Jilly Gagnon's writing is excellent. She knows how to keep you glued to characters that are completely undesirable human beings.

Written as a story and a screenplay, this book is definitely different than what is customary. I enjoyed the complexities even though I did not enjoy the characters.

I recommend this book to all who like suspense.

It’s been 15 years since Vanessa disappeared on the girls weekend away. Now the friends have all gone their separate ways but when Emily swears she sees Vanessa in a local coffee shop, she decides this will be her new screenplay. She just needs to get the girls back together at the winery to find out what really happened that weekend…

Ok mean girls but add some murder. Seriously though, these girls were all so freaking terrible to each other! Like if this is how you treat your friends I would really hate to be your enemy! I enjoyed the winery setting and I always love unlikable characters, so while this story dragged a bit at times, I still fully enjoyed the mystery of what actually happened to Vanessa all those years ago.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This is a story which is about 5 college girls who go on break to a winery in Oregon. While there, one of the girls, Vanessa, goes missing and is ultimately presumed dead. The story then goes forward 15 years when the remaining 4 go to the same winery to get closure regarding the death of Vanessa. While there, strange things begin happening. The story is told with flashbacks to various events which happen on the first visit.

Scenes of the Crime is about friends....and I use that term loosely, getting together after being apart for 15 years after a life-altering event. The book has a screenplay interwoven throughout.

The characters were unlikeable and I found myself drifting off, thinking about other things while reading. This was just an okay book to me.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

This was my first Jilly Gagnon read but definitely not my last. Interesting storyline with some great characters. The format was fresh. Lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming.
Thank you NetGalley, Jilly Gagnon and Kathleen Quinlan at Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book

While I found certain aspects of the book enjoyable, there were elements that left me feeling underwhelmed. The writing style held a certain charm, yet the plot failed to captivate my interest. The characters' continuous conflicts and accusations detracted from the potential for deeper connections, and the expected twist did little to enhance the story's impact. Overall, the book left me with a feeling of indifference rather than excitement.

"Scenes of the Crime" by Jilly Gagnon is the story of 5 college girls. They go away for spring break to the winery owned by 2 of the girls grandparents. But then one of the girls disappears. Fifteen years later the remaining 4 go back to the winery. What happens during that trip and their memories as they try to figure out what happened to Vanessa and if any of them are responsible keeps the reader intrigued throughout the book.
Part story and part screenplay keeps you guessing on what is truth and what is fiction.

Fifteen years after one of their college friends disappeared, the four friends reunite at the “scene of the crime” to determine what really happened that night. Though friendly on the surface, the pretense of friendship was long gone with innuendos pitting one catty adult against the other. Did even one of them really know what happened that night? The only certainty was as the story ‘played out’, their lies, secrets and cunning behavior made the scene of the crime more sinister this time around. Thank you Netgalley and Bantam Books for the arc. This review is my honest opinion.

Scenes of the Crime has an intriguing premise: a reunion of college friends that takes place 15 years after one of them disappears. The execution of this book fell flat for me. The plot was good but the script parts slowed the pace down and took me out of the story. I also found the characters unlikeable and couldn’t relate to any of them. This is also more of a slow burn mystery than a thriller. Fans of She Started It and Reckless Girls should check this one out!

2.5 Rounding Up

The main premise behind this story is one I always enjoy- a group of old friends coming together and figuring out what actually happened to one of their friends many years ago. It is a tried and true storyline that when done right, is usually a winner

Unfortunately, this one in particular didn’t connect for me like I’d hoped. I found that I wasn’t given enough information to care about the missing friend in the beginning or much about each of the characters throughout to form any connections.

I did like the structure - flashbacks are told in script format, which I appreciated as it let us go right to the heart of the matter (the dialogue). I do wonder if more traditional flashback chapters would have been more effective in forging a connection with the characters.

Not a bad book by any means, and I’m not upset to have read it. I just felt like some things were lacking.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 🌟

This thriller is a sloooow burn and not so much thriller. There weren't a lot of "oh my gosh" moments and it took me awhile to get into. And truthfully - I struggle with stories that are centered around reunited frenemies. Why hang out again after 15 years?! I enjoyed the parts that were written like a movie script, once I understood the intent.

Thanks, netgalley for the ARC of this book!

I absolutely loved the way screenplay writing was used in this book. The Mixed media and storytelling format make this book unique and offers a fun new spin on the secrets of the past type of locked room murder mystery. Fifteen years ago, 5 girls went on spring break at an Oregon Coast winery. During that break one of the girls disappears. The narrator, Emily, is a screenwriter for a popular sitcom but is looking to make her big break into movies. When she sees someone who looks like the missing friend, Vanessa, at a coffee shop all these years later, she thinks she has found her big break. She organizes a reunion weekend so that the girls can finally get closure on what happened that weekend, all while secretly gathering information for her screenplay. Each of the girls carries secrets from that weekend and it will take everything she has to get to the truth. This was not the most fast-paced mystery thriller that I have read but it was engaging enough to keep going. Unlikeable characters and toxic friendships abound in this book so if you need to feel connected to the characters then this probably isn’t the book for you. I recommend this book for people who love locked room mysteries and are fans of mixed media books.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Jilly Gagnon and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy of SCENES OF THE CRIME, to be published 5 September 2023. The description of this novel was intriguing but the book didn’t meet the same standard. It was about college students who gathered 15 years after a tragic end to one of them occurred on a coastal Oregon winery. Unfortunately, the method of interspersing a script into the novel made it quite confusing. 2/5 Stars. #NetGalley #JillyGagnon #RandomHousePublishing #TheSceneoftheCrime

Jilly Gagnon's gripping novel, "Scenes of the Crime," delves into the enigmatic world of disappearances, secrets, and the intricate dynamics of friendship. With a backdrop of a remote winery on the Oregon coast, Gagnon weaves a masterful locked-room mystery that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page.

