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?
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Contemporary mystery fiction gained a major international presence with modern locked-room murder mysteries like The Guest List and The Paris Apartment, which draw on classic whodunit traditions while featuring multi-perspective narratives and atmospheric settings. British novelist Lucy Foley transitioned from a career in book publishing to writing bestselling historical fiction and suspense novels, selling over five million copies worldwide. Her mystery thrillers have earned positions as No. 1 New York Times, Sunday Times, and Irish Times bestsellers.
Born on August 16, 1986, in Sussex, England, Foley attended Westbourne House School in Chichester and Portsmouth High School before studying English literature at Durham University and University College London. Before writing full-time, she gained broad industry experience working as a bookseller, literary agent's assistant, literary scout, and fiction editor at publishing houses including Headline Publishing Group and Hodder & Stoughton. While working as an editor, she wrote her debut novel, The Book of Lost and Found (2015), drafting portions of it in a garden in Tehran, Iran. She followed her debut with historical novels including The Invitation (2016) and Last Letter from Istanbul before shifting to contemporary murder mystery thrillers.
Foley's transition into mystery fiction produced acclaimed titles beginning with The Hunting Party and continuing through The Guest List, which was selected for Reese's Book Club, named a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, and nominated three times at the British Book Awards. Her global research travels have frequently provided writing environments for her books: she wrote The Hunting Party while living in Iran, completed The Guest List in an Airbnb in Paris—where she was inspired to write The Paris Apartment—and plotted The Midnight Feast after trips to England's West Country. A lifelong fan of Agatha Christie, Foley also contributed to Marple, an authorized collection of short stories featuring the detective Miss Marple.
Foley's mystery thrillers regularly revolve around isolated or glamourous settings with dark pasts, high-tension social gatherings, and ensemble casts harboring hidden motives. She constructs narratives around reunions or celebrations that take dark turns, such as a remote island wedding in The Guest List, an exclusive Parisian apartment building in The Paris Apartment, or a midsummer resort gathering steeped in local folklore in The Midnight Feast. Developing her stories through multiple viewpoints and non-linear timelines, Foley explores themes of secret histories, group dynamics, betrayal, and gothic suspense.
