Everyone loves a good party, right? The gourmet food, the over-the-top decorations, expensive Champagne, clinking glasses, happy guests – perfection. But what about those things we don’t see? What about the behind-the-scenes clutter swept into closets and crawl spaces, the cobwebs hidden in high corners, the sharp words exchanged before the door opens then camouflaged by bright smiles as the guests arrive? In my eleventh thriller, The Perfect Hosts, Madeline and Wes Drake gather two hundred of their closest friends for a gender reveal that they hope will be the talk of their small Wyoming ranch community for years to come. Instead, the night ends with a bang and a dead body. When ATF agent Jamie Saldano arrives to investigate, he begins to uncover the darkness hidden within Lone Tree Ranch and behind the Drakes’ glittering façade.
What is it about the perfect gathering planned by the seemingly perfect host and hostess that intrigues us? And why can’t we look away when things go spectacularly wrong? Here are seven mysteries and thrillers that prove that even the most meticulously planned parties can simmer with tension, secrets, and even murder.
In Jackal, the critically acclaimed thriller by Erin E. Adams, the main character, Liz Rocher, reluctantly returns to her mostly white, Rust Belt hometown for her best friend’s wedding. The night of the festivities, the happy couple’s daughter, Caroline, disappears, and Liz finds herself pulled into a mystery that feels terrifyingly familiar. Years earlier, one of Liz’s classmates, a young black girl, walked into the woods and was found brutally murdered. As Liz digs deeper, she finds an unsettling pattern – girls, all young, all black, have also walked into those woods and never emerged – and now she’s in a race against time to help bring Caroline home.
With a lightning-fast plot and a fully realized cast of characters, in Jamie Day’s The Block Party, the neighbors on Alton Road set up the badminton court, fire up the grills, bring out the potato salad, and red Solo cups for their annual Memorial Day block party. The weather is beautiful, music is blaring, and the drinks are flowing, but danger is just around the corner. When a body is discovered, the residents of Alton Road don’t know who to trust and who from the cul-de-sac may be the next to die.
Sandra Block’s nail-biting thriller, The Bachelorette Party, introduces readers to true crime aficionado, Alex. She has her dream job with an investigative news show, a dream fiancée, and the best friends in the world who have planned a surprise bachelorette party for the ages. What makes this party so special? It’s being held in a purportedly haunted hunting lodge where, years ago, a serial killer murdered one of his victims. Toss in a blizzard and the unexplained sudden disappearance of her friends, Alex’s party takes a dark turn, and she has to get to the bottom of it before the lodge claims another victim.
This is Not a Game, a page-turning debut, by Kelly Mullen, widowed Mimi invites her estranged granddaughter, Addie, to join her for a posh charity auction on idyllic Mackinac Island. Though Mimi is eager to repair her fractured relationship with her granddaughter, a deadly secret sits between them. Blackmail and murder are afoot, and when a storm rolls in, trapping the guests in the mansion, they are left to fend for themselves in hopes they survive the night.
We all know about block parties, bachelorette, birthday, and going-away parties, but have you heard about an “after-I-die” bash? Intrigued? Then the unputdownable Party Planning Can Be Murder by Kerry Schafer & Kerry Anne King is the book for you. Enter Addy Winters, a small-town party planner who, instead of a funeral, is tasked with organizing the ultimate going-away party for world-famous rockstar and old friend, Leo Masterson. But when Leo dies earlier than expected and under suspicious circumstances, Addy is on the case and intent on serving justice.
What do you do if you receive an anonymous invite to an exclusive dinner party with seven strangers? Why, you accept, of course. In Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guest, KJ Whittle expertly sets the table for an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit where the guests receive a notecard announcing the age at which they will each die. When the predictions start coming true, the remaining survivors must band together to find the shadowy figure behind the deadly dinner party.
The wedding of the year set on a remote, rugged island off the coast of Ireland? Who wouldn’t want to be on the guest list? In her blockbuster, The Guest List, Lucy Foley has everyone questioning their life choices. Despite the sought-after wedding planner, the a-list attendees, the towering cake, the free-flowing booze, there are a lot more items on the menu: jealousy, secrets, and murder.
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