Our Book Of The Month for August is Murder In Mustique by Anne Glenconner. For our online Book Clubbers we have some questions below for you to get involved with. Either answer in the comments section or use as discussion points at your next Book Club. If you haven’t read the book check out our Lowdown all about it here.
Murder In Mustique – the blurb
Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer’s partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker – until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn’t return.
Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile is just 28 years old and the island’s only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily’s mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis.
When Amanda’s body is found, a murder investigation begins. Nile knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn’t co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .
Discussion Points
The following are written with the presumption you have read Murder On Mustique. If you haven’t, bookmark the post and come back to answer the questions later.
- Murder On Mustique is not a crime story it is a love story, an ode to the island of Mustique. Do you agree?
- There are elements of truth woven in to the book with Lady Vee loosely being modelled on Glenconner. Did you like the element of truth fiction? Did you stop to research how much was true?
- At what point did you guess Phillip’s involvement? Who was your chief suspect as you were reading?
- The books main criticism seems to be about the author – another celebrity only getting a book deal because of this fact. Do you agree?
- Have you read Lady In Waiting by Glenconner? Which book do you prefer?
Get Involved
Feel free to answer as many of the questions as you want. Post your replies below, discuss with us on social media using @BookSocialUK, or pose some questions of your own. If you enjoyed the questions, have a go at last month’s Get Involved: Shuggie Bain.
