E-galley Review: Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson
Published by HarperTeen on August 6, 2024
Genres: YA LGBTQ, YA Mystery, YA Thriller
Pages: 384
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

From the bestselling author of the Truly Devious books, Maureen Johnson, comes a new stand-alone YA about a teen who uncovers a mystery while working as a tour guide on an island and must solve it before history repeats itself.

The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist.

With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition.

Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?

My Review

I haven’t read one of Johnson’s books in so long, but I’ve been a fan of her since the early days of the Twitter world! I loved following her there, and I loved her books. When this one came up on Edelweiss and I saw it wasn’t part of the series I hadn’t had a chance to start, I knew it was time to jump in and read another by this author.

And as I knew from prior books, Johnson can spin a perfect mystery, leaving little clues along the way, red herrings, and still surprise me in the end with what really happened. I loved getting the details from the past sprinkled in throughout the story, especially as the things happening in the present timeline somewhat mirrored those from the past. Another thing I also love about this author is the way she can add humor to any situation, so that you can like these characters and be laughing one minute or even laughing as the danger is occurring. I have a bit of gallows humor myself, so this is something I definitely appreciate as I’m sure many teens that I know also can feel this way.

I even learned some things in this book I didn’t know, probably because I’m not from that area of the country. While I know a bit about NYC and maybe a few other details about the state, I didn’t realize there was an area called Thousand Islands and that it is where the salad dressing got its name from! Live and learn! And I love that.

The description of this house and the island were so interesting I found myself pausing and rereading to try to get the full picture in my mind before I went on with the story at times. I liked also how the author kind of slipped in that this character from the past was a doctor in the field of eugenics. I can see teens then looking that up if for some reason they hadn’t been taught about it in school. Other characters in the book kind of spelled out what that actually was, and that was a great way to do it as well.

Can’t wait to put this one out for my mystery loving students to read and enjoy!