As an avid mystery fan I loved this book! It had a very Agatha Christie/Clue/Knives Out feel with a YA twist. I guessed the murderer fairly early on but was wrong a bit about the twist, which is OK with me! The author did a great job making it plausible for most of the characters to have been the murderer, with seeming motives and opportunity. The setting was unique and the characters and relationships felt believable (at least as believable as they could be for ultra-wealthy 18 year olds). I’d recommend this for fellow mystery fans that don’t mind YA.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read, and overall a pretty decent murder mystery. I enjoy a locked-room mystery and the author did a good job at making everyone suspicious. There is a past and present format to the book as well, and the past glimpses really dive into potential motivations for each character. It did alternate between being written in third person for the past chapters and first person for present, so something to be aware of. I do think that the plot of this group of rich teens being able to rent out this old manor and spend tons of money on all the 1920s details seemed to be a bit far fetched, but it worked enough to set the scene. I can definitely see a younger audience being drawn to the getaway concept. If you enjoy a murder mystery, give this one a go!

Reviews Posted August 29, 2023
Goodreads
Storygraph

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. There are definitely some parts that I really loved and others that didn’t really do anything for me.

I think the part I struggled with was the characters and their development and history throughout the book. I just could not get myself to really care about them for most of the book. Everything felt very surface-level, even with Izzy, the main character. I kept wanting the author to dive deeper into each character so I could understand their motives better. By the end of the book, Izzy and Blaine are the only characters that I really felt I knew.

The thing that kept me going was definitely the mystery. While I did not care who the killer was, I did want to know how everything played out and how it was actually accomplished. The author does a good job of leaving clues throughout the book but never making anything too obvious at any point. Also, oddly enough, I loved the detectives in the story and felt like I knew them better than the kids.

By the time the mystery was revealed I had figured out who had done it but not quit how so that was definitely fun to find out. I do think that the ending left so many questions in my mind. Like right when I was finding Izzy interesting and becoming invested in her life the author left so many things open.

Overall I had a fun time reading this I just wanted a little more from the other characters.

This unfortunately was a DNF, but not because of the actual book. I am sensitive about reading books that have handicapped characters because of my sister-in-law. She has to have full time care so it can sometimes be hard to read a book that has that included in it.

I do think the writing was okay, but the premise is a bit too similar to a lot of books coming out right now, especially in regards to following a bunch of rich kids around. All of the YA books I've read lately are about wealthy kids and you following the one non-wealthy kid.

This book was an interesting YA Mystery. Although I wouldn't say it was my absolute favorite, it was good and after the murder, had me turning the pages to get to the end. I was a bit confused on the POV, so that was a bit distracting, but not so much so that I couldn't follow along with the story.

Izzy, along with 5 friends, were invited on a graduation present from Kassidy, her BFF. The present? A getaway trip to a private island from a favorite movie, to live just like they did back in the 1920's for a week. To keep it as real as possible, they were encouraged and made to only dress and use what they would in the 1920's, so electronics and cell phones were sent back to the mainland. Although they were instructed to leave everything back on the mainland, they all brought their troubles and grudges- and because of that, Kassidy's boyfriend ends up dead. They are all interrogated by detectives who suddenly can't leave the island because of a bad storm. They all have motives, but who actually killed Blaine?

If you like YA mysteries, then I think you would enjoy this one!

There are a lot of things I did like about this murder mystery, and some I did not care for.

This was reminiscent of Agatha Christie for me. Though it is not from the point of view of a detective, but from POV of one of the suspects.

7 teenagers go to a private island for a graduation party. The manor is old, with history of it's own. Plus there is a classic movie that was filmed there, and it holds nostalgia for a couple of the characters from this book. There's a romantic kind of longing to be part of that movie, and so they organize a 1920s style party to celebrate their HS career. Obviously, just by the title alone, there's a murder.

This is a kind of a teenage drama. It is all about secrets each one is hiding from each other. Relationship dramas. Classical grudge holding, etc. Though full of drama, I wouldn't say this was dramatic where I would roll my eyes at the characters or their choices. The pace was well maintained, the story was interesting, and I did want to know what secrets each person was hiding. Though I would say the snooping Isadora did was kind of very convenient, though adds that Agatha Christie feeling with secret halls.

What I didn't like was the number of characters, and keeping every story in order. Each character was connected to each other in more than one way, and it was a lot to remember. Though the twist I did not expect, and did like how it was handled.

Atmospheric, old school snooping, with a lot of secrets. Murder Mystery YA perfect for those that do not need chasing and a killer on the loose cutting everyone down.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and PRH Audio for my review copies. All opinions are my own.

