Thank you to Hanover Square Press, Harper Collins, and HTP for the gifted e ARC. Gossip Girl meets A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder? Yes please! We have family drama, rich kids with no consequences for their actions, and a main character who has never fully fit in with this group. I was fully invested in getting justice for the victim in this story! The twist at the end was shocking and I never saw it coming. The ending felt a little abrupt and I really wanted more closure on a few plot points, but overall I really enjoyed this one!

A Club Built on Secrets and Courtesy

This is a mystery suspense, told in first person through Alice Wiley, the narrative has a sharp, observant, and quietly sardonic voice. That intimacy allows the book to braid personal memory with social x-ray, making even small gestures in Briar’s Green feel loaded.

Miller uses a dual-timeline design, which I always love; present-day Alice returns to Briar’s Green and the Horseman Club, while dated sections take us back to July 4, 1999—the night her cousin Caitlin Dale died. This back-and-forth steadily tightens character motives, class rules, and the village’s “decorous lies.”

Briar’s Green (Hudson Valley) and the Horseman Club are characters in their own right—ritual-heavy, rule-bound, meticulously preserved, and exclusionary. The village charter, stone walls, and generational etiquette create a sealed ecosystem; the club (peach-cream “Brandywine” with its terrace over the Hudson) embodies the thesis: old money isn’t just wealth—it’s a governance system, a social operating system, and a shield. As the reader you feel like an outsider, just like Alice, looking in on a world were you don’t belong.

This is a slow burn by design, though the pace is uneven. At times, it gains momentum, then eases back into simmering unease, punctuated by sharper spikes of suspense rather than wall-to-wall action. The suspense parts had my heart racing with me sitting on the edge of my seat.

The characters are sharply drawn. Some are unlikeable, but that’s the point—it’s a rich man’s world, steeped in entitlement. I liked Alice and Caitlin, though I wish we had seen more of Caitlin so that her character could have been more developed. Mr. Brody, another one of my favorites, the club’s imperious, near-mythic butler, gave me A.B. Wynter vibes from the Netflix series The Residence. He is truly an interesting character. Susannah, Alice’s childhood best friend, is steadfast in the past but complicated in the present. I did not connect with her. Jamie Burger, former classmate and now club concierge, is a “normie insider” who understands both the rules and the workarounds. Most characters are well developed, even if connection to them varies.

Miller’s prose is clean, vivid, and slyly funny—keen observational beats (“decorous lies,” “five layers of courtesy”) sit beside tactile, sense-memory details (honeysuckle, carpet cleaner, extinguished candles). Dialogue is crisp and coded; subtext does heavy lifting. The book is firmly character-driven.

While the plot is strong and the village theme atmospheric, the reason for the murder left me a bit baffled, and some lingering questions remain. The twists were great, even where they are predictable. The epilogue felt too long. Still, this would translate beautifully to screen—perhaps a limited series.

I can see this novel earning plenty of 5-star ratings. For me, the uneven pacing and a few unanswered threads kept it from perfection. With some tightening, this could be a knockout.

It’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.

Old Money is out September 30.

Thank you to Kelsey Miller, HarperCollins, Harlequin Trade Publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Murder mystery? Check. Rich and powerful? Check. Plenty of suspense and twists? Check. Sign me up!!

"Old Money" follows Alice's journey back to her childhood hometown to hopefully uncover some secrets surrounding her cousin's death nearly two decades prior. The catch? Some things she uncovers suggests that she may not remember everything as accurately as she originally thought.

The first few chapters were a bit of a slow start, but after that it was difficult to put down! While it's your typical "young adult poking their nose in places they probably shouldn't" trope, it had a twisty, dark family history, well-developed characters, and a well-paced writing style to keep things moving at just the right pace! It was one of those that kept throwing a wrench into things just when I thought I had it figured out, engaging me until the very end! I think this will definitely be making its rounds on socials upon release. Thanks so much for the ARC!

This new twisted mystery/thriller will have you hooked from the first page the literal end! This book was so addicting I couldn’t put it down!!

It follows Alice who is coming back home to her estranged town to finally get enough evidence to put her cousins murderer behind bars. While playing detective and finding out what really transpired that night.

This book is filled with so many twists, turns and gasping moments you can’t wait to get to the next page to find out more!

This was the perfect summer read! I loved the atmosphere right from the start.

This book is full of family secrets and every character seems to have something to hide. I especially liked the protagonist, Alice, who absolutely refuses to stop questioning once she realizes something is very wrong. The twists and turns throughout kept me reading way past my bedtime.

Can't wait to recommend this one to readers!

I will be completely honest, the ‘wealthy, powerful people aren’t held responsible for their actions’ trope is not my thing. So I wasn’t sure to expect when I started this book. However, I got so sucked into this story, I couldn’t put it down!

Poor Alice just wants proof. Proof of who killed her cousin 20 years ago. Proof that his family paid people off to keep him out of trouble. Proof that the investigation was botched from the start. Proof so she can finally be at peace. But the truth she finds runs so much deeper.

The only reason this book took 4 days for me to finish is because adulting got in the way of reading. Please do yourself a favor and pick this up as soon as it’s published. You won’t regret it!!

