Novels No. 110

 

K.J. Whittle. Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests. USA: Sourcebooks, 2025.

In-house grab, and what a pleasure to discover a fresh plot concept. Seven strangers converge at a pop-up restaurant for a dinner party, each believing the invitation is related to public relations in their jobs or other activities. No host or explanation is offered; the point seems to be a card slipped beneath their dessert plates: stating at which age they will die. Only two are opened at the table, causing puzzlement or upset. Middle-aged Vivienne, longtime editor at a failing magazine. Shabby and lonely Tristan, math and computer whiz. Handsome banker Matthew, charm personified. Melvin, married Black policeman. Gorgeous young Stella, sparkling fashion influencer. Dr Gordon, humourless nutritionist. Janet, lingerie business manager and perpetual flirt. Janet’s card said she will die at age forty-four, her age right now. Dr Gordon’s said age fifty-three; he’s fifty now.

Having left the dinner venue in various stages of agitation or scorn, they never expected to meet again. Until Melvin the cop emails that Stella died by falling under a subway train. By comparing notes of after-dinner conversations, they learn her card had said age twenty-three – right on. And so it begins, as two more die at the prophesied age, by accident or suicide. The remaining group has theories; Dr Gordon thinks it’s an experiment by a secret scientific society. Convinced that an unknown person is directing a macabre plot to kill them all, Vivienne goes full investigative-journalist; her own card disappeared before she could read it. Funerals and memorial services become their contact points, witnessing how the strange dinner party has affected each of the dwindling group.

Being honest in their relationships would have saved everyone so much trouble. The Spoiler Law forbids me to further enlighten. Even if you recognize a certain underlying basis as you proceed, or make tentative connections, this is a creative and challenging and highly enjoyable novel.

Getting Acquainted

▪ Already seated is the Botoxed lingerie boss with huge knockers, the old Welsh police officer who clearly loves a drink or ten, the too-skinny YouTuber frowning at her phone, and the dull TV doctor desperately waiting to be recognized. (9)

▪ “I’ve got a YouTube channel with nearly half a million subscribers.” (18)

▪ “I prefer takeaway at home with friends,” Tristan replies, which is only a half lie. He has takeaway most Friday and Saturday nights, but never with friends. (26)

▪ As well as handsome Matthew and sex-obsessed Janet, Vivienne is a lady of around his age and seems to have elected herself the headmistress of the group, looking offended at every turn. (44)

▪ Matthew attempted his cat-that-got-the-cream grin but feared it was more like hyena-with-a-hernia grimace. (68)

▪ “Well I, for one, won’t be going down without a fight,” says Gordon. (124)

▪ Melvin thinks of the many glimpses of barely contained anger he’s seen from Tristan, the clenched fists and jaw, the scathing comments and withering looks, but he doesn’t want to encourage another of Vivienne’s wacky theories. (188-9)

Shari Lapena. She Didn’t See It Coming. Canada: Doubleday Canada, 2025.

An ordinary day, an ordinary family, but mummy doesn’t show up to fetch daughter Clara from daycare. Husband Sam finds her car, her purse, her phone, at home in their condo. Dread. Bryden Frost vanished, becoming the object of a missing person search—probably an abducted person. Family and friends are stunned, bewildered, stymied, so uncharacteristic of Bryden. Detectives Jayne Salter and Tom Kilgour quickly interview neighbours, arranging a thorough search of common areas in the entire high-rise building. Lapena sets us up with detail after detail of the police protocol to heighten the tension. No one has seen Bryden all day, nor did cameras catch her leaving the site. The next day a K-9 tracking dog solves the mystery, finding her hidden body.

Sam is devastated, having panic attacks. His main support comes from sister-in-law Lizzie, from Bryden’s parents who arrive from Florida, her best friend Paige, and their neighbour Angela. But still, the spouse is always the first suspect, and Sam is hiding secrets. So is Paige. So is the man whose car Bryden had damaged a few weeks earlier. Lizzie’s big secret is her obsession with online true crime fans—maybe they can solve her sister’s murder instead of the slow-moving police. At that point the drama intensifies, while family members agonize—did Sam kill his wife or not?—and a sociopathic couple add a new dimension.

Motivations surface as frightened people try to deflect police attention to anyone but themselves. Lapena at her mind-twisting best.

Pointed Bits

▪ Lizzie says, “There was nothing, and Bryden tells me everything. We’re very close, you know that.” (45)

▪ She’s probably a good detective, but he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like her. (53)

▪ What could be worse for a man than to lose his wife and the mother of his child? And he loves her, they all know that. (72)

▪ There’s a charged silence as cadaver dog registers with everyone. Sam’s face blanches and Bryden’s parents look stricken. (77)

▪ “And I don’t have an alibi. They really grilled me about that. Detective Salter hates me, I can tell.” (106)

▪ Alice is suddenly very angry, at the detectives and at her husband. But mostly at her husband. What has he done? What has he been up to, and not telling her about? (115)

▪ He adds, “It was an exceptionally clean murder.” (139)

▪ If only she’d been stronger and stood up to him. Told him she wasn’t going to take any of his shit. (175)

▪ Lizzie has never felt so important, so noticed, even though she is anonymous. She glows inside. (217)

** It may be time for another wee vent on why novelists seem to outdo each other in the odd selection of names for female characters. So many sound masculine. Why? This year alone I’ve come across Bryden, Aubrey, Aislin (Ash), Madison, and Whitney. Then there’s Savanah (one “n”) and Cheyenne. Really, are parents doing that?