Hemlock House: A Liar's Beach Novel by Katie Cotugno
Published by Delacorte Press on August 13, 2024
ISBN: 0593433327
Genres: Mystery
Format: Fiction
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Michael Linden and Holiday Proctor, the mystery solving team from Cotugno’s Liar’s Beach, are back and this time there is an Ivy League murder to solve. Hemlock House finds Linden at Harvard where he has reconnected with his high school girlfriend, Greer. When Greer’s hard-partying roommate, Bri,  dies of a suspected overdose, Linden and his best friend Holiday think there might be more to the story. Linden tries to get to the bottom of Bri’s death while rekindling his romance with Greer and navigating some complex new feelings about Holiday.

This book is a a sequel to Liar’s Beach, but also works as a standalone. Both books are really just vehicles for the fabulous Hercule Poirot-based, chapter-stealing character that is Holiday Proctor; nobody else matters, especially not Linden, who remains an unappealing and unsympathetic character. The mystery is simple, the suspense takes a back seat to the romance, and there are things that don’t make a lick of sense. It’s all ok, though, because it’s a quick read and Holiday is an absolute delight. Not essential but will definitely appeal to mystery readers.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath