I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.
In Case I Go Missing by R. N. Swann Genres: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Penguin Group on May 26, 2026
Format: eARC (400 pages) • Source: Publisher
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder meets Fargo in this fast-paced YA mystery about a teen detective gone missing and her best friend who must finish her investigation.
Seventeen-year-old Fenny Allen has been Sarah Vincenty's sidekick for as long as she can remember. Over the years, Sarah has built a reputation in their small town as an amateur detective and a vigilante who has dispensed her own form of justice.
Now Sarah is missing. The police have written her off as yet another teen runaway, but Fenny is convinced there’s foul play. And when she discovers a binder Sarah left behind, entitled In Case I Go Missing, Fenny realizes that Sarah disappeared while investigating her biggest case yet.
With Sarah gone, it's up to Fenny and her other best friend, Sam, to finish her investigation. As they piece together the clues, they find themselves up against a decades-old mystery that links to the town's dark history. But is this binder a guide to finding Sarah—or are Fenny and Sam already too late?
The more the pair uncover, the clearer it becomes that those involved will go to great lengths to keep their secrets. And when everyone has something to hide, there are more than a few reasons to want Fenny and Sam out of the picture. Permanently.
Young adult mysteries are harder to win me over these days, but there was something about the premise here that got stuck in my head. I don’t like to request books on Netgalley by unfamiliar authors in genres I’m unsure of. I’m so glad I did because this book really impressed me!
Fenny and her friend Sam were best friends with Sarah. When she suddenly went missing after acting weird for a while, and the two begin to unravel that Sarah was working on a new case baked into the history of the town. I liked that it was a mystery within a mystery and that the missing girl’s friends had to follow in her footsteps/investigation in order to also figure out what happened to her. I loved watching them come to realizations in the same way Sarah likely did by talking to people around town and learning what Sarah was up to, while also figuring out how her investigation made her a target. Candidly the actual characters were fine and not memorable, but they really didn’t need to be.
This was exactly what I hoped it would be when I read the premise. The mystery was layered and not predictable. I liked seeing how the two mysteries (past and present) intertwined. I would definitely read more books by this author because as of now, Maureen Johnson is my only remaining YA mystery author. I’d recommend this if the premise interests you, since it delivered for me!
I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.
This Weekend Doesn't End Well for Anyone (The Vacation Mysteries, #3) by Catherine Mack Series: The Vacation Mysteries #3
Genres: Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Minotaur Books on April 28, 2026
Also by this author: Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies, No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding
Format: Hardcover, Review Audio (352 pages) • Source: Publisher, Purchased
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The third in the witty and captivating series following bestselling author Eleanor Dash, who once again has to swap her sun hat for her detective hat, when a body is found at a murder mystery writing conference in the Bahamas.Eleanor Dash can never catch a break. Not only has she had to solve two real-life murder plots in the past year, but both times it was when she was meant to be on vacation. Now she’s finally got a ticket to a relaxing weekend—an all-inclusive resort at the Bahamas where she’s speaking at a conference for murder mystery writers—but she arrives to find a body on the floor of her hotel room. Because of course she does.
With plenty of familiar faces at the resort, any one of them could have been the intended target or the culprit behind it all. Was it Oliver Forrest, Eleanor’s dashing boyfriend who’s in danger of getting dropped by his publisher because his sales are dwindling? Or Connor Smith, Eleanor’s infuriating ex-lover-turned-bestselling-rom-com-author with a sordid past of his own? Or her sister Harper, whose own stilted writing career has been a sore point for years as Eleanor’s has soared? Perhaps it’s one of the other writers also in attendance, as friends, frenemies and foes from Eleanor’s past all seem to be invited to the island.
Surrounded by mystery writers who know all too well the many ways to craft the perfect crime, Eleanor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and do whatever it takes to get out of this weekend alive.
I’ve really enjoyed this series so far – the fourth-wall breaks and footnotes are super enjoyable and often funny, creating a unique reading experience. The same thing continues for this installment, coupled with the meta element of explaining how to write a murder mystery throughout. My mom is working on a mystery book right now so I’m excited for her to read this one and get some pointers on structure too!
The third Vacation Mysteries book follows Eleanor, her fiance, and her sister (as usual) as they head to a crime/mystery-writing conference in the Bahamas. They come upon a dead body in their room immediately upon arrival and, as always, set out to figure out what happened to him. More dead bodies and people from Eleanor’s past show up while there.
Again, really enjoyed this installment. I like that the stories are similar and somewhat formulaic but also feature unique mysteries. The meta element about a mystery writer having a Vacation Mysteries series she writes and talking about it while we’re reading a Vacation Mysteries series is really fun.
I got a copy of the audiobook for review and, as always, ADORED Elizabeth Evans’ narration. She is one of my favorite audiobook narrators and I love how she manages the footnotes – she makes it sound different in the tone of her voice or something. Highly recommend the audio for this series.
The character relationships progress in a logical way in the background and I continue to like reading about their dynamic. Looking forward to the next installment!
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