A review by readsbymeens
The Simmonds House Kills by Meaghan Dwyer

4.0

!! arc review !!
The Simmonds House Kills–Meaghan Dwyer
Release date: Nov 14th
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tropes:
~ YA murder mystery
~ Academic rivals to lovers
~ Revenge plot
~ A Good Girl's Guide to Murder x One of Us is Lying x Knives Out vibes

“The Simmonds House: a pathetic title covering up the corruption lingering right below the surface.”

Emma is the newest member living in the Simmonds House, the infamous house on Lakeside U’s campus. Not only is Emma now a part of an exclusive club (even though none of them truly accept her), she moved in with her own vendetta. Her original plan gets derailed when another house member is poisoned to death on Emma’s first night. After the police rule it a suicide and the other house guests seem unfazed, Emma enlist Henry’s help; the campus’ notorious criminology student who wants to be the next Sherlock Holmes. Even though Emma and Henry have butt heads in class before, she doesn’t know who else to turn to.

Without giving too much away, I was really impressed with this book! After reading so many mysteries and thrillers, I tend to be able to guess “whodunit,” especially in a YA book, pretty quickly; but that did not happen here!! It truly had me guessing up until the very moment the murderer was revealed. I also loved the underlying romance between Emma & Henry; as he said perfectly, “He figured if it was meant to be, she would come into his life again somehow. He never thought it would be through his first murder case; how perfect!” I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a murder mystery but don’t want anything too graphic.

Meaghan–thank you SO much for the advanced copy! This was perfect to get me into the spooky season vibe ◡̈ Can’t wait to read more from you!