The It Girl: A Novel by Ruth Ware.

 

 The It Girl: A Novel by Ruth Ware. Scout Press (an imprint of Simon and Schuster, Inc.), 2022. Mystery, suspense. 

While it sounds impudent to say that Ruth Ware, the author of six New York Times bestsellers in six years, has gotten better, I must say it.  I have read all of her books, hoping that she will find her own voice and not just copy Agatha Christie like themes and plots. I have not been a fan. 

But, in this story set in Edinburgh, Ware has come into her own. During Hannah Jones' freshman year at Oxford ten years ago, her roommate, the beautiful and dazzling April Clarke-Cliveden was found dead in their rooms. Now, Hannah and her husband, Will, are looking forward to their first child. But, when the man who was sent to prison for the killing dies and a journalist raises new questions about April's death, a who-done-it is born. 

And, what a tale! The handful of students that Hannah and Will knew at Oxford could all be suspects. And what did no one know about April herself? Ware manages to put enough red herrings into the story to keep readers on the edge of our seats. It moves quickly and makes us long for more of Ware's own characters and voice.