"The Guest List" by Lucy Foley

I completed reading this book today.

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

"On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?"

The above quoted from Amazon.com.

TIMDT and Mwah (sic) listened to this Agatha Christie squared book while on Sprinter trips.

We would regularly stop the "tape" and discuss what was happening.

You knew there was a murder in the first chapter of the book... but, you didn't know who was murdered. The story is told via narratives from each of the major characters. Little by little the onion is peeled. TIMDT and Mwah (sic) speculate: "could she have done it? could he have done it? And, who was killed, anyway? This latter is the interesting departure from Cristie, who's victims were known at the outset of the story. Then another layer of the onion is peeled and some other character looks culpable.

Lots of eerie imagery... the dark sea... the wind... creaky rafters... etc.

Beaucoup surprises. Its a great author who, Christie like, can keep you guessing to the very end.

The book was a good way of stimulating interesting inter-spousal communication. I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed bantering with TIMDT.