The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé recently released on June 2. This is a YA-ish murder mystery story. I say YA-ish because the main characters seem to be 18 year olds, but they might actually be 21 (they talk about drinking alcohol quite often in this one). Overall, I had fun with this one!

The premise: 5 orphans are adopted by a man when they are babies. He raises them to demonstrate that nurture is more important than nature and tries to make them all geniuses in their own domain – music, chess, fencing, etc. Then when they are 18 (I believe), they go to his annual ball, all disillusioned with their lives in one form or fashion. And that night their father is murdered. And after the reading of the will, more secrets get shared, uncovered, and the children realize maybe life wasn’t quite what they believed.

This is a closed environment murder mystery, but the way it goes back and forth between the different character perspectives and shows glimpses of their childhoods too, it’s got its own unique feel. At first I found the characters hard to keep track of (especially with nicknames), but eventually I figured it out. I like the nature v nurture elements touched upon in this, and also found it twisty enough to keep me interested, but not too twisty to be convoluted. I did find the three the ends annoying, but whatever. Overall fun, a solid 3 star read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook to listen to for an honest review.