Publishers Weekly
04/10/2023
None of Michael Linden’s affluent prep school classmates know that he wouldn’t be able to afford his tuition without his lacrosse scholarship, or that his mother cleans houses to make ends meet. Linden isn’t the only one who’s been putting up a front, though; his roommate Jasper’s family has been embroiled in recent legal trouble. But hidden truths won’t ruin the two-week trip Jasper has planned for himself, Linden, and a group of fellow students at Jasper’s family vineyard house. Linden is hoping for a relaxing summer, but that seems unlikely after he bumps into Holiday, a childhood friend who ghosted him. Hookups and fun in the sun are had, until someone is found unconscious in the pool. Holiday, who loves a mystery, insists they investigate, but as the teens get closer to the truth, their secrets begin to unravel. An uneven tone oscillates between high-society angst and camp sleuthing, sapping momentum from this pulse-pounding departure by Cotugno (You Say It First), which borrows elements from Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Even so, Linden’s potent romance with Jasper’s twin sister, Holiday’s resolute detective skills, and conversations surrounding classism ably propel the narrative. All characters are white. Ages 12–up. (May)
From the Publisher
Praise for Liar's Beach:
"Sumptuous, clever, and dripping with danger, Liar's Beach is the mystery read of the summer! I couldn't put it down."—Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, author of Friends Like These
"A sun-drenched mystery full of scandalous secrets that kept me turning pages all night long."—Amy Christine Parker, author of Flight 171
★ "Compelling equally as a detective story, a character study, and series launch...has the razor-sharp feminist perspective that [Cotugno's] fans know and love."—Booklist, starred review
"This scorching glimpse of life (and death) among the moneyed classes hits its marks."—Kirkus Reviews
"Pulse-pounding."—PW
Kirkus Reviews
2023-03-14
A summertime stay on Martha’s Vineyard confirms everything Linden thinks about rich people.
Best known for emotional YA romances, Cotugno tries her hand at an emotional whodunit—and readers who can roll with the weird attraction her protagonist seems to exert on the two main young women here may find themselves caught up in an engrossing whirl of, as the title promises, lies, secrets, and louche living. Hardly has he arrived for a two-week stay at palatial August House than Michael Linden and his host and boarding school roommate Jasper’s twin sister, Eliza, are bedroom-bound; his ghosted former platonic friend Holiday turns up; and Greg, despised boyfriend of another houseguest, winds up in a coma after an apparent accident. Dragged along by Holiday, who, along with inexplicably letting bygones be bygones, turns out to be an enthusiastic amateur sleuth, scholarship student Linden finds plenty of fuel for his (supposedly) secret resentment of the privileged classes and the way they can get away with anything. Though not, as it turns out after a comfortably conventional denouement complete with surprise confession, murder. Also, as a tease at the end suggests, for all that he comes clean about several secrets of his own, Linden leads the pack in the “things to hide” department. Aside from one prominent supporting character—a brown-skinned lacrosse champion—the central cast reads White.
This scorching glimpse of life (and death) among the moneyed classes hits its marks, if a bit mechanically. (Mystery. 14-18)
