By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Gone (Murder, She Wrote #1)

By: Stephanie Kuehn

Narrated by: Sisi Aisha Johnson

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

"Killers walk among us. Statistically, at least one of them knows your name…"

Beatrice Fletcher is obsessed with unsolved murders in her small town of Cabot Cove, Maine, like her great-aunt Jessica, the famous mystery writer. But when her best friend Jackson goes missing, this time the mystery is personal.

Then Jackson fails to show up for a late night meet-up, and instead, Bea stumbles upon three students from the elite Broadmoor Academy: overly friendly and slightly vicious Leisl, her aloof twin brother, Leif, and Carlos, who knows more about, well, everything than he’s letting on. They’re worldly, secretive, and big on playing games like tenace, the hush-hush Broadmoor tradition where anything or anyone can be a clue to future fame and fortune, and players will stop at nothing—including murder—to get ahead.

If Bea wants to find Jackson, she too must join the game and play to win. Everyone in Cabot Cove has secrets, and it’s up to Bea to ferret them out before it’s too late in this thrilling modern update of the classic television show.

©2022 Stephanie Kuehn (P)2022 Scholastic Inc

Be Warned: NOT a COSY mystery

I'm split on this book. As a massive fan of the "Murder She Wrote" TV show and the novel series, I kind of hate this book. However, it's not a bad book. the story is solid and the characters onterwsting. And in that respect I like it. So, I guess there are two major takeaways.
1) If you are looking for a cozy Jessica Fletcher style mystery just with new characters. This book will massively disappoint. The book deals with heavy subject matter such as depression, suicide, anxiety, and abuse. Basically the opposite of cozy. the way Cabot cove is described in the modern day (because this book takes place in the present) seems to vastly contrast the town we came to know and love in the series end previous books. The main character is Jessica Fletcher's great grand niece. Jessica Fletcher, herself, only appears two times in, what could arguably be considered, superfluous scenes. Just like all of those terrible direct to video Hellraiser sequels where the script was originally not based on Hellraiser, but had one final treatment to add a couple scenes to make it a hellraiser movie. That's what this feels like. The "Murder She Wrote" moniker was put on this book just to sell copies.
2) If you are looking for a modern teen drama/mystery, this book will satisfy. The story itself is good. The main character is well drawn. Her inner monologue about her struggles with anxiety feel real. The mystery is good. I'm not sure anyone reading the book could reasonably be expected to have figured the solution out beforehand. But it is good. The book also sets forth in overarching story/mystery that will be continued in, what I assume will be at least two, more books. Which is, again, really interesting and makes me want to read the next book.

Don’t waste your time (or money)

Terrible story line. Not interesting and certainly not of “murder she wrote” caliber. Will not be purchasing any more of this series that is moving in this more modern direction. Murder she wrote is Jessica fletcher. Not these new characters. Extremely disappointed

Uninteresting and angsty

I really wanted to like this book but I just didn’t. The author spend so much time in personal reflection and discussion of her anxiety that it makes the entire read difficult. There are too many loose threads and though several of them seem to be tied up, it just didn’t make for a very interesting story.