Availability:
Library | Call Number | Format | Status | Item Holds |
---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Abington Public Library | FIC COR | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Braintree Thayer Public Library | COR | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Canton Public Library | FIC MYS CORDANI | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hanover John Curtis Free Library | CORDANI | NEW BOOK LOCAL HOLDS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Hingham Public Library | COR | NEW BOOK 7 DAY LOAN LOCAL HOLDS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Milton Public Library | MYS CORDANI | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Norwell Public Library | MYS CORDANI | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Plymouth Public Library | COR | 14 DAY BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Scituate Town Library | COR | BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Searching... Weymouth Tufts Library | CORDANI | 14 DAY BOOK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Eight friends created the exclusive Masquerade Murder Society while in college. The murders they solved were fictional--until their final masquerade, when one of the group disappeared. Twelve years later, the remaining members are invited to a reunion in the Scottish Highlands . . .
Twelve years ago, eight friends ran an exclusive group at university: The Masquerade Murder Society. The mysteries they solved may have been grisly, and brilliantly staged, but they were always fictional--until their final Christmas Masquerade, when one of the group disappeared, never to be seen again.
Now our young, privileged cast of old university friends are summoned to the depths of Scotland for a Christmas-themed masquerade party. But all are hiding something deep below the surface that could make or break their careers. Charley is a struggling actress who has always been on the periphery of this high-flying group, but has decided to reunite with her frenemies on the promise of career help if she joins the old cast for one last weekend.
When they arrive each is assigned a new identity themed around the "Twelve Days of Christmas"--they become Lady Partridge or Mr. Gold; Lord Leapworth or Doctor Swan. The game begins, and it feels just like old times. Until the next morning, when Lady Partridge is found hanging--dead--from a pear tree.
It quickly becomes clear that in this game the murder will be all too real, and the story is bringing long-hidden secrets to the surface. Will Charley's discerning eye and outsider status allow her to uncover the truth, or will she, too, fall prey to the murderer among them?
If the group hopes to win the game and survive until Christmas morning, they will need to face the truth about their history together and who they have become--and what really happened on that fateful night twelve years before.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
YA novelist Cordani (The Girl Who...) makes an impressive adult debut with this devious holiday whodunit. Twelve years ago, a group of university friends formed a murder mystery cosplaying group called the Masquerade Society. During their final game, the group's ringleader, Karl, went missing, and another member's expensive necklace vanished. In the present, each of the society's former members--Charley, Leo, Sam, Gideon, Pan, and Shona--have been summoned by a mysterious invitation to a hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands for a Christmas reunion game. What begins as lighthearted fun turns grave when Pan, who'd been assigned the role of "Lady Partridge," is found dead and dangling from a pear tree. As the body count starts to rise, the group is forced to reopen questions about what happened to Karl all those years ago, and determine who among them poses a threat to the others. Cordani starts in the key of a holiday cozy but gets dark fast, a risky transition she pulls off without a hitch. Mystery lovers of all stripes will walk away satisfied. Agent: Ruth Logan, Bonnier Books. (Nov.)
Booklist Review
University student Charley Sale joins the Murder Masquerade Society, a group of friends who stage murder-mystery events. At one of the masquerades, Karl disappears from a locked room, never to be heard from again. Twelve years later, Karl's sister Ali persuades Charley to attend a murder mystery at a remote manor house in Scotland during Christmas. Working-class Charley longs to be fully accepted in this aristocratic, moneyed group, and, needing the money Ali promises her, agrees, even though at the last event, someone tried to drown her. The group is quickly snowed in, and it turns out all are hiding secrets that someone seems determined to expose. Then the murders begin for real, with guests being picked off one by one and help unavailable due to the snow and lack of cell service. Told from multiple points of view, this compelling, complex, page-turning locked-room mystery is set in both the past and the present and is chock-full of plot twists.