An enthralling and twisty locked-room mystery that will keep readers guessing.
Three teenage girls end up snowed in at an English mansion where a murder takes place—and the killer is one of the few people trapped there.
One wintry evening, someone poisons wealthy Emily Vanforte in her ancestral home, the gothic Vanforte mansion on the remote, rural Bramble Estate. The prime suspects include those she shared her final meal with—her politician husband, Charles; her daughter, Lottie; Lottie’s boyfriend, Douglas Treefair; and her nephew, Tate Astur. But a snowstorm stranded three other people under the same roof: Devi Mistry, a 17-year-old Londoner of Indian descent, who was driving to her grandmother’s home; Lizzie Newton-Hill, who was delivering a diamond necklace to Emily on her jewelry store owner mother’s behalf; and housekeeper’s assistant Jayne Faraway, who was instructed by Emily to tend to the two unexpected overnight visitors. As darkness falls, the three young women, who are acutely aware that Emily’s killer is lurking around the mansion, wander through passageways exploring as they investigate the Vanforte family’s dark secrets. Divided into five parts—“The House,” “The Murder,” “The Truth,” “The Revenge,” and “The Trial”—the narrative alternates among Devi’s, Lizzie’s, and Jayne’s points of view and includes police interview transcripts. The evocative setting and isolated pool of suspects create a classic mystery feeling that’s both cozy and chilling. The shifting timeline and surprise reveals ramp up the suspense. Most characters are cued white.
An enthralling and twisty locked-room mystery that will keep readers guessing. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781728296876
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.
Eighteen-year-old sleuth Stevie Bell is back to investigate another mystery in this stand-alone addition to the Truly Devious series.
Stevie is nursing a broken heart following her recent split from boyfriend David. Fed up with her parents’ lack of understanding and support—they regard her interest in solving murders as “creepy” and “weird”—she announces that she’s not coming home for Christmas. But now she’s at a loose end; spending winter break “alone on murder mountain” at Ellingham Academy, her Vermont boarding school, doesn’t seem ideal. So when the opportunity arises to accompany her close friend Nate to New York City, she willingly agrees. The third-person chapters switch between Stevie’s contemporary experience among a group of eccentric, often-clashing residents of a Manhattan apartment building and a young woman named Blue who becomes entangled in a cult in the 1970s. A trail of clues is laid that Stevie can’t resist following. Readers will be kept guessing how the intertwining storylines fit together until the very end. The novel expands to explore Stevie’s relationships and growth, including her ongoing management of her anxiety disorder. The marvelously clever dialogue, abundance of heart, and witty, memorable, and well-rounded cast elevate this beyond standard mystery fare. Both timelines establish the New York City setting as its own character. Stevie and Blue read white.
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series. (map) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063256019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
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