2 Must-Read Lucy Foley Books + 1 if There’s Time

GG Books

Oct 4

Lucy Foley mystery books, The Guest List, GG book picks

three Lucy Foley Books and a tease peek to read 2 of them

I’m now a fan of Lucy Foley’s books! And if you love mystery stories, I know you’ll love 2/3 of the three books I’m reviewing today.

The Hunting Party wasn’t my most favorite of the three, but it still shares a good mystery. The ending was just a bit mehhhh for me.

Finding mystery books that don’t scare me into checking all the shadowy corners + sleeping with all the lights on in the house can be a struggle. These three have a good mystery without the eerie Stephen King suspense.

{That’s a HARD PASS on King’s suspense thrillers for me! Murder mysteries? Yes. Sewer clowns? HECK. NO}.

Mystery=good reading
Thrillers/Suspense=If the pages turn to fright night, the book becomes a coffee table decoration

What are The three Lucy Foley Books?

The Hunting Party (2018)
The Guest List (2020)
The Paris Apartment (2022)

The Guest List was my first Lucy Foley book, and my initiation into her multi-character writing style.

With the release of The Paris Apartment, I was ready to flip through the pages of her next mystery.

And a Paris setting?! Oui, s'il vous plaît! {yes, please!}

After her first two books, I’m now reading backwards through her work. Sounds about right; late to the party, and once I’m there, I don’t wanna leave. {Just kidding, I’ll leave eventually. Please don’t bump me from your party list😉}

The Guest List::

The Guest List {Rated 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 out of 5} Cold, foggy, and mysterious…

The upscale wedding resort sits away from the banks of Ireland with spotty cell service, crashing waves, and a guest list with intertwining stories {not all of them good}. One guest won’t be leaving the resort alive, so pour a glass of Amavi Cellars Ceres and dive into this twisted plot!

The last half of the book is a page-turning sprint as you go back-n-forth on whodunit.

The story weaved so well between the characters to give just enough “aha, I’ve got it!”…then flips to the next character to keep you guessing AGAIN.

Everyone is dying to get on this island for the wedding of the year, but one won’t be leaving.

The Paris Apartment::

The Paris Apartment {Rated 🍷🍷🍷🍷+½/5} Half a glass less on this book because I was comparing it to The Guest List {my favorite of Lucy Foley’s works so far}.

How many character perspectives can you write from? Read a few of Lucy Foley’s books, and you’ll see.

Grab a glass of dark red like this Alton bottle to match the plot.

It takes me a hot minute - or three - to wrap my brain around all the characters in this one. It begins with Jess coming to Paris to stay with her stepbrother Ben, only to discover he is nowhere to be found.

Plenty of suspects to choose from in this one, too.

But the twist at the end…WHOA NELLY!

The Hunting Party::

The Hunting Party {Rated 🥃🥃🥃 out of 5; they would have drunk from whiskey glasses instead of wine in this one}

This book had an Agatha-Christie-mystery feel to it for me - a lot of secrets and unease from the start.

A group of Oxford friends are heading to a remote lodge in Scotland to ring in the New Year.

The friends feel disconnected since they’ve been so busy with life {thirty-somethings}, but hope they can all get back to old times again and celebrate the New Year cut off from their busy city lives.

Oh, they’ll be cut off, all right.

Seclusion from probing eyes make it easier to hide a side business that’s NOT on the up-n-up {of course}.

The groundskeeper has a sketchy background; the inn manager is trying to escape something; and the uni friends/guests are all too consumed with pretending life is grand to care about anyone around them.

All the secrets come blowing in with the blizzard and trap everyone in the lodge…except one person, who is forever left outside.

Foley writes these three books from multiple characters’ perspectives, which can be confusing at the start. I sometimes have to re-read {or back up the audio} at the beginning, but after getting all the characters’ names down, it’s entertaining to flip between each person.