Later, Niamh takes some papers down to the room that should have been hers only to find the beautiful girl that she thought would be her friend - has been murdered.

Amidst this terror, Niamh takes up her placement in a Victorian museum, where she plays the role of a factory owner’s daughter who died a gruesome and untimely death. No wonder, then, that Niamh is glad to befriend Jess, a self-proclaimed “history nerd” who’s thrilled to visit the museum’s parlour that was once used by “the infamous Madame Josephine...Fortune teller, hypnotist, and mistress of the occult.” Then there’s creepy Will who works there, and gorgeous Tommy who sets Niamh’s heart a-pounding.Gunther’s was one last confusing death that epitomized a confusing war. “He probably felt shamed by his demotion to private and felt this somehow dishonored his family. He was trying to redeem himself, and when shots rang out he alone raced forward,” Aikman says. “I believe his final resting place, Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, is perfectly named for what he was trying to accomplish.” Now the plot. The start was alright, and it was intriguing enough to keep me reading. But towards the middle of the book, the story started to drag, and almost left the book as a DNF. I feel that the author really needed to add more layered or suspicious characters to her story, because the introduction and consequent arrest of Will was too strongly a red herring. Because of the intense suspicion thrown onto his character and the obvious dislike all the characters hold for him, I automatically dismissed him as the killer. And honestly, his sudden support and protectiveness for Niamh seemed to come out of nowhere. It was never explained why he felt it necessary to go to her apartment, or get so involved with chasing after Tommy. Him and Jess were never really shown as close in any way, so it also didn't make much sense for them all to be suddenly be working together. . It’s so hard to write a spoiler-free review for this book, because I want to share everything I felt while reading it. Niamh was a character I really liked, and she was very easy to relate to as well. I went in for a YA thriller and I got a supernatural horror that kept me on my toes. Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! Part of the Solve Your Own Mystery seri...

And sure, I'll briefly skim over Jessica, Jasmine, Meghan and Will. Why? Because they were flat, one-dimensional walking tropes. Jessica was the classic "best friend", Jasmine was the classic "mean girl" (with a side dose of kleptomanic tendencies that is never explored??) , Meghan was the stereotypical "extroverted, adoring sister" and Will was the "wronged suspicious lanky dude" . And I think that about sums them up to be honest. The characters Niamh interacts with, all have warmth and by the end of the book, personally felt like they were my friends. I trusted them, I loved them, I adored them, but should I have trusted all of them?

The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2023, highlighting the work schools are doing to encourage a love of reading, have... Entertaining and menacing in equal measure, and loaded with cliff-hangers and red herrings, this accomplished debut brings old school Point Horror novels to mind. I personally wouldn’t have compared it to One of Us is Lying or This Lie Will Kill You but I guess that’s because they’re ya murder mysteries (but not very enjoyable ones in my opinion). I’d say if you like Dawn Kurtigah, Kat Ellis, Katherine Foxfield & Juno Dawson then you’ll love this book.

The library, the museum, the old scary stories that happened in the part and brought eeriness… These were some of my favorite scenes in the whole book. What do you do when you go for a summer course and find out people are dying left and right… and they all look similarly to you?Last One to Die has been described as ‘point horror for the social media generation’. Were you a point horror fan?

If magic is thrown into a story, it has to either be a defining role or weaved well into the world-building so that there is a sense of believability of its place in the mystery. Otherwise, the resolution just feels lazy and unfinished. Scholastic Introducing” is a series of interviews with authors set to publish their debut books for children or young people in 2021. In this Q&A we introduce Cynthia Murphy, the author of YA horror-thriller LAST ONE TO DIE. I am happy that the author told us how Niamh was pronounced. I am sorry, but I just don’t know any Irish people. And I live in Dutch-speaking country. XD I was already prepared to google it and see what was up, but I am happy I didn’t have to do that.But that last part… I am sorry, so far the book was fantastic, awesome, WOW, but then you decided to add the little sister in the mix? While SHE FREAKING KNEW that things just weren���t going right? What is up with that? It just didn’t make sense, it was dumb. I am sorry. But I would have rather seen our trio fix things instead of this.