Recently, I’ve been in the mood for fun, glitzy YA thrillers, and while Suddenly a Murder satisfied me, I couldn’t help but be left wanting just a little bit more.

Suddenly a Murder has one of the best YA thriller hooks I’ve ever read and, for the most part, successfully delivers on its Knives Out meets Jazz Age locked-room murder mystery pitch. As with most YA thrillers, the set-up for the story requires a pretty extreme suspension of belief, and I found Suddenly’s circumstances to be completely improbable, but it made for good entertainment nevertheless. Seven just-graduated high school teens vacation to the island of Ashwood Manor, where their 1920’s role-play party takes a deadly turn when secrets, grievances, and hidden agendas boil to the service and one is murdered. The cast of characters were all fantastic, and while I didn’t really buy into all of them being the potential murderer, their private lives all played critical roles that further complicated the web of secrets and added some much-needed nuance to the victim.

The most interesting part was the main character, Izzy. Though I hesitate to count her as an unreliable narrator, the fact that she was the one who brought the murder weapon to the remote island continuously heightened my intrigue and kept me speeding through the pages. Her backstory is also fantastic, and I appreciate how Muñoz elevated her beyond the typical BIPOC, low-income archetype that is so common in YA thrillers. Izzy serves as a gateway for Muñoz to tackle several important social issues, chief among them immigration/deportation and caring for a neurodiverse/disabled relative. However, Izzy’s background as a journalist felt underexplored and some aspects of her character felt very underdeveloped, such as her all-consuming crush on another character and reasons/motives for her conflict-averse personality.

Like Izzy, Muñoz elevates all her characters beyond simple archetypes and explores various topics relevant to the teen/high-school experience that I rarely see discussed in YA thrillers despite the setting. It was incredibly refreshing to read about sexual activity and STDs, drug culture and accidental ODs, and the pressures on teens to maintain certain public images in order to fit in. While the characters occasionally felt too one-dimensional (a result of being plot devices to discuss the above social issues), I was invested in all of them and found their actions believable.

Where Suddenly a Murder leaves me wanting more is the pacing and structure of the mystery. For about 75% of the book, chapters alternate between first-person present-tense from Izzy’s POV and third-person past-tense from all six POVs. While I understood that the third-person chapters were supposed to function as flashback, the sheer volume of them (every other chapter) felt abrupt and interrupted the flow of Izzy’s present narrative. Furthermore, the flashback scenes weren’t all in chronological order, so it made it extremely difficult to keep track of six different timelines plus Izzy’s present one. I think the book did benefit from the inclusion of the flashbacks, but cutting down on the number would have done wonders for the narrative coherence and cohesiveness. I was invested in all of the characters’ subplots and felt they explored some really relevant issues, but splitting half the book (the flashbacks) amongst six characters was just too much in my opinion. The end result was just a bit too messy and surface-level, especially since all narrators have complicated backstories that felt underexplored due to the pressure of distributing the book between everyone.

Additionally, the actual murder mystery aspect felt lacking. Izzy obtains clues too conveniently to be semi-believable, and while the reveal of the murderer is interesting, it’s not wholly shocking. The ultimate resolution felt too sudden and heavy-handed in terms of foreshadowing, but I appreciate that Muñoz left it somewhat open-ended in order to emphasize the twisted circumstances leading to the murder. I would have liked one or two more chapters exploring the full fall-out/consequences of the murder, as well as wrapping up what happens to the rest of the group (the acquitted kind of just disappear off the page and the reader is left assuming everything’s fine).

Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed Suddenly a Murder and would recommend it to fans of Knives Out and Agatha Christie’s locked room murder mysteries. While it required a huge suspension of belief, the pacing of Izzy’s present narrative kept me hooked throughout and Muñoz does an admirable job of tackling social issues I rarely see represented in YA thrillers.

You can definitely tell this was inspired by Agatha Christie and old murder mystery movies. I had a few theories about where the storyline was going but surprisingly, I was not correct. I watch and read a lot of content similar to this and I was pleasantly surprised by how original this book felt. I’ll definitely be checking out anything else the author does.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book.

There were definitely some interesting parts of this book. The comparison I've seen to Knives Out is pretty accurate so those were the parts I liked best honestly. The 1920s aspect and mystery were fun, but I'm not sure I ever really liked any of the characters and maybe it was because I never partied in high school and was middle class so I didn't relate to them, or because none of the characters were really that likeable. There were a lot of POVs and chapters from the past that the author used to tell the story, but it was a little confusing with all the back and forth and switching around, not to mention a lot of chapters in which Izzy is in a secret passage for the whole chapter which got a little tedious IMO. Honestly, I think the book would translate better as a movie with those types of scenes. The story did keep me on my toes and I didn't guess what happened/whodunnit until close to the end which is always what you want as an author with a mystery. Overall, if you're looking for another YA mystery in the vein of Knives Out or Clue this would be a fun one to pick up.