The story revolves around Emily Fischer, an aspiring screenwriter whose mundane existence takes an unexpected turn when she encounters a woman who bears a striking resemblance to her missing friend, Vanessa Morales. Haunted by the unresolved mystery of Vanessa's disappearance, Emily embarks on a journey to uncover the truth behind that fateful final girls' trip.

As Emily grapples with her monotonous job and yearns for creative fulfillment, the chance encounter ignites a spark of inspiration within her. Determined to unravel the truth, Emily hatches a brilliant yet risky plan—to reunite the group of friends who were present on that ill-fated trip to the winery. By revisiting the scene of the crime, Emily hopes to piece together the events leading up to Vanessa's disappearance and finally give voice to the story that has been brewing within her.

Gagnon skillfully navigates the complex relationships between the characters, each with their own hidden motives and insecurities. The cast of characters includes Brittany, Vanessa's cousin and the heiress to the winery; Paige, a formidable yet easily influenced former athlete; and Lydia, the unassuming wallflower of the group. As the reunion weekend unfolds, tensions rise, and long-buried secrets resurface, forcing the friends to confront their own culpability and the truth behind Vanessa's vanishing act.

Throughout the narrative, Gagnon employs a riveting dual timeline structure, alternating between Emily's quest for answers and scenes from her blockbuster screenplay. This ingenious technique not only adds layers of intrigue but also offers insight into the shiny, alluring world of Hollywood storytelling—a world that both captivates and deceives.

"Scenes of the Crime" delves deep into themes of loyalty, deception, and the complex facets of female friendship. Gagnon's evocative prose transports readers to the scenic winery, immersing them in a palpable atmosphere of tension and unease. As Emily grapples with her own memories and suspicions, readers will be swept up in a suspenseful narrative that keeps them guessing until the shocking truth is unveiled.

In this riveting mystery, Jilly Gagnon masterfully explores the blurred lines between reality and fiction, guilt and innocence, and the power of storytelling to shape perceptions. "Scenes of the Crime" is a thought-provoking and captivating novel that will leave readers questioning the narratives we construct and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.

Four friends return to the place where one of their own went missing fifteen years ago. Emily wants closure and the hope that returning to the Vineyard where her best friends disappeared will help her put the pieces together.

There were a lot of twists and turns and some mixed media elements that are written like script pages. Usually, I enjoy this kind of thing in a book, but this time it didn't really add anything for me. All in all, this was just an okay mystery thriller for me, the mystery of what happened to Vanessa that weekend was interesting, but it didn't give me enough thrills or suspense to really keep me invested.

This is a book that tells the story of five college friends who really don’t like each other. Four of them return to the vineyard where fifteen years one of them disappeared/died/was killed. One of the four—Emily--plans to find out which of them was responsible for Vanessa’s undoing.

This is advertised as a locked-room mystery; however, it should be called a drunken weekend debacle. There are a lot of foggy brains and amnesia which are used to add to our suspicions of who dun-nit. Also, there are several plot holes, one of which made me think that the weekends should have taken place in the mid-1990s.

I wish I could be more positive, but I found this book to be a disappointment.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bantom Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

You know what you’re getting into here. It’s typical and formulaic but hey that does not mean it’s a bad book. It’s just mediocre at its best. Take that as you will.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? This twisted tale of four friends was puzzling and not necessarily in a good way. The differences between what seemed to be really happening and the scenes written by the character Emily just made for lots of confusion. Did Emily have a knife or a corkscrew? Did Lydia have a gun or nothing or a paring knife? Sorry, it was too muddled for me.

OMG! I Screamed when I got audio approval from PRH Audio for this one. I’ve had a physical copy of Scenes of the Crime on my TBR for months and this was just the SHOVE I needed to pick it back up, and boy, am I glad that I did. Scenes of the Crime hits shelves on September 5, 2023. I’m so thankful to Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine, Jilly Gagnon, Netgalley, and PRH Audio for granting advanced digital, audio, and physical access before pub day.

15 years ago, four close frenemies’ lives were changed after the sudden disappearance of their dear friend and companion, Vanessa. Flash forward to the present day, Emily, Brittany, Paige, and Lydia are back in the summer house where it all started the summer they lost their best friend. Meant to act as a journey towards closure, the girls begin to experience and receive weird visitations and gifts that could only have been directly from their long-lost friend.

Our MC/narrator is a copy-editor/manuscript writer trying to get to the bottom of this mystery with little flashbacks to key plot-hole/contextual fills in the format of an actual manuscript, so that’s a nice little reprieve for the reader.

And wait until we’re teased with the plot twist of the century! Don’t sleep on this book, and get your pre-orders in like yesterday!

The excerpt sounded like something I might like, but didn't turn out that way. I'm not enjoying the many books out there currently that focus on toxic relationships that are supposed to be "friendships". This one may be OK for others, just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.