Debut novelist Charlotte Vassell keeps readers guessing in The Other Half, a tightly plotted whodunnit-and-why. This smart, playful murder mystery takes place among a group of extremely wealthy, well-educated, and highfalutin North London millennials.
The novel opens with a captivating scene set in Kent that ignites suspense. It's Saturday night, and an upscale, sophisticated black-tie birthday party is about to commence for Rupert Beauchamp, "handsome in that dashing-white-knight sort of way that often proves fatal to any damsel moronic enough to fall for it." The formal party being held at the local McDonald's franchise offers "vase upon vase of flowers," the finest champagne, a "butler in full tails" greeting guests, and is stipulated as BYOC (Bring Your Own Cocaine).
When "stodgy, lower-middle-class," romantically jilted Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp (no relation to the birthday boy) takes a jog the next morning, he discovers a corpse in Hampstead Heath. The victim, wearing a sole stiletto heel and a ball gown, is later revealed to be Rupert's girlfriend, Clemency "Clemmie" O'Hara. Who killed her and why?
A detailed homicide investigation calls into question Rupert, with sociopathic tendencies, and all those in attendance at--and affiliated with--the party. DI Beauchamp is as leery and suspicious of those he interrogates as he is in forming his opinions about the elite and privileged who come under the scrutiny of the criminal justice system.
Searing dialogue, quick wit, and romance infuse Vassell's fast-paced, sharply drawn police procedural that plays off class stereotypes while also offering an insightful commentary on modern times. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines