Win Lose Kill Die

September 11, 2023
Liz Williams is excited for her senior year at Morton Academy, an ultra-exclusive English boarding school, especially because it’s her last chance to be sponsored for a full ride—every year, 100 juniors and seniors are assessed for their intellectual abilities and subsequently chosen by a donor, who will pay the student’s way through college. Even more selective, however, is an invitation to join the Society of Jewel and Bone, an elite secret organization whose meetings take place in a watery crypt and whose leader, known as the school’s Head Girl, is the most powerful student at Morton. Though Liz’s classmates are abuzz with new-year jitters, things at the academy turn deadly when the current Head Girl dies from suspicious causes only six weeks after the equally questionable death of her predecessor. As the bodies pile up, Liz—joined by four classmates—determines to uncover the truth behind the deaths. Vivid prose by Murphy spins a suspenseful plot to craft a dark-academia flavored high school slasher littered with convincing twists and foreshadowing. A potential cult, jealous classmates, sinister teachers, and something even more treacherous, paired with the organically rendered intersectional cast and a charming budding romance, make for a varied mystery thriller. Ages 12–up.