From the Publisher
"A pure delight from start to finish! The Author's Guide to Murder is a mystery packed with twists and turns, some loving (and hilarious) jabs at the publishing world, and a wee dram of romance—all set at a writers retreat in a Scottish castle. What could be better? Williams, White and Willig are in top form in this clever, engrossing whodunnit with a heart.” — Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of The New Couple in 5B
"Three pros unite again for this fun, dramatic mystery with an exotic setting and delightful characters." — Library Journal (starred review)
“An engrossing and sumptuous tale, this novel is a fantastic spring read.” — Good Morning America on The Lost Summers of Newport
“Three stories elegantly intertwine in this clever and stylish tale of murder and family lies from Williams, Willig, and White…This crackerjack novel offers three mysteries for the price of one.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Lost Summers of Newport
“This triple POV novel comes from the minds of three historical fiction powerhouses, so you know it's going to be a delight.” — Buzzfeed on The Lost Summers of Newport
“The Lost Summers of Newport—by a trio of historical fiction icons, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White—is an elegant approach to the old ‘trouble in paradise’ scenario, spanning generations of deceit in a New England mansion.” — Chicago Tribune
“If, like me, you’re mourning the season end of the HBO series, The Gilded Age, I have good news: Atlanta author Karen White along with Beatriz William and Lauren Willig have penned The Lost Summers of Newport, a historic mystery spanning more than a century of the once-wealthy Sprague family residing in an extravagant Gilded Age home in Newport, Rhode Island.” — Augusta Chronicle
Kirkus Reviews
2024-09-28
After the murder of a literary superstar at a writing conference in remote Scotland, three American authors join forces to clear their names and uncover a killer.
It will be clear to readers from the very first pages that, despite claiming to be best friends, Cassie Pringle, Emma Endicott, and Kat de Noir do not get along. Cassie is a mother of six who writes cozy mysteries in her free time; Emma is a blue-blooded New Englander who specializes in historical fiction; and Kat writes erotic urban fantasy novels. Nonetheless, they manage to convince their agent to let them write a book together and foot the bill for them to travel to a conference at Kinloch Castle hosted by Brett Saffron Presley, the internationally bestselling author—and “spokesperson for the famous Presley How-to-Write-a-Novel software”—who owns the castle. When Brett is murdered and his body is found high in Kinloch’s tower, it falls to Detective Chief Inspector Euan Macintosh to interrogate the castle’s occupants, including Cassie, Emma, and Kat. While Euan can’t stand the American novelists—or Americans in general—it becomes quickly evident that they might be his only chance at finding out who killed Brett and why. The problem is that none of their stories about what brought them to the castle seem to line up. While three authors collaborating on a book about three authors writing a book together feels fresh and charming at first, especially as each chapter changes point-of-view, the writing is uneven and the plot disjointed. The result feels less like satire and more like secondhand embarrassment as Cassie, Emma, and Kat bumble their way through the Scottish countryside.
A murder mystery that tries to be tongue-in-cheek but can’t quite pull it off.
