Scenes of the Crime, Jilly Gagnon
Scenes of the Crime, Jilly Gagnon
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Scenes of the Crime

Author: Jilly Gagnon

Narrator: Eileen Stevens

Unabridged: 9 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/05/2023


Synopsis

An ambitious screenwriter tries to solve her friend’s disappearance by re-creating their fateful final girls’ trip in this riveting locked-room mystery from the author of All Dressed Up.

“Twisty and utterly bingeable . . . Each page will leave you gasping for more.”—Disha Bose, author of Dirty Laundry

It should have been the perfect spring break: Five girlfriends. A remote winery on the Oregon coast. An infinite supply of delicious wine at their manicured fingertips. But then their center—beautiful, magnetic Vanessa Morales—vanished without a trace.

Emily Fischer was perhaps the last person to see her alive. But now, years later, Emily spots Vanessa’s doppelganger at a local café. At the end of her rope working a lucrative yet mind-numbing gig on a network sitcom, Emily is inspired to finally tell the story that’s been percolating inside her for so long: Vanessa’s story. But first, she needs to know what really happened on that fateful night. So she puts a brilliant scheme into motion.

She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting. There’s Brittany, Vanessa’s cousin and the inheritor of the winery; Paige, a former athlete, bullish yet easily manipulated; and Lydia, the wallflower of the group.

One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them . . . or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days?

Suspenseful, propulsive, and interspersed with scenes from Emily’s blockbuster screenplay, Scenes of the Crime is an unforgettable mystery that examines culpability, the shiny rearview mirror of Hollywood storytelling, and the pitfalls of female friendship.

About Jilly Gagnon

Jilly Gagnon is currently based in Chicago, but is originally from Minnesota, a fact she’ll likely inform you of within minutes of meeting you. When she’s not writing, she’s probably either deep in a video-game rabbit hole, talking to her cats like they understand her, or practicing her violin, which for some inexplicable reason (masochism) she took up recently. Jilly’s short humor, personal essays, and op-eds have appeared in all kinds of places that it’s too tedious to list. She also writes the adult comedy book series Choose Your Own Misery, coauthored with Mike MacDonald. Visit Jilly at www.jillygagnon.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jayme on September 05, 2023

It’s okay that the romance genre is formulaic. We read romance anticipating the witty banter, the frustrating miscommunication, and finally the happily ever after. It’s not okay that the over saturated thriller market, is becoming formulaic and predictable too. This time the locale is an Oregon Coas......more

Goodreads review by Raymie on April 08, 2023

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for sending me an ARC copy for an honest review. Emily’s friend Vanessa disappeared 15 years ago on a trip to their friends wine house. Years later her friends and her come back to remember Vanessa, but secrets start coming out. Was this a great thriller in my ow......more

Goodreads review by Mary on November 02, 2023

Jilly Gagnon won me over with her unique but fun Clue-style novel All Dressed Up, so I was really excited to get started on Scenes of the Crime. This also had a unique setup, with past and present viewpoints as well as sections of the screenplay that Emily is writing. The theme of friendship is stro......more

Goodreads review by Jess (oracle_of_madness) on August 13, 2023

A winery in Oregon and friends reunited 15 years after a traumatic event. What could go wrong? Obviously, in a thriller, a lot. This book definitely kept my interest. I had a lot of fun reading it even though some bits were a little predictable. It's a fast-paced, quick read that gave me my thriller......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on December 02, 2023

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review. This book gave me hope with its complex storytelling and friendships that are struggling in the face of a friend that went missing more than a decade before. The part that really confused and irritated me at times is how most of it is set up as a screenp......more


Quotes

“The Gothic setting of Jilly Gagnon’s Scenes of the Crime—an isolated, exclusive winery on the Oregon coast—provides the perfect backdrop for this absorbing, meta-fictional variation on a locked-room mystery, full of pointed observations about class, money, and the inherent competition that lies beneath many female friendships. Scenes of the Crime is the ideal choice for readers of Ruth Ware and Megan Abbott.”—Joanna Margaret