A murder-mystery party at an isolated English country house threatens to turn deadly in Emma Rous’ second novel, THE PERFECT GUESTS. When out-of-work actress Sadie Langton is offered a role as a mystery party guest at Raven Hall (no audition required), she’s in no position to refuse. Her rent is past due; plus, the gig will give her the chance to play dress-up in vintage clothes at a grand house, even if it seems to have fallen into disrepair. But once she and the other guests arrive at the home --- a “big old mansion in the Fens” that is “full of dark history” --- things turn out to be not quite what they seem.

As Sadie and her fellow guests slowly realize it is not just chance that has brought them together, a parallel story unfolds. Decades earlier, in 1988, a 14-year-old orphan arrives at Raven Hall. Beth Soames’ parents have died in a car accident, and her globe-trotting aunt Caroline is unable to care for her. But she has found a couple willing to take Beth in. The intense Leonora and affable Markus welcome Beth into their home with the idea that she’ll be a companion to their daughter, Nina.

"Rous withholds just enough information about her characters and their motivations to keep readers riveted, saving a few key surprises for the final pages.... THE PERFECT GUESTS is an engaging, unsettling tale of suspense, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley."

Nina and Beth become fast friends, settling into an intimate and sometimes fraught friendship. Beth is grateful to have a place to call home, even as she remains aware of her status as an outsider and charity case. At first, she’s simply dazzled by the magic of Raven Hall. With its turret and lake, it’s “a castle in this kingdom of marshy scrubland.” But as the gothic setting suggests, something is not quite right at Raven Hall.

Nina is forbidden from leaving the estate’s grounds, for reasons that are never clearly explained to Beth. And when Nina’s wealthy grandfather from America arrives for a surprise visit, Leonora has an odd request. Nina has suddenly fallen ill, and Beth reluctantly submits to playing the role of his grandchild, a deception that frays her relationship with her friend. Meanwhile, in a series of undated chapters, an anonymous woman lurks around the edges of the Raven Hall estate, seething at the outsiders who she believes have displaced her from her home.

Rous has picked an ideal setting for her twisty mystery. The marshy Fens --- largely uninhabitable until they were drained in an impressive feat of civil engineering --- are remote (no cell phone reception) and at times eerie, with will-o’-the-wisps flickering over the water. Yet there’s something deeply compelling about the area, and about Raven Hall itself, which seems to exert an inexorable pull on some of its inhabitants. But she doesn’t use her spooky setting to full effect. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Rous (who lives in the region) writes about getting lost in the relatively featureless landscape of the Fens as she travels roads surrounded by “silvery sheets” of water. One wishes that more of these types of details had found their way into the book.

The strands of Rous’ story neatly and naturally intersect, as it becomes clear that a tragedy at Raven Hall has led to this strange gathering 30 years later. Rous withholds just enough information about her characters and their motivations to keep readers riveted, saving a few key surprises for the final pages. But the plot begins to strain credulity towards the end with a series of dramatic, rapid-fire revelations about the game and its players. The story would have been just as compelling without some of the more outlandish, out-of-the-blue twists.

Nonetheless, THE PERFECT GUESTS is an engaging, unsettling tale of suspense, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.