It is almost the 20th anniversary of her cousin’, Caitlin’s murder and Alice Wiley can’t believe the murderer, Patrick Yates, has never been held accountable.

So she returns to Briar’s Green, NY where she grew up and to The Club where the murder occurred to try to set the record straight. She knows that Patrick did it because she was in fact a witness.

So Alice is hiding in plain sight, working at The Club, a stuffy, men membership only club where old money and connections are the only way you can join. Wives only allowed if their husbands qualify. She manages to get a job for the summer working for her brother’s former best friend, Jamie, as his assistant. Hopefully she’ll be able to get some intel from some of the folks who were there that night. Then the big announcement comes, Patrick and his bride to be, are getting married at The Club. As shocking to Alice that he would want to return to the scene of the murder, more shocking is his fiancé, Susannah. Susannah was Alice’s best friend all her life until 4 years ago when they had a huge falling out.

A fabulous mystery with so many turns, that you really have to pay attention to catch all the clues.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, for my digital copy of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Caitlin, a 16-year-old, has been murdered. The only witness, her 11-year-old cousin, Alice. She saw the whole thing and told everyone who was responsible. But no one will do anything about it because of his status in the community. Fast forward 20 years, and Alice has returned home to the country club where everything happened to get the case reopened and bring her cousin's murderer to justice.

She collects a couple allies along the way who try to help her, but one night everything comes crashing down and what she thought she saw as a child, might not be what really happened. I loved this story. It was suspenseful in that way that you keep waiting for Alice to get caught doing something.

By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. However, the story isn’t exactly what it seems to be at first 😶 I thought I knew where we were headed, but this book takes a hard left at one point that makes you question everything you know so far. While I did enjoy being surprised, I wasn’t crazy about how we found out - it felt a little too easy 🤔

Otherwise, I really enjoyed Old Money. It’s a perfect summertime thriller, with a lakeside setting at the Fourth of July. The characters are interesting, the plot is believable, and there’s enough suspense to make me want to know what’s going to happen next. I flew through it and I think you will too if you’re a fan of mysteries.

I think this was a fine thriller, though not one of my favorites. It moved a little slow at times, and felt a little claustrophobic somehow, maybe because so much of it happens at one location. The twist wasn't the worst, but I did see it coming from about the mid way point. Overall I was just lukewarm on this one, not the worst by a long shot, but for some reason it never really clicked for me.

Thank you to the publisher for my arc!

Hey hi hello!

i loved this book. I'm a sucker for those messy rich people doing bad things like murder books but i also loved following Alice as she just wants to know what happened to her cousin and you really see her confront these seemingly terrifying rich people. My only complaint is that I wish we got to see her interactions with certain characters like I wanted to her to be terrified of them but still keep searching.

the last 25% of this book completely caught me by surprise. highly recommend this specifically if you have read A Good Girls Guide to Murder and you want a more adult take on Pip. You will Love this.

This was an intriguing and captivating book! It was a bit of a slow burner at first but still quite suspenseful!

Fans of true crime podcasts, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and Gossip Girl alike will eat up Old Money.

Twenty years ago, on 4th of July, Alice witnessed something that would change her life forever. Her cousin Caitlin was murdered. Now twenty years later, Alice returns home determined to bring the killer to justice.

This book is dark and has some great twists. It combines true crime interest with the intrigue of a elite country club that is briming with secrets and wealth. I found myself immediately drawn into the narrative and highly recommend this book.

Tropes
* Murder Mystery
* Country Club
* Cold Case
* Wealth and Secrets
* True Crime intrigue

4.5 stars

Alice returns to her hometown years after her cousins death at a country club. Alice knows her cousins death wasn’t accidental (as the police, community, and media say), but money talks in this exclusive community. As she searches for answers, she only finds people still holding onto secrets, and a community that wishes she go away rather than find the truth.

I enjoyed this book so much while reading, I definitely thought it would be a 5 star read. However, I felt the ending didn’t tie up some pieces, and for that, it’s a solid 4 star. I loved the authors writing, the mystery, the characters, and setting. The characters were relatable and likable, and the authors story telling was captivating and hooked me from page one..

Kelsey Miller's Old Money is a captivating dive into the shadowy underbelly of an idyllic yet sinister small town. When Alice returns to Briar’s Green after twenty years, her desire for truth reignites old wounds and uncovers long-buried secrets. The story’s backdrop, with its old-money mansions and ominous country club, perfectly sets the mood — think Sleepy Hollow meets modern mystery. The protagonist, Alice, is fierce and unyielding, determined to uncover what really happened to Caitlin all those years ago. The novel expertly balances dark suspense with sharp character insights, keeping me guessing about who can truly be trusted. The pacing is just right—delivering moments of tension, startling revelations, and a bit of Southern Gothic charm that adds to the story’s haunting atmosphere. Miller's writing is evocative, drawing readers into a brooding enclave where every secret seems to whisper from the shadows. While some mysteries are unraveled a little quickly, the overall narrative is compelling, and the ending leaves room for intrigue and possibility. Definitely a dark, delicious read for anyone who loves a blend of small-town secrets, rich history, and a narrator who isn’t afraid to seek justice at any cost. Highly recommended for fans of atmospheric thrillers with a touch of darkness and a dash of revenge!