Dru’s Short Musing:
When a fellow author dies after imbibing a drink meant for her, Thea must take matters into her own hands to find the person responsible while attending a crime mystery convention.
This well-written and fast-paced drama quickly became a page-turner as I had to know who was doing what to whom. The mystery was nicely executed with a large pool of suspects who had strong motives, clues galore, and plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing. With visually descriptive narrative, an eclectic and quirky cast of characters, and engaging and witty dialogue, the author knows how to tell a compelling story with its multi-plot arc that kept me in suspense and intrigued from beginning to end. When I thought I had a handle on the person responsible, the author added a few strategically placed twists that had me looking in another direction. With every interactions, we learn a little bit more about each character and the pivotal role they play in this enticing whodunit and we also got to see the inner workings of convention which enhanced my reading pleasure especially as I’ve attended many of these conventions. This was a fun read and excellent romp through the dynamics of a mystery convention done brilliantly.
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: July 21, 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link
Book Synopsis:
In the latest thrilling mystery from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author Carol Goodman, a writers’ conference at an Italian castle turns deadly when a killer begins using a husband-and-wife writing team’s novel as a blueprint for murder.
Fred and Thea Morgan-Lane are the envy of the mystery community, the perfect partners in life and in writing. Together they coauthor the wildly successful Death Takes a Holiday series, and they’ve been invited to the Italian castle where it all began for a mystery conference celebrating their first novel, Death Takes the Castle.
But their story isn’t quite the fairytale it seems to outsiders. Twenty years and twenty books after they met, Thea wants out. Their marriage and partnership haven’t been working for some time, and what better place to announce the end of the series than where it started?
Except shortly after their arrival at the beautiful Castellarosa, a shocking death takes place when the wrong person drinks a cocktail meant for Thea. The stunned conference-goers put it down to an unknown allergy, but Thea isn’t so sure. Could someone be trying to kill her? Perhaps her loving husband isn’t as ok with their series ending as he pretends, or maybe Nadine, the upstart young author who is vying to take Thea’s place, wants her out of the way. Suddenly, it seems like everyone has a motive, and when a second death occurs, a disturbing pattern emerges—these deaths aren’t random, they’re following the murders in Death Takes a Castle exactly. Murders that Thea and Fred wrote.
In order to save the day—and maybe even their marriage—the unhappy couple will have to work together to figure out who is using their book as a blueprint for a killing spree. That is, if they can trust the person they’ve spent twenty years plotting murders with…
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.