Editorial Content for Friends and Liars

Kit Frick, the bestselling author of thrillers for both adults and young adults, returns with FRIENDS AND LIARS, a glossy, seductive mystery about four former friends who reunite at a memorial five years after the death of the fifth member of their group.

“Your presence is requested the week of Monday, June 2–Sunday, June 8, at Palazzo Mella to join in a celebration of the life of Clare Annabelle Monroe.” So ends the cautious, hazy peace that Harper, Luca, David and Sirina have known for five short years.

It was New Year’s Eve 2019 when they were last together, at their friend and classmate Clare’s family estate on Lake Como, Italy’s deepest lake. A collection of artists, writers and actors, the friend group had bonded at their liberal arts school and become closely intertwined in the way that only college students seem capable of. Harper was Clare’s roommate, David her boyfriend, Sirina the star of the film Clare and David produced, and Luca their ever-present photographer, chronicling the group’s comings and goings.

Each of them were talented and destined for success, but Clare was their shining star, in more ways than one. As the daughter of a Hollywood venture capitalist and an old-money elitist, Clare was absolutely loaded and stood to inherit even more. But she also was generous to a fault, though she could be closely guarded about her painful childhood. Of the five of them, she seemed the most poised for success and security, while her friends had that almost-there quality that has followed them into adulthood.

"Kit Frick has dressed her latest work in a glossy, gold-foiled facade, but the people within are some of the most devious, deliciously unlikable characters I have read in quite some time."

Now, five years and one bone-dry group chat later, they have almost nothing in common except their shared grief --- and the fact that the night of Clare’s death, they unburdened themselves to one another, revealing the mistakes and missteps that led them to Palazzo Mella…and caused the death of their friend.

It would be easy to ask yourself now why anyone would agree to a five-years-too-late memorial service for the friend whose death they’re pretty sure they’re responsible for. But in this case the answer is simple: money. It is no secret that the arts aren’t exactly the easiest industries to break into, and at only five years post-grad, each member of the friend group is flailing.

Harper married her college sweetheart, Ben, just after graduation (her baby bump pressing tightly against her dress). Although she feels lucky to have found herself making dinners with Ben and playing with Oliver in their modest brownstone, she once attended Hollywood premieres and went on luxury shopping trips with her best friend. She also is harboring a secret from her husband that keeps her feeling a low-level guilt at all times. Because Ben was not yet a part of the friend group at the time of Clare’s drowning, he has never experienced the kind of wealth that the Monroes boast.

Luca, meanwhile, is barely getting by in Miami, having recently been dumped by his privileged ex. He knows he is thisclose to making it; he just needs connections --- the kind that his ex had and that the Monroes were born having. And if he can’t exploit their contacts, well, at least he can romance some sexy Italians while he’s there.

David, Clare’s ex, is almost where he expects to be, career-wise, as a screenwriter. But who can turn down the chance to rub elbows with Hollywood royalty? Even if he can’t score a lead from Clare’s family, at least he can see Sirina again, the one who got away. And Sirina? She’s a talented actress who has had some lukewarm success. But without the right push, she’ll never be as famous as even a less-talented white actress. Even when producers seek to exploit her Blackness, it continues to hold her back.

So it is that these four former friends (and their two plus-ones: Harper’s husband, Ben, and David’s current girlfriend, Prue) reunite at Lake Como, greeted at the Monroe villa by Clare’s Aunt Catherine, an austere, frankly creepy woman who seems to intuit everything. Ahead of them is an all-expenses-paid trip through Venice’s canals, designer stores, Michelin-starred dinners, and, of course, ever-present memories of Clare and the many ways they let her down. As they return to the literal scene of the crime, each of them is flooded with memories of their friendships with Clare and the secrets they kept from her --- some out of survival, some out of shame, and others out of pure adolescent ignorance. They are the only ones who know the truth about that night, about the secrets they hid from Clare, and about one another’s most painful, shame-worthy memories. Or so they think.

As the group acclimates to the bizarre memorial service and constant reminders of Clare, strange “gifts” begin to appear in their rooms, followed by disturbing notes. It is clear that someone knows what they did that night. But who? It is easy at first for the group to suspect one another, and without the language of friendship between them all, no one is comfortable asking anyone else what they know. But then, if one of them revealed another’s secrets, the entire web of lies would fracture, dooming everyone. So if it’s not one of them, who else could know just how far they pushed Clare that night?

If “rich people behaving badly” was a genre, then FRIENDS AND LIARS would be one of its shining stars. Kit Frick has dressed her latest work in a glossy, gold-foiled facade, but the people within are some of the most devious, deliciously unlikable characters I have read in quite some time. Though her plot takes some time to kick off, once those gifts and letters start appearing, you’re already on the edge of your seat. The book is meticulously plotted, with Frick doling out reveals both minor and major at a steady, satisfying pace. Her Italian villa setting and lush descriptions of wealth and privilege ease the reader in, while her characters’ guilt --- both shared and personal --- grounds this decadent novel in something deeply relatable.

Fun, fresh and jaw-droppingly moneyed, FRIENDS AND LIARS is a sharply satisfying thriller perfect for fans of Ellery Lloyd and Jessa Maxwell.