A Death at the Party

A Novel

By: Amy Stuart

Narrated by: Kate Handford

In this tense, spellbinding thriller set over the course of a single day, a woman prepares for a party that goes dreadfully wrong—for fans of Ashley Audrain and Lisa Jewell.

Nadine Walsh’s summer garden party is in full swing. The neighbors all have cocktails, the catered food is exquisite—everything’s going according to plan.

But Nadine—devoted wife, loving mother, and doting daughter—finds herself standing over a dead body in her basement while her guests clink glasses upstairs. What happened? How did it come to this?

Rewind to that morning, when Nadine is in her kitchen, making last-minute preparations before she welcomes more than a hundred guests to her home to celebrate her mother’s birthday. But her husband is of little help to her, her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns, and her mother—only her mother knows that today isn’t just a birthday party. It marks another anniversary as well.

Still, Nadine will focus just on tonight. Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they’ve had. A chance for fun. A chance to forget. But it’s hard to forget when Nadine’s head is swirling with secrets, haunting memories, and concerns about what might happen when her guests unite.

Critic reviews

“A terrific family drama. I adored it—absolutely compulsive reading as all the family skeletons are clamouring to get out of the cupboard. I inhaled this book over twenty-four hours.”
— LIZ NUGENT, international bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond and Little Cruelties

“A superb masterpiece. A Death at the Party brilliantly unfolds over the course of a single day, featuring a deliciously imperfect protagonist untwining her past as she prepares for the party of her life. Stuart's crisp writing and tightly paced plot made me hold my breath from the first line to the last. . . This is an absolutely stand-out book by a phenomenal talent.”
— SAMANTHA M. BAILEY, #1 bestselling author of Watch Out for Her and Woman on the Edge

“What a mad delight this book is—so seductive and twisted. Highly recommended!”
— SHARI LAPENA, New York Times bestselling author of Not a Happy Family

“Ominous and intimate . . . the rare kind of read that’s a mood in itself, with tension that dances just perfectly until the end. Immersive and so sharply observed, Amy Stuart delivers a gorgeous literary thriller to devour.”
— ASHLEY AUDRAIN, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

“Virginia Woolf meets Agatha Christie in this taut psychological thriller.”
— Publishers Weekly

“For fans of Gillian Flynn and Ashley Audrain, A Death at the Party is razor-sharp and salaciously riveting. A jigsaw puzzle of a story that will hook you instantly and reward you with a shattering, satisfying conclusion.”
— MARISSA STAPLEY, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky

“Not only did I read this book in a single day, I read it in a single sitting. . . . Stuart cleverly turns the classic whodunit on its head; in this case we know who the murderer is—the victim’s identity is the question mark. . . . A chilling exploration of how we cope with the things we’ve done, as well as those that have been done to us.”
— STEPHANIE WROBEL, internationally bestselling author of Darling Rose Gold

“Tense and twisting, with a sophistication that belies its darkness, A Death at the Party is much like the hostess of the titular party at its core: elegant and beautiful but hiding so many secrets. Prepare to be captivated by this masterful and shocking collision of past and present and the lies that can no longer stay buried.”
— LAURIE ELIZABETH FLYNN, bestselling author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here

“A deliciously taut, fast-paced thriller.”
— Reader's Digest

ok not great

Easy to figure out in the first few chapters what was going to happen. Easy to follow writing but very predictable. Did have likeable characters.

the suspense build up was intense!

This book started out light, but quickly started weaving the tangles and thorns. Starting with a passed loved one and escalating from there. Trigger warning for endangering minors and sexual assault.

Great read!

I enjoyed this story. It set the characters up well and slowly built up the story until the surprising and satisfying climax at the end. I also enjoyed the narrator who read this novel

Intelligent Well Written Supence

Well done Amy Stuart you wrote a great book and were not afraid to use a well placed "big word" once in a while
The narration by Kate Handford was beyond belief fantastic.
This book had twists, well drawn characters and it will keep you guessing.

Good Read

This was a pick from my book club, and I enjoyed listening. The reader was easy to listen to, and the characters were well developed. Once Nadine asked Teddy what kind of car he drove, I knew it was him.