On the shelf: Liar’s Beach

By Courtney Warren

We are officially gearing up for summer, and that means we all need a beach read. If you enjoy a good thriller, and if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, then Liar’s Beach by Katie Cotugno, a May book release, might be worth tossing into your beach bag. 

A fresh new take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the book has iconic detective Hercule Poirot recast as a brilliant, brash teen girl named Holiday. It is narrated by her childhood friend Linden, an athlete-scholar who fits right in at his elite New England prep school—all the while hiding some secrets of his own.

Michael Linden—or just Linden to his preppy boarding school pals—doesn’t belong in wealthy, storied Martha’s Vineyard. But when his roommate Jasper invites him to spend the end of summer at his massive beachfront home, August House, Linden tries his best to fit in. Linden wouldn’t call it lying, exactly...though it turns out August House is full of liars.
Then someone is found unconscious in Jasper’s pool, and everyone has something to hide—Jasper, his beautiful sister Eliza, their older brother Wells, and their friends. The accident is written off as just that—an accident—but Linden begins to wonder...

Enter Holiday Proctor - Linden’s childhood friend, and the one person on the island who knows the truth about Linden. There’s nothing Holiday loves more than a good old-fashioned mystery, and she’s convinced there’s a potential killer on the Vineyard. The only question is…who?

I began reading Agatha Christie at a very young age when my dad discovered my love for reading. Desperate to foster that love, he put every book he could think of into my hands. Agatha Christie was one of the first he mentioned, and we owned every book she ever wrote. 

“The Queen of Crime” is a perfect nickname for her, and I truly hope Cotugno has plans to continue Holiday Proctor’s adventures in the same way Hercule Poirot solved mysteries. Who knows, maybe we will eventually get a Miss Marple-esque addition to this detective friend group!