REVIEW: A Death At The Party by Amy Stuart

Genre: Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Release Date: Expected 3rd August 2023

Publisher: Penguin Random House | Michael Joseph

Nadine Walsh is determined to make her summer garden party the event of the year.

Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they've had. A chance to forget.

As she prepares to welcome her guests, however, Nadine can't help but be distracted. Her husband is of little help to her. Her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns. But it's Nadine's own secrets that threaten to destroy her perfect party.

By the end of the night, Nadine will be standing over a dead body in the basement. How did it come to this? And how far will Nadine go to keep her secrets buried?

"It's okay. I understand. You held on to a secret for so long that it stated to feel like the truth."

A dazzling and dark 'locked room' murder mystery full of misdirection and secret set against an unsuspecting backdrop of glamour and laughter.

We are immediately thrown into the moment it all changes, standing over a body - and then are forced to begin the day again, anxiously waiting for the hours to fall away until we come full circle. Stuart sets the scene spectacularly - affluence, domesticity, opulence, bliss; the perfect place for a murder but the last place you'd hear about one.

Nadie was curious - powerful and privileged but clearly not always so. She's struggled and still does despite her polished life now. On the surface she looks like the stereotype of the bored rich housewife, but her character develops page by page. It's clear she isn't the hero or the villain in this story, her role is to be discovered along with her secrets.

The story moves slowly, steadily through scenes of domestic life and drama until it reaches its fever pitch. It's twisty, blurry and intense, layering lies and half-truths to create a sense of mystery and anticipation. Stuart made a blindingly anxious murder mystery but one that packs hard-hitting punches about the unpaid labour women do, and the disgusting truths about the treatment and objectification we receive even as girls.

A searing and compulsive mystery with deliciously dark twists.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.

cw: references to suicide, death, affairs, drugs, underage sex and relationships, sexual harassment, assault, violence.

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