Karen M. McManus’ bestselling young adult murder mysteries which began with, ‘One of Us is lying’, published in 2017 up to the most recent, ‘You’ll be the death of me’ are some of my favourite books of the murder mystery genre. They each tell gripping tales of murder, lies and deceit with a plot so complex, it makes each murder seemingly impossible to unravel.  

The main reason why I enjoyed these books so much, is the way in which McManus wrote each book in the eyes of every main character. Each chapter would be a new character telling the story in their eyes and in this way each character can be explored in more depth which in my opinion makes it easier for the reader to really engage with the book.  In a lot of books, the story is often told in the perspective of one individual for the entirety of the book, whereas in McManus’ books each main character takes it in turns to tell their version and give a fresh side of the story. By each character having chapters in which they relate their part in the story, readers get to see their reactions to key points in the book which makes the story a lot more interesting. Particularly in a murder mystery, seeing each character’s emotions and perspective from inside their head makes the plot a lot more developed and intricate.

I would recommend these books to readers in the age range of about 13+ and particularly any avid readers of teenage murder mystery books as they are quick paced, gripping, and full of shocks and surprises!