{"id":43107,"date":"2025-06-25T22:37:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43107"},"modified":"2025-06-25T22:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:37:53","slug":"review-of-suddenly-a-murder-by-lauren-munoz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=43107","title":{"rendered":"Review of Suddenly a Murder, by Lauren Mu\u00f1oz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Suddenly a Murder<\/em><\/p>\n

by Lauren Mu\u00f1oz
\nread by Diana Bustelo<\/p>\n

Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 16 minutes.
\nReview written October 30, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Suddenly a Murder<\/em> is a murder mystery (no surprise there!) set in the stately home of Ashwood Manor on an island, where seven recent high school graduates are spending a week immersed in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

We find out right at the beginning that Izzy brought a gold knife to the party and took it into Blaine\u2019s bedroom not long before he was stabbed to death there. We also know she feels guilty. And doesn\u2019t want the detectives to learn about any of those things.<\/p>\n

Izzy\u2019s the only one not from a wealthy family. She attended the private school because her mother is a teacher there. Since their Freshman year, she\u2019s been best friends with Cassidy, who took her under her wing with a fierce loyalty. The party is Cassidy\u2019s gift to Izzy, because both of them love the old murder mystery movie that was filmed in Ashwood Manor long ago. Cassidy makes sure that everyone gives up their cellphones and modern clothes, and she\u2019s equipped all their bedrooms with 1920s costumes \u2013 as if they\u2019re going back in time to an actual 1920s house party.<\/p>\n

But naturally, murder wasn\u2019t part of the plan. It\u2019s Cassidy\u2019s boyfriend who turns up dead. As the evidence comes out (with Izzy listening to police interviews from a hidden passage), we also get flashback chapters and find out that all the friends on the island had some motive or other to kill Blaine. But which one will the detectives decide is guilty?<\/p>\n

I was a bit impatient starting out with these spoiled rich kids and their interpersonal drama, I\u2019m afraid. But as the mystery went on, I did get pulled in, wanting to hear the denouement, which did, in fact, surprise me.<\/p>\n

I like a nice cozy locked room (or isolated on an island) mystery, and this one\u2019s fun because the suspects are all teens. This is a debut, and I very much hope the author will give us more well-crafted mysteries to enjoy.<\/p>\n

laurenmunozbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/suddenly_a_murder.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Mu\u00f1oz read by Diana Bustelo Listening Library, 2023. 9 hours, 16 minutes. Review written October 30, 2023, from a library eaudiobook. Starred Review Suddenly a Murder is a murder mystery (no surprise there!) set in the stately home of Ashwood Manor on an island, where seven recent high school graduates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,6,42,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemporary","category-mystery","category-starred-review","category-teen-fiction-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45361,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43107\/revisions\/45361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}