichor”!
I don’t know what Maureen puts in her books but I just can’t get enough!
The characters have depth and the story kept me on the edge of my seat. I fell victim to all the obvious red herrings and never knew what would happen next!
Great read!!