high school and homicide

It’s the week before another school year at Meadowbrook Academy, the last year for the seniors, who are the only ones on campus. The seniors get a week to bond before the rest of the students join them. But this year is different. This year, Amy woke up to find her roommate Sarah dead in her bed, along with Sarah’s boyfriend Ryan.

As the police investigate, the school moves Amy to another room. There is only one available to her, and Amy finds herself sharing a room with Liz. Liz is editor-in-chief of the Meadowbrook Gazette, the campus newspaper, and Amy knows that she will be looking to write about the biggest thing to happen on the campus.

Liz is someone who devours true crime books, and she is hungry for the story that will put her on the map. She wants to work for a top media outlet, so she has her eyes on journalism school and a top career after. As soon as she hears about the murders, So Amy refuses to talk to her, of course.

Liz realizes that no one has posted a story online about the murders yet, so she writes one with the information released on campus so far, which gets her in trouble with the administration, since she posted it without talking to them. Amy, meanwhile, realizes that there was someone else in the room the night of the murder, her boyfriend Joseph.

Joseph isn’t a student. He lives in the nearby town and works at a local café. He wants to be a chef. And he’d had a knife, a small one, with him in the room. He had been gone when Amy woke up, and she did notice that the knife was also gone. Amy had trouble believing that Joseph would hurt anyone. But she also knew that he wouldn’t be protected the way the other students would be. He would be looked a with suspicion, just because his family didn’t have the money the Meadowbrook students come from. Amy knows that the only way to protect him is to find out who killed Sarah and Ryan.

Liz, in trouble for posting her story online, is meanwhile getting noticed for being the first reporter to the story. Her best chance of keeping that momentum going is to solve the crime herself. If she can figure out who committed the murders, she can write her own ticket after school. But that means she has to be the one to figure out who killed Sarah and Ryan.

As the young women each follow the clues and move towards the killer, the put themselves into more and more danger. Will they be able to protect themselves when the truth ultimately comes out?

The Meadowbrook Murders is a crime thriller about friendships and futures, about class and secrets. It’s twisty and dark, with all the classic notes of a murder mystery. These characters are smart and sophisticated. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that they were in high school, as they were far more mature than anyone I went to high school with back in the day. But I really enjoyed this story. There were some lovely surprises and lots of tension to keep those pages turning. If you’re a fan of dark academia, then you just might want to head to Meadowbrook to solve a mystery.

Egalleys for The Meadowbrook Murders were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers through NetGalley, with many thanks.