What happened that weekend at the winery 15 years ago? Emily has always wondered where Vanessa went- is she alive or is she dead?- and now she's really curious because she thinks she just spotted her alive. Now a screenwriter, Emily decides to reconvene with the other three women there that weekend to try to find the truth and make a script out of it. Brittany, Paige, and Lydia all have secrets (none that dramatic) which slowly come out. Gagnon mixes the "real" action with the screenplay in a device that doesn't always work. It is, however, what distinguishes this from the rather trope-y plot and characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast read.

TV sitcom writer Emily Fischer is desperately looking for a way to get out of her lucrative but mind-numbing job. She’s tried for years to finish a screenplay about a friend’s disappearance many years before. In order to finally finish, and hopefully get answers about what really happened, she calls the three other people who were present when their friend Vanessa went missing. Brittany has inherited the sprawling winery property after the recent death of her grandmother. Fifteen years ago, when the girls were in college, they had a wild weekend at the winery. Brittany’s cousin, Vanessa, who was the outcast in her family, attended along with Emily and two other girls, Paige and Lydia. Paige, an athlete, was always trying to gain Brittany’s favor and attention. Lydia was frequently at odds with Brittany and Emily was the peacemaker. One night, after a great deal of drinking, Vanessa texted Emily to meet her down at the beach. After that, Emily has no memory about what happened, but Vanessa was never seen again. Did she meet with a terrible accident? Did she go missing voluntarily? Or was someone responsible for her disappearance – possibly Emily herself, since she can’t remember anything that happened after receiving Vanessa’s text? Emily hopes that by drawing everyone together again, she can finally work out what happened to Vanessa, while at the same time crafting the story into a potential blockbuster of a screenplay.

The story alternates between the events happening in the present with the four women gathered at the winery, and the screenplay that Emily is writing. The screenplay's version of events doesn't always match up to what is actually happening in the story, so there were a few times I had to go back and make sure I knew which was which! There were plenty of twists and turns that made this a real page-turner!

Wow, I was not expecting any of this to even happen in this book, lol. It went by really fast and before u know it over and done and I am still left with the “WHAT?????” Emily is a screenwriter and using the story leading up to her best friend’s disappearance as inspiration. It’s been 15 years and she’s still left wondering on what really happened to Vanessa. She reaches out to the other girls and decided to make it into a girl’s weekend. They will stay at the family vineyard where Vanessa was last seen, now that’s creepy AF.

I loved how parts of the book reads like a script, I felt like I was auditioning. Anyway, there are some twists and every one of these women have secrets about what happened that night and I was loving all of that, until everything came crashing down. The story didn’t end the way I thought it will, these are the biggest group of toxic women I have ever met. I felt like there was more missing in this book, especially towards the end.

I want to thank Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I was given access to this early via Netgalley & the publisher.

This was my first book from the author. The premise sounds really great. We are following 15 years after a tragic event happened in Emily’s life. Her friend Vanessa disappeared while they were on a weekend away, present day the rest of the group is getting back together at the same location.

This is a story of twisted friendship, romance, and mystery-ish. I was disappointed because the premise was promising and it just ended up being slow and pointless. I wasn’t interested or invested in the story. I am sad to say that I probably won’t be picking up another book from this author.

I liked the plot to this one but I did feel like it dragged on more than it needed to and some parts became redundant. There were a lot of times I thought things were happening that just didn't add to the plot and caused me to fight the urge to skim.

I loved how this was written. It alternated between normal book writing and screen play writing. Great use of tools. Good mystery.

I was super into the Oregon setting but sadly this one just didn't work for me. This format is problematic and I honestly just hate toxic female friendships with secrets and backstabbing. I think other people will dig this one, but it was just not for me.

I was drawn in by the Oregon winery setting but sadly this one just didn't work for me. I found the format to be clunky and the characters to be grating - maybe I also just need a break from the trope of toxic female friends that reunite with a secret as another reviewer noted. Hopefully others have better luck!

The motives in this book truly made no sense to me, both as college students and later as adults. It was confusing how it jumped between the past (maybe?) and present with the screenplay, the timeline was never consistent. I liked this author’s first book but this really didn’t work for me and I skimmed the majority of it.

Thanks the Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I guess the title should have been a clue that this was written in scenes, but I was unprepared. I did not enjoy this format at all and felt like it took away from me enjoying the book. It was disruptive and unnecessary in my opinion. I liked the idea of the book, but the execution needed work!

On the fence about this read. Parts of it I could not put down while others dragged. I did enjoy the screenplay addition…great connection to Emily’s back story. I found myself wanting to know more about each of the girls as I was reading but finally realized that Jilly Gagnon was controlling and releasing the information as a tool to ratchet up the tension. The dual time lines in the screenplay definitely contributed to my understanding of their back stories.
The girls were each so manipulative that I found myself disliking each of them. Brittany’s mother won my wrath in the way she treated Vanessa. The setting of a beautiful secluded Oceanside vineyard with underground tunnels added to the suspense and set the tone. I think those sections were my personal favorites. The ending was predictable but also satisfying.
Many thanks to Jilly Gagnon, Bantam Dell, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of Scenes of the Crime, to be published on September 5th.

