The Guest List

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley   313 pages

This is a "closed room" type of mystery, where everyone is in the same place and something happens.  In this case, it's on an island off the coast of Ireland where people are gathered to celebrate a weeding. The bride is a magazine publisher and is determined to make this a perfect day. The groom? Appears perfect on the outside, but you get a sense he's hiding something. As the book description says, "As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?"

I found the book to be a bit of a slow starter, but I was hooked pretty quickly. With a number of different narratives to keep track of, I started to have my suspicions about what was going to happen and who would be responsible, but there were still a few things thrown in that I didn't quite expect. A good page turner for a weekend read.