A historical re-enactment of an old movie on a remote island? Here are reasons to read this YA Mystery:

Graduation - Izzy and her friends have graduated high school and her best friend Kassidy have thrown them a surprise trip

19020’s Recreation - they are all going to an island that was the site of a movie from the 1920’s, and they will dress up in theme. Also…no cell phones allowed!

Found - But when Kassidy’s boyfriend Blaine is found dead, what will they do?

Motives - there are a lot of secrets and a lot of them have motives.

This book ticks a lot of my boxes: YA Mystery, locked door location, multiple POVs or jumps in the timeline. But one of the most interesting things about this book is that the characters have to be in theme, which keeps them from figuring out why things might be. Also the house is foreign to mostly all of them so they don’t know those secrets either. And lastly from the first line in the book, you are led to believe you know who the killer is. But do you really? So many twists in this book, and I really enjoyed it.

Actual Rating 3.5

In celebration of graduating high school, Izzy’s best friend Kassidy booked an old mansion on a private island, hosting a 1920s-themed part for their group of five friends. While there’s some tension within the group, the trip is mostly just cocktails and fancy attire, until someone is found dead in their room. Investigators make it to the island before a storm rolls in and declare the death a murder, threatening the comfort and stability of the teens. As the investigation begins, it seems that many of the friends had possible motives to commit the crime, though only one of them brought the knife…

I quite liked the premise of this book. This is another instance where the author incorporated isolation into the setting and utilized it well. There were some chapters told in the third person that were set in the past and provided background information to the characters. It was also told from multiple POVs. The author did an excellent job balancing the past timelines with the multiple POVs. What didn’t work as well was the lack of tension that I felt during this read; even the characters didn’t seem too concerned about being in the same house or trapped on the same island with a murderer.

The characters had distinct voices and their characterization was well done. I enjoyed how genuine Izzy and Kassidy’s friendship felt. I liked the red herrings the author included as they didn’t feel like they were shoved in just to make things hard to guess, but rather felt like genuine aspects of the characters and their lives. I also liked how the MC learned about the information relating to the investigation rather than it being one of those books where the teen protagonist is “just naturally much smarter” than the professionals.

This was a fun, fast-paced YA mystery that kept me turning the pages until the end. While it was a little predictable in some instances, I still enjoyed it overall. If you enjoy YA murder mysteries in isolated settings, then you should check this one out. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work, which will be published September 5th, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a fun mystery about a group of high school friends who spend a week together in a 1920’s themed mansion to celebrate graduation. Then someone is murdered and our heroine, Isadora, has to solve the mystery because she gets accused herself! I felt the some of it was a bit unrealistic, but it was an enjoyable read!

A group of friends celebrate graduation by renting a famous silent film 1920's home on a remote island to celebrate. The main character Izzy is already on edge and has a secret she is hiding. Kassidy who has arranged the trip is making the week as authentic as possible with no phones and only period style dress.

Then one evening Kassidy's boyfriend is murdered. Two detectives arrive and all the guests are now suspects. Izzy paranoid that the detectives and her friends will find out her secret and she was one of the last ones to see him alive....or so she thinks. Who killed the victim and what is Izzy hiding.

This is a quick read that will hold your attention. I did think I was a little predictable, but I did enjoy the plot.

There's nothing like a murder mystery that has you convinced of the main character's guilt from the start - especially when they're trapped in a mansion from a 1920's murder mystery movie on a remote island! This book was addictive on audio, allowing us to feel like we too were eavesdropping on police interrogations. Throughout I was trying to glean exactly who the murderer and their motive was, but I didn't realize until the end that Lauren Muñoz had left breadcrumbs along the way. My only complaint is that I felt like the ending was a bit rushed... I would've liked a bit more tension and less exposition. And of course getting to see the fallout from after!! Maybe a cute little epilogue? Either way, this was a solid debut and I'd be excited to read more.

*Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review and PRH Audio for the gifted ALC*

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 stars

Suddenly a Murder is a fun YA thriller that is very Knives Out meets One of Us Is Lying. Seven friends throw a 1920s-themed party in a secluded mansion to celebrate graduating. The party goes downhill when a body is found and there are only 6 suspects - each other.

Locked room mysteries are very hit or miss with me, but this was definitely a hit. Muñoz excels at using multiple timelines to break up the action while keeping the pace quick. I was constantly changing my theories and loved how the story wrapped up. A solid YA thriller that makes me so excited for what Muñoz comes up with next.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the Arc! When I requested this book I didn't realize that it was categorized as Young Adult (YA). I used to be all about YA in my younger days, but not as much anymore.. Overall, it is a good book-I just am not a fan of writers having teenagers talk and behave like people in their 30s. It irritates me.

