Story for the Week
My first exposure to a murder mystery was the board game Clue. Was it Professor Plum in the Conservatory with the rope? Perhaps Miss Scarlet in the Library with the revolver? The board game briefly evolved into a VCR version, and then eventually came the campy Clue: The Movie.
I remember a time when murder mystery train rides were popular. I would have loved to take one, but I was single…and an introvert, so maybe I only think I would have loved to take one. When we planned a trip to Seattle on Amtrak recently (Swapping One Washington for Another), one of my co-workers mentioned that I should be prepared with headphones because long train rides seem to bring out random talkativeness in people. #NewFearUnlocked
I do like solving mysteries though. Anytime I watch movies or read books with a whodunit element, I try to figure out the culprit. Sometimes I get them right, and sometimes I get them very wrong, but I try to have fun getting there.
There have also been mysteries I’ve given up on. Years ago when I was single and lived alone, I played PC games all the time. One of those was Myst. “Alone on a mysterious island, you set out to explore its grandeur and mystery. Here a chilling tale of intrigue and injustice, defying all boundaries of space and time, is being told. Summon your wits and imagination about you. Every scrap of paper and ambient sound may provide vital clues which allow hidden secrets to unravel before you. Each discovery you make and each puzzle you solve will lead you one step closer to reversing a wrong that has gone unchecked for ages.”
Intriguing? Very much so. Solvable? I don’t think ever in my lifetime. 🤣 I kept a notebook with all the clues, but I never did get very far. Once The Sims came along a few years later (The Power Trip of Playing God), Myst took an immediate and indefinite back seat. While I liked the idea of solving Myst, it was really hard for me to pick up where I left off every time I had to stop playing because, well…life. I do work for a living. I have thought about trying Myst again. I even downloaded it a while back. One of these days…maybe.
In the meantime, a murder mystery dinner might be fun. Corinne is old enough that we could go together, take a few friends, have a nice evening, and solve a mystery in the process. I finished a book recently set during an engagement party…maybe the perfect scenario for a murder mystery.
Book Review
⭐⭐
2 Stars for The Engagement Party by Finley Turner
320 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher’s Description
Kass Baptiste is newly engaged to her fiancé Murray Sedgemont after a whirlwind romance. Before they even get to share the news, an invitation arrives via messenger—to an engagement party hosted by Murray’s parents. When Kass and Murray arrive at the Sedgemont Estate, she is astonished to learn that Murray’s family is one of the most powerful families in North Carolina. As Kass’s future mother-in-law, Beatrice, whips herself into a frenzy over the perfect party for the state’s elite, Kass begins to receive anonymous threatening social media messages.
On the night of the event, as champagne is popped and the celebrations begin, a body is found in the lavish home. All eyes are on Kass, the interloper amongst the rich and powerful guests. Over the course of the party, Kass’s dark past unexpectedly becomes intertwined with the murder, and in order to prove her innocence, she must finally come to terms with her secrets.
As Murray’s family secrets are revealed, Kass must prove herself innocent while evading the anonymous threats that haunt her every move.
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Main Characters:
- Kass Baptiste – 23 years old, works as a set designer since graduating from NYU
- Murray Sedgemont – curator for an art gallery, proposed to Kass after a four-month whirlwind romance
- Phillip & Beatrice Sedgemont – Murray’s parents, Phillip is the CEO of Sedgemont and Company, a successful textiles company that has made the family extremely wealthy
- William & Gloria – the Sedgemonts’ butler and housekeeper, they have worked for the family for years and both live in the mansion
- Emmett & Kennedy – Murray’s younger twin brothers
Finley Turner’s debut thriller showed a lot of promise but ultimately didn’t work for me. Told in the first person from Kass’s point of view, the Prologue begins with Kass thinking about an experience on the subway platform, something she feels guilty about, the mystery in her past. In the first chapter, a courier interrupts Kass and Murray’s morning two days after their engagement. Murray’s parents, who Murray claims he didn’t tell about the engagement, have invited them to a party a week later…celebrating their engagement. 🤔🚩
While Murray told Kass that his family are “rich a**holes,” she has no idea until they pull up to the family mansion exactly how wealthy they are. When she finds out the Sedgemonts are the wealthiest in the Carolinas, she spends quite a bit of her time being annoyed at Murray for not telling her, even though she has her own secret that she feels is much worse. A bit hypocritical if you ask me, and it makes her not at all likeable.
Kass is understandably uncomfortable during the party since she is the only person outside the Sedgemont circle. When the Sedgemont and Company vice president ends up murdered, all eyes turned to Kass, which really doesn’t make much sense to me. What could her motivation possibly be having just met all of these people?
Throughout the investigation, Gloria seems to watch out for Kass, showing her the secret passages throughout the house and telling her how she can secretly hear conversations, again, having just met Kass. I find it hard to believe that Gloria has been working for the Sedgemonts for so many years and Kass is the person she chooses to confide these secrets to.
Obviously the truth comes out by the end of the book, we find out Kass’s horrible secret, and the murder is solved. But there are so many holes in this story, and if I had to read about Kass’s muscle memory one more time…. 🤦🏻♀️
I recommend passing on this one.
***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS***
Some of the details I struggled with….
Kass mentions being 23. She says that she and Murray met briefly at NYU and then they met again in a bar and started their whirlwind romance. They’ve been together for four months and lived together for two. Murray does not know all the details of her secret, which happened during her junior year, which seems to imply they met in her senior year. She says at one point that the way Murray is around his family is not the Murray she has known for years. The longest she’s known him is three years, and she’s only really known him for a few months, which means she doesn’t really know him at all.
Gloria tells Kass that the twins were brought back from boarding school five years ago and investigated. They were in 8th grade, and Murray was a junior in high school. If that’s the case, then five years later, Murray JUST graduated college, yet Kass mentions that he is much closer to career stability than she is. Later, the twins tell Kass that Murray strangled his girlfriend (who was in 8th grade) in 2013. Editing error? Another murder? Either way, this is a huge hole.
After Phillip announces his retirement, he tells the family that he’s handing over the reigns to Beau, his vice president. Honestly, I was convinced that they were going to end up being secret lovers. The twins are angry that they aren’t being put in charge. Murray claims he’s not interested, but by the end of the book, he seems to have been fully on board all along. When Beau ends up murdered, however, somehow everyone looks to Kass as the suspect because she thought Murray should be put in charge. What?! And considering the family history of cover-ups that comes to light, I ask again…what?!?!
So many holes, and so many things that just don’t make any sense. Thrillers need to be suspenseful with hints dropped along the way, but the story needs to pull together at the end. This one just never gets there.
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