Review: The Meadowbrook Murders

The Meadowbrook Murders

by Jessica Goodman

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2025

Category: Young Adult

Reviewer: Michelle Falkoff

 

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Amy Alterman expected she’d have to do some apologizing after getting drunk at the big pre-senior-year party at her boarding school and fighting with Sarah, her best friend and roommate. Instead, she woke up to find their shared dorm room covered in blood. Sarah and her boyfriend had been murdered, and the knife Amy had borrowed from her townie boyfriend was missing.

Liz Charles had never fit in at Meadowbrook, and the only way she’d be able to afford college would be if she won a big newspaper scholarship. But nothing ever happened at boarding school that was worth writing about, at least not until the murders. Now she had a story to report on, a story big enough for a win, if only the school would let her write about it.

Neither Amy nor Liz would ever have imagined they’d become friends, but as suspicion for the murders increasingly began to fall on Amy’s boyfriend, they realize they are both invested in finding out what really happened. Using Amy’s social connections and Liz’s investigative skills, they unravel the tangled web of relationships at Meadowbrook to reveal the real culprit.

Jessica Goodman is a pro at setting up mysteries, and Amy and Liz have distinct narrative voices that make the story move at a good pace. It’s not too hard to figure out who the murderer is, but that’s not necessarily going to be a problem for many readers, because the reading experience more about trying to figure out why events occurred as they did. Though Amy’s relationship to Judaism is mentioned a couple of times, the narrative doesn’t rely on it; the Jewish representation may be described as "casual." Definitely worth reading, for mystery lovers! 

 

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Reviewer Michelle Falkoff is the author of several young adult novels, most recently HOW TO PACK FOR THE END OF THE WORLD. She lives in Chicago.