A group of teenagers go to an island for a 1920s themed getaway. One of them ends up dead though and no one is safe.

I really liked this concept but the author kept using various flashbacks that I found confusing. They weren’t consistent in POV or time period. I also think it took too long to get to the murder. Lots of promise here, but the writing didn’t meet the concept.

Let me tell you my absolute favorite things in books: when they're young adult, when they're locked room mysteries, and when they have a 1920's vibe. This book has all three! It's fantastic. Often when a YA book is a mystery or thriller it drags a little bit and you're like okay come onnnn - or you figure it out automatically and that takes all of the fun out of it. The writing was great, the tone of voice of the main character was a little sassy which I loved. I liked that I wasn't certain who did what, and there were some secrets that totally threw me for a loop. The little sprinkle of 1920's was fun and I really enjoyed this. Very excited to read from Lauren in the future! :) Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an advanced copy.

What was unraveled in this book, was something I was not expecting to read. The twists and turns kept me glued to this book I couldn’t help myself, I couldn’t put this book down. We have 7 teens, fresh from graduation, rich as sin except for one who is a scholarship kid, but I loved how grounded she is as a character, anyway, Kassidy is planning this huge week in a beautiful mansion, and everyone has to play a part and everything in 1920’s themed. I rambled on and on with that last sentence. Anyway, Blaine, Kassidy’s boyfriend gets killed and we think we know who did it, or who had motive, but the surprise at the end was not expected at all.

All of these kids carry something huge, and Izzy is carrying one of the biggest secrets of all. I loved the backstory, and how the book at the end shifts a little to somewhat of a happier and more clear ending, at least for some of the characters. I wanted a little more at the end of this book, I felt like we needed to know what happened with the rest of the people after the fact and with what we discovered about Izzy as well….. But I can’t fault the author for doing that because with everything happening in here I created my own little scenarios…. Lol

I will say this regardless, this book is worth the read. Thank you netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Thoughts

This might not be a serious thriller, but it's a Knives Out type of fun. It's got the atmosphere. It's got the vibes. It's like playing Clue: glitz, glamor, and a splash of blood as you work out the whodunnit.

Pros
Distinct POVs: Multi-POV in teen thrillers seems to be this year's MO, and that comes with one big potential downfall: a bunch of perspectives that all sound the same. Not so here. Lauren Muñoz really nails these voices. Each feels distinct. The differences in perspective, in motive, in intention all read through in a way that only enhances the Clue nature of this 1920s-style thriller.

Best Friends: One thing I'll never get tired of is books where girls are genuinely friends. This bestie duo really are besties. They've got their minor tensions, sure, but they've also got each other's back. They come from different social world, but that doesn't keep them apart. There's no real jealousy between them. They're ride-or-die friends, and not in a toxic way. They're there for each other, through thick and thin, and I love that.

Excellent Revelation: The real turning point in any murder mystery is the denouement, the grand revelation. If it isn't quite so grand, the book will flop. But here, here the revelation is superb. There's so much build-up, so many secrets half-buried, hinted at. There are so many reasons why this could have happened, and the ultimate villain is hidden so well (but not too well that the clues aren't there, in retrospect). Lauren Muñoz provides a masterful peak to this glamorous murder mystery.


Cons
Voice of the Commons: Though this book dips into several perspectives, the main perspective we get feels, unfortunately, a little like a trope in this particular genre. So many YA thrillers feature a middle or lower class main character embroiled in a friend group of a vastly different social class. This is a voice that, perhaps, feels more "relatable" as it highlights the evils of the rich (when told through the eyes of a have-not), and while it isn't necessarily a bad perspective, I've grown pretty tired of it. At this point, I've seen it a hundred times before. I want something new.

TV Detectives: There's a thin line between fun and cringe, and unfortunately, when it came to these detectives, that line wasn't so delicately balanced. Though they certainly feel like the quirky caricatures that made Knives Out so popular, they also feel... rather TV. That is, they feel like stereotypes, down to old, interpersonal drama spilling into their professional lives. I didn't like it. I didn't buy it.

Eavesdropping: This book has excellent vibes, but the end result is a little bit slow. Why is that? Well, most of this book is spent eavesdropping. There's more listening for secrets, more talking to detectives, than actual action. Gossip and secrets are fun, but a proactive character would have really clinched this one. That I didn't get that was a bit underwhelming.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of e. lockhart's We Were Liars will like this new group of untrustworthy narrators. Those who enjoyed Gabriella Lepore's The Last One To Fall will enjoy jumping from suspect to suspect in this tenuous friend group.