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A review by saareman
A Death at the Party by Amy Stuart
4.0
Secrets Lead to Murder
Review of the Simon and Schuster Kindle eBook (March 7, 2023) released simultaneously with the Simon & Schuster paperback.
This was a new Canadian author for me and I may check out Amy Stuart's Still (2015-2020) trilogy in the future as well, as this current book was definitely a compelling read. In fact I think I finished it in one day, and am only writing this review now as I am always several days behind in completing books and actually reviewing them.
I'll admit that what drew my attention to this book was the advertising blurb "Virginia Woolf meets Agatha Christie." Learning from the synopsis that the book involved the preparations for a same-day evening party led to its association with Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925), but any other parallels with the earlier book & author are few. It was too much to hope for that I would find another example to add to my meagre list of ASMR* in Fiction.
A Death at the Party is one of those inverted chronology books where the supposed climactic death is actually presented to us in the very first chapter. The whodunnit? is pretty evident up front, but it is the whydunnit? and the whomwasitdunto? questions which make for the drama and suspense of the rest of the book.
Nadine is making party preparations for her mother Marilyn's 60th birthday. Marilyn is a popular mystery author who shies away from birthday celebrations in general, but has acquiesced in this instance. There is a dark association with birthdays of the past, as Marilyn's younger sister Colleen died under mysterious circumstances 30 years ago, the same day as Marilyn's 30th birthday.
You can pretty much guess that there will be revelations which uncover the secrets behind Colleen's earlier death during the course of Nadine's current day. These will lead to suspicions about numerous suspects as various present day friends and acquaintances are discovered to have known Marilyn and Colleen in the past. It all leads to the inevitable confrontation.
Trivia and Link
* ASMR = Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. For further background on ASMR and Virginia Woolf's description of it, you can read my Mrs. Dalloway review Are You Experienced (with ASMR)?.
Review of the Simon and Schuster Kindle eBook (March 7, 2023) released simultaneously with the Simon & Schuster paperback.
She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day. - from Virginia Woolf's [b:Mrs. Dalloway|14942|Mrs. Dalloway|Virginia Woolf|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1646148221l/14942._SY75_.jpg|841320], used as the epigraph for 'A Death at the Party.'
This was a new Canadian author for me and I may check out Amy Stuart's Still (2015-2020) trilogy in the future as well, as this current book was definitely a compelling read. In fact I think I finished it in one day, and am only writing this review now as I am always several days behind in completing books and actually reviewing them.
I'll admit that what drew my attention to this book was the advertising blurb "Virginia Woolf meets Agatha Christie." Learning from the synopsis that the book involved the preparations for a same-day evening party led to its association with Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925), but any other parallels with the earlier book & author are few. It was too much to hope for that I would find another example to add to my meagre list of ASMR* in Fiction.
A Death at the Party is one of those inverted chronology books where the supposed climactic death is actually presented to us in the very first chapter. The whodunnit? is pretty evident up front, but it is the whydunnit? and the whomwasitdunto? questions which make for the drama and suspense of the rest of the book.
Nadine is making party preparations for her mother Marilyn's 60th birthday. Marilyn is a popular mystery author who shies away from birthday celebrations in general, but has acquiesced in this instance. There is a dark association with birthdays of the past, as Marilyn's younger sister Colleen died under mysterious circumstances 30 years ago, the same day as Marilyn's 30th birthday.
You can pretty much guess that there will be revelations which uncover the secrets behind Colleen's earlier death during the course of Nadine's current day. These will lead to suspicions about numerous suspects as various present day friends and acquaintances are discovered to have known Marilyn and Colleen in the past. It all leads to the inevitable confrontation.
Trivia and Link
* ASMR = Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. For further background on ASMR and Virginia Woolf's description of it, you can read my Mrs. Dalloway review Are You Experienced (with ASMR)?.