We’re curious. It’s part of being human. But there’s an added layer to this—let’s just call it nosiness—when it involves matters happening behind the tony doors of the well-to-do. It gives us, the “have-nots,” a perch from which to judge these other folks who prove that money indeed can’t buy happiness or, moreover, good sense and discernment.
From Big Little Lies to The Perfect Couple, it’s titillating to read stories where chaos erupts in a space meant to represent perfection. We’re drawn to these thrillers that allow us to peep through the grand Palladian window of the mansion and witness the unvarnished truth. It’s not quite schadenfreude. After all, we’re not taking pleasure in the fact that Geoff, the wealthy hedge fund manager and his art dealer wife, Franchesca, are getting a divorce.
However, our interests are definitely piqued when some of the salacious details behind their very messy uncoupling—and the war over their Upper East Side historic townhouse—begin to trickle out. The Germans could really do us all a solid and come up with a new term. A different kind of freuden that covers deriving joy from the piping hot tea-spills of the ultra-rich.
My upcoming novel, Would I Lie to You, is set in Partridge Hollow, a very white, very affluent, fictional, coastal town in Connecticut with palatial homes sat on acres, lush landscaping, winding driveways, and a tangled group of neighbors all with wild secrets soaked into their mansions’ walls. A love quad! A furry fetish! Drug habits! Insider trading—allegedly!
Protagonist Lucille “Lu” Barlow, moves with her family from Brooklyn, New York, to the well-heeled New England town after her husband accepts a lucrative job at the nation’s leading biotech company. To even the nosiest onlooker, Lu appears to be living a charmed life. But the truth is, she’s actually a deeply covert and highly skilled, contract cat burglar with a string of international heists under her belt and a shoebox full of fake passports, tools, cash stacks, and wicked secrets to match.
The idea for this book started percolating a decade ago when my own little family moved from New York to New England (ahem). We went from a Brooklyn brownstone—where you can unwittingly overhear your neighbor’s “unvarnished truth” coming through the walls on a random Tuesday—to a lovely 1950s Colonial on a tree-lined street with neighbors a-waving, dogs a-walking, kids a-playing, and landscaping teams a-making noise every day, spring through fall.
It’s no revelation to say that while New Englanders are nice, arm’s-length is their preferred stance. You can only know so much about them as the rest is kept tucked away. And so, during those first two months of living here, I often found myself wondering about my neighbors, sometimes going so far as to create little stories about them. All mild; nothing wild.
It wasn’t until we were at a neighborhood gathering, and people were feeling more at ease (thanks, sangria!), that my husband and I were introduced to the local lore. Instead of changing names to protect the innocent, I will just say this: it was decidedly juicy. The kinds of things that could make for a good novel one day [dot-dot-dot].
In addition to modern classics like Liane Moriarty Big Little Lies, here are five other must-read thrillers set in seemingly idyllic environs crowded with the sinful secrets and base behaviors of the wealthy that tickle the nosiest parts of our brains.
*
Ellery Lloyd, The Club
Set at a weekend-long launch party off the English coast for an exclusive, ultra-lavish club for celebs, the story—told from multiple POVs—turns into a chaotic, high-stakes, gripping whodunit where everyone, including the guests and staff, is harboring a secret.
E. Lockhart, We Were Liars
A dark and poignant portrait of privilege unraveling. The story centers on the wealthy Sinclairs, a family with seemingly everything. However, a tragic accident one summer leaves protagonist Cadence sifting through fractured memories to process her grief. She ends up exhuming a devasting truth that redefines everything.
Janelle Brown, Pretty Things
Two women, one a grifter, the other a socialite and heiress, have their wildly different worlds collide in a twisty, complicated story about wealth, entitlement, secrets, revenge, and how sometimes the line between rich and poor, between aspiration and desperation, can become a live wire.
Liv Constantine, The Last Mrs. Parrish
In this psychological thriller, Amber Patterson insinuates herself into the gilded marriage of Daphne and Jackson Parrish. Coveting the wife’s life, Amber plots to take her place. But shocking twists and turns unveil deeper deceptions, buried secrets and danger at every corner.
Trisha Sakhlech, The Inheritance
This Succession meets Knives Out locked-room murder mystery follows the wealthy Agarwal family as they gather to celebrate the parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary on a private Scottish island. The mogul patriarch also plans to announce his company’s succession plan. But it all goes south when a body is found.
***
