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?
Maybe this job isn’t such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that’s been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing.
All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down—if someone doesn’t bury Marlowe first.
KAIT'S THOUGHTS
As a longtime reader of Maureen Johnson books, I'm a huge fan of the Truly Devious series. So I was a bit disappointed when I discovered that Death at Morning House wasn't the sixth book in the popular series. Then I “met” Marlowe Wexler on the page and that all changed!
Sure, Marlowe and Stevie have some things in common— Their urge to solve mysteries and their quirky nervousness, to start— but this new MC really breathes fresh life into a fresh mystery! Marlowe is clever and observant with a heaping teaspoon of awkward. Unlike Stevie, she's not trying to dive headlong into a mystery. Instead, she finds herself thrust into a summer job where the mystery unfolds around her after an attempt to impress a girl she likes goes horribly, HORRIBLY wrong. Marlowe could be any one of us. Who wouldn't want to do some digging into the mysterious decades-old deaths at their place of work to distract themselves from a life-altering social faux pas, after all?
Marlowe works and lives on the island with a group of teens who grew up together, though their overall closeness seems to be in question these days. While they all have distinct personalities and traits, I appreciate that they didn't feel quite as much like caricatures as the Truly Devious characters can sometimes feel. I really struggle with one TD character, but I really enjoyed this whole lineup. They have drama and secrets that only seem to be exacerbated by their isolated setting and its gruesome past, sometimes putting Marlowe in compromising positions. Of the group, Riki was very favorite because of her excellent socks and her important role in unraveling the secrets of a seemingly cursed mansion alongside Marlowe. My second favorite character was Van, for his *immaculate vibes.*
The novel flirts with the romantic storyline, starting with Marlowe’s massive crush on her co-worker Akilah and their budding relationship, which was all going so well before the incident. While there's always a potential for romance, it's not a super strong element. This was actually very refreshing to me, because some mysteries get too bogged down with interpersonal drama. There are sweet, charming moments, but they don't overpower the actual plot.
But wait, there's more! Death at Morning House is a dual timeline story! That means that on top of Marlowe's misadventures, we get the point of point-of-view of the Ralston children, mainly Clara, as you discover the tragedies that befell the family in the 1930s. The Ralston patriarch was a scientist and famed eugenicist who raised his children to an unreasonably strict standard. This POV is a little more subdued as we explore the lives of children trapped under the thumb of a dangerous ideology, yet still aching to impress their celebrated father. It’s not as fun as Marlowe’s POV, but it's heartbreaking and captivating in it's own right. I think the conclusion to this timeline's drama was even more satisfying than the conclusion to the modern story, but I loved both.
My subgenre of choice has been described as “murder-y,” so I've consumed a lot of mysteries ranging from predictable slogs to riveting puzzles. Thankfully, Death at Morning House is certainly one of the latter. There are hints, if you're looking for them, but Johnson remains a master of doling out answers in small batches and planting red herrings. Even if one of the reveals was among my theories, it certainly wasn't the only one.
Death at Morning House takes a loveable, chaotic protagonist, summer camp vibes gone sideways, and an old-fashioned mystery among the obscenely wealthy to create something this is fresh but still distinctly Maureen Johnson. if you love her books, run, don't walk to snag your copy!
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