Scenes of the Crime
Written By Jilly Gagnon
Publisher Random House Publishing Group/Ballentine Bantum
Release Date September 05, 2023



Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Pace: 4/5
Suspense: 4/5
Overall Enjoyment: 4/5

Fifteen years ago a group of friends visited a winery and one friend, Vanessa, went missing. She was presumed dead as her body was never found nor was she found alive. Present time….the friends again decide to visit the same winery to gain some type of closure. While the Emily swears she has seen Vanessa at a local coffee shop and decides that she wants to write a screenplay using the disappearance of her friend. She is a well known screenwriter now and wants to investigate what may have herself. This story is told in flashbacks between present time and past tense.
While the writing is well done, I cannot say much for the premise of the story. The blurb made it sound like a really great thriller but there were too many issues with the characters and how they treated each other and how the banter went between them. There was so many accusations and conflicts between them that it deterred me from having any type of connection to them. This story premise has been done many times and while this is a tad different, I was hoping for something more. I do want to say that the authors writing was perfectly written and made it easy to follow the flashback style of this book.


4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley as well as the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

Four college friends get together again at the winery where fifteen years prior the fifth friend in their group disappeared without a trace. They are coming to gain closure, but each of the four friends comes hiding their own secrets. They each have something to hide, but as the secrets start to come out will they be able to figure out what happened to their friend all of those years ago?

The description of this book sounded intriguing, but once I got into the story I found that I didn’t really connect with or like any of the characters that much. I found it hard to get into this book because of this, but I do think it was a well written book and it was a fast read. Most of the characters came off and childish and petty to me, which made me dislike them. I really did enjoy how the story was laid out with half of the writing in screen play format. I thought this was a fun break from the typical writing format and it added a little something to the story. Even though I didn’t connect well with these characters, I still found myself surprised by how this book played out. I didn’t see some of the twists coming which added a little something to the storyline. Overall, this was an okay book for me. If was easy to read and I never thought about giving up on it, I just wasn’t as engrossed in this book as I could have been if I felt more of a tie to it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

The blurb sounded fun and I mostly enjoyed Gagnon’s previous book, but I’m afraid that without some new and unique take, the old toxic-and-complicated-female-friendships-where-something-happened-in-the-past-and-they’re-now-reunited trope is getting kinda old. This was a little different and entertaining just in how the scenes from Emily’s screenplay is interwoven, leaving the reader to guess exactly how much of what we’re reading is the truth. But there was nothing that had me so gripped in the story that I had to put everything aside just to keep turning the pages until the end.

This is a DNF for me. This reads like YA and I don’t read YA. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest opinion. 2.5 ⭐️

I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley.

A locked-room mystery, a determined screenwriter takes it upon herself to uncover the truth behind her friend's baffling disappearance. Set against the backdrop of a remote winery on the Oregon coast, this thrilling story follows Emily Fischer and her group of friends as they attempt to unravel the enigma surrounding Vanessa Morales' vanishing. Vanessa was the heart of the group, and her unexplained absence has haunted them all.

Years later, Emily stumbles upon someone who could be Vanessa's look-alike, sparking her resolve to tell Vanessa's story and unearth the truth of that haunting night. With a brilliant plan in mind, Emily orchestrates a reunion weekend under the pretense of reconnecting. As the group reconvenes, secrets start to unravel. Among the friends - including Vanessa's cousin Brittany, strong-willed Paige, and introverted Lydia - lies the key to understanding what truly happened. Emily must navigate a web of hidden truths and confront her own memories to uncover the reality of that fateful night.

The overall plot line of the story seemed to take an unusual and almost unbelievable turn, which left me feeling quite puzzled and disconnected from the narrative. The progression of events felt rather unusual and even bordering on the absurd, which made it challenging for me to fully engage with the story.

Additionally, the scenes involving screenwriting appeared to lack a certain level of authenticity or resonance. These moments didn't seem to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the story, and at times, they felt out of place or disconnected. As a result, these scenes didn't manage to capture my interest as I had hoped they would, contributing to my sense of disconnect from the overall narrative.

The author writes an interesting "return to the scene of the crime" mystery by taking four former classmates back 15 years to see if they can discover what really happened to their classmate and friend Vanessa. Is it possible she is still alive, and if she is not - which one of them may have killed her? Screenwriter Emily comes up with this idea after she sees a woman who looks like it could possibly be an older Vanessa......is it possible? Plus - Emily is questioning her current job and has been thinking of writing a screenplay about what happened back then - but first needs to find out what really did happen! So she, Brittany, Paige and Lydia return to Brittany's family winery for a weekend to "get closure". What follows is written in two methods - storytelling, and set up as what Emily writes as a screenplay. In this way - we see the best of both worlds - but what is real and what isn't? It's difficult to become wrapped up in the characters as they all have their flaws and are somewhat unlikeable. Emily seems the most down to earth, but she also has a lot riding on finding out the truth. As memories and family secrets are revealed the sense of "be careful what you ask for" comes to mind. Overall the book was a good read and the author has can write a good who-dun-it that keeps the pages turning. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for the opportunity to read and review this advance reader copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #NetGalley#ScenesoftheCrime

Fifteen years ago Emily’s friend Vanessa disappeared on a girl’s weekend away at a winery. Present day Emily is getting all the remaining friends back together at the winery to try to figure out what happened to Vanessa that night. Secrets come out and trouble arises.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for this e-arc.*

I was excited to jump into this book and loved the whole premise of the story. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

The cast of characters has a variety of personalities to make up the group of friends. Other than the main character, Emily, I struggled to really connect with any of them. The format of going back and forth between the story and the screenplay was difficult when I had to use my text-to-speech feature. However, when reading directly it made more sense but I still was never sure if the screenplay was supposed to be true as it happened, or fictional in the way she could imagine it would happen.

The mystery itself never really captured my attention to any real degree as I was pretty sure what had happened almost from the beginning. The rest was just going through the motions to get to the end result. While it was still enjoyable enough, it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Emily is writing a screenplay to capture an incident that happened with her friends while they were in college. As she gets the friends together and revisits the incident she finds that things are not as they had appeared. The story is told in dialogue and screenplay format which is an interesting choice.