Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Death at Morning House

Not my favorite of Maureen Johnson's books, but not a bad mystery! It's a little slow moving until about halfway through the book, as that's when the mystery on the island with Marlowe really picks up. There are some interesting twists included, and the layering of the two stories does increase the intrigue. The last fourth definitely had me hooked, as I had to see how it all unraveled!

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minimicropup's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I loved this! Having spent a few summers in the area this book was set in as a kid, it was so nostalgic. The way the author captured the atmosphere felt so real.

Energy: Endearing. Real. Mystifying.

🐕 Howls

The action/escape scenes briefly knocked me out of the story because they seemed to require superhuman strength and it was hard to visualize.

🐩 Tail Wags

Including a map of the island 🫶. Sympathetic, genuine-feeling main character. Story was engaging even when not much was happening. How present and past chapters were woven together and equally captivating. The intrigue and subtle tension. Past chapters had eerie almost voyeuristic feel where something is ‘off’. Pacing.

Scene: 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Set in Thousand Islands archipelago on a private island open for historic summer tours between the US and Canada.

Perspective: A high schooler who messes up after scoring a first date with their crush so takes on a summer job to get away from the embarassment. Adopted teens in a family living on the island in the 1930s whose lives are disrupted after the birth of their youngest sibling.

Timeline: Summer. Current (2010s/2020s) and 1930s.

🔥 Fuel: Interlocking mysteries. Adventure, intrigue, twists and turns across time. Inferring and learning of the dynamics in the past. Watching the modern-day characters figure out what happened in both timelines.

📖 Cred: Blend of historical & modern semi-realism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Petrichor. Cheesecake Factory. Rain. Yogurt. Walkie talkies. Lipstick. Domed ceiling. Musty rooms. Basement passage. Smoke. Cold rain.

Fleeing the scene of an embarrassment
Summer job challenges and friendship dynamics
Pressured-to-be-perfect historical family study with dark secrets
Same place, different times
Truth is stranger than fiction pseudoscience
Isolated island, dark and stormy night
Closed circle murder mystery, gathering the suspects
Tragic accident…or was it
Exploration of parental bias and expectations, nature vs nurture, dangers of pseudoscience and misunderstanding scientific processes, morality and making things right
Flip the script reveals
Books where you feel like you’re tagging along with the MC, getting their thoughts as an aside
Ghost in the room observing the past chapters
Coming-of-age seasonal and who-to-choose romantic conflict

Content Heads-Up: Sexual content (consenting; making out). Fire (building, trapped). Shame spiral. Adoption (at birth). Vomit. Alcohol (underage, intoxication). Suicide (historical; described, off page). Loss of child (toddler, teen). Racism, classism, eugenics (historical character opinions). War (very brief discussion; fatalities). Death. Drowning. Drugging. Cannabis (edibles, vaping; high). Corpse (discovery, storage). Murder.

Rep: American. Cis. Non-binary. Lesbian. Adopted. Gay. Bi. Pale, freckled, and ambiguous skin tones.

📚 Format: Library Digital and Everand Audio

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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november22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was so much fun. Reading it felt like I was sitting in a room, with Marlowe, and she was telling about everything that happened. The dual time-line combined with a dual-mystery was a nice touch. I adored the chapters from the Ralston's perspectives. (I wish there was a way to get more chapters or info about them. There are some things that I'd love to see from another Ralston's perspective. Or one of the people working for them.) Those chapters were so intriguing and well-written. The chapters set in the present were good too. There is a distinctive switch between the writing styles of the timelines so it was easy to distinguish between them. I will say that the present chapters felt and read more as a summer re-cap story for a good chunk of the book. It made me almost forget that there was a mystery attached to it. The mysteries made me put on my imaginary detective hat. I love when books make me want to solve a mystery alongside the characters. This book made me do it twice (present and past)! It kept me on the edge of my seat. I really didn't want to put the book down. When I hit page 360 I couldn't believe that there were only handful of pages left. I enjoyed this book so much. I think it'd be a good introduction to mysteries/thrillers for people who aren't sure if they're into those genres. Some dark things are discussed in the book (examples:

eugenics, murder, loss/dead of a child, racism, suicide

) but it does have an overall lighthearded vibe to it. There is a good mix between sad, funny, feel-good, detective scened. It's easy to read because of the mixed pacing - some chapters have a medium pace and others a fast pace - and the characters are great. I could see myself in some of them.

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A suspenseful and deliciously plot twisty YA Mystery, with an endearingly quirky protagonist I thoroughly enjoyed. Arm chair detectives and Agatha Christie fans (who like to be kept on their toes) definitely need to consider adding this to their TBRs.

Told through two interwoven timelines, that alternates between the POVs of Morning House’s original inhabitants and our present day protagonist, Marlowe. Maureen Johnson cleverly explores two edge-of-your-seat mysteries (occurring almost a century apart) and the complicated bonds of friendships, relationships and family that I found unputdownable.

It was a bit slow to start, but the attention to detail and dearth of clues paired with those atmospheric visuals and a foreboding sense of unease more than made up for it. The pacing did pick up at around 100 page mark and the twists and secrets, once they started, just kept coming!

I really loved Marlowe, who was such a relatable and realistic teenage character. She’s a little awkward (as were most of us at that age) but came off very endearing, that I couldn’t help but want to see her thrive. And to finally flirt/date without it leading to property damage.

There’s a bit of a romance sub plot that I really enjoyed, Marlowe’s dynamics and blossoming friendship with the sharply witty and cynical, Riki was really good and I honestly could read an entire series of these two just attempting to solve crimes (Cold Case style.)

In fact, I liked quite a lot of the supporting cast, who were all intriguing in different ways. With secrets and personal motivations that we learn very little about, I was immediately suspicious of all of them! And, despite my best efforts (and multiple guesses) I wasn’t able to correctly work out either of the big mysteries we encounter, which pleasantly surprised me. I’m definitely gonna have to reread this to fully digest all the little details I missed the first time around.

Overall, an unputdownable and plot twisty, standalone mystery that kept me utterly hooked until the very last page. I can totally see why Johnson is described as the Queen of Mystery — and will be adding all of her back list titles to my TBR as soon as possible.

Also, a huge thank you to Nina Douglas and Harper360YA for the (signed and personalised!) finished copy.

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jayjoreads's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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her_littleclouds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book is like a love letter to the people who disliked truly devious! This book took all the criticisms I had for that series and fixed them, which is fucking great!

1. The characters were interesting and didn’t get ridiculous amounts of uneventful scenes that didn’t further the plot.
2. The plot was the main focus of the story ALONG WITH THE CHARACTERS!!
3. The plot and the murder mystery was overall really interesting!
4. Even though in both the past and the present there were a lot of characters they felt distinct enough where I could differentiate them(I really struggled with this in the past portion of the truly devious books!)
5. The book is really atmospheric and I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the morning house!

I really don’t have a lot of qualms with this book although I do wish that the divide from the past in comparison to the present could have been a little more distinct in way of writing(or I guess for me in way of narration because I read the audiobook).

Overall I think this is just a really solid book thats worth reading if you like murder mysteries! (PS: don’t go into this expecting like an actual thriller cause thats not it! I was not for a single moment in suspense or fear)

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reading_under_covers's review against another edition

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4.5

A spooky mansion with history ✔️
Queer rep ✔️
Multiple timelines ✔️
A fun cast of characters ✔️

I enjoyed this story so much and the spooky summer vibes were perfect for this time of year. A great standalone from Johnson!

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