Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron

CATCH YOUR DEATH by Ravena Guron is described by the publisher as being part Agatha Christie and part Karen McManus. It is a locked room mystery with several teenage characters and an amazing number of twists. Devi’s car breaks down on the way to her grandmother’s house; Lizzie delivers a necklace to a wealthy, but arrogant, woman named Emily Vanforte; and Jayne is employed to help with a very fancy dinner. They all end up marooned during a snowstorm with the dysfunctional family at the Bramble Estate. Emily joins her husband, Charles; daughter, Lottie, daughter’s boyfriend, Douglas Treefair; and a young cousin of Lottie’s, Tate Astur, as the only dinner guests when Emily dies suddenly. Was her food poisoned by one of these other dinner attendees? The three girls combine efforts to solve the puzzle and try to keep any other deaths from happening until police can arrive. Guron does an excellent job building suspense and an air of menace: the three girls alternate narrating and police interviews are interspersed as chilling flashbacks. The old manor house is full of secret passages and multiple weapons appear and disappear.  School Library Journal recommends CATCH YOUR DEATH for grades 9 and up, saying, “truly unpredictable and sure to engross readers as the full story unwinds.” I concur and I will look for past (This Book Kills) and future mystery titles by Ravena Guron.