I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

It’s the first week of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.

Then tragedy strikes: Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah’s only roommate, the only other person there when she died—or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend’s suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.

Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes – and with a killer still on campus, she can’t afford to make any mistakes.

Short and Sweet Review

It’s the first week of senior year, and Amy and her roommate plan on making the most of it. After having a fight at a party Amy and Sarah separate and do their own thing the rest of the night. When Amy gets up the next morning she finds Sarah and her boyfriend Ryan have been murdered. Amy is looking the the prime suspect, and while trying to find evidence to absolve herself she ends up learning about all the secrets Sarah has been hiding from her. Liz is the editor of the school newspaper and she’s ready for this story to help her get a scholarship to college. The killer is still out there so Liz has to be careful with the information she finds.

The Meadowbrook Murders was a good book and the mystery wasn’t bad. We got the POV of both Liz and Amy and they couldn’t be more different from each other. Amy is on the soccer team she’s more popular and living her best life. Liz is the editor of the newspaper and a social outcast. When the murder happens everyone is wondering how Amy didn’t hear anything and because she was the only other person in the dorm room it looks suspicious. The thing is Amy’s boyfriend Joseph was there, but he snuck out and they’re both keeping that part a secret. Amy ends up having to stay in Liz’s dorm room which Liz sees as a great opportunity to get the inside scoop. Unfortunately for Liz everyone knows she only wants to talk to them and sneak around to write about the murders. The one thing I didn’t like about Liz was that she came across as insensitive, Sarah and Ryan were people but for a majority of the book she saw them as a story and didn’t feel bad unless people went off on her. Both characters were tolerable but I didn’t connect to either of them, Liz was annoying and I could see why people avoided her and Amy was just bland. This is a common mystery we try to figure out what happened that night, we find out Sarah had secrets and Amy and Liz follow those clues down a rabbit hole. I did like the reveal of the culprit and did think it became more obvious as the story went on but it was still a good reveal. I do like how Amy and Liz eventually connected as the book progressed I wouldn’t say its a friendship completely but an acquaintance.

Overall, I did like this book and the mystery. I didn’t love the main characters but they weren’t horrible enough that I was put off, just stereotypes of an outcast and a popular girl. I haven’t read all of Goodman’s books but this one would be my favorite. If you like mysteries set in a boarding school atmosphere give this book a chance.