The Unwedding: 10/15/24

The Unwedding by Ally Condie (2024) is a mystery set at a remote luxury resort in Big Sur during a devastating storm. Ellery Wainright has come by herself on what should have been an anniversary trip but she and her husband are now divorced. While there she finds the body of a man who had skipped out on his own wedding. And he's just the first body.

With a remote setting and multiple bodies, one is put in the mindset to expect a modern spin on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1939). Instead the story unfolds to be a take on Murder on the Orient Express (1934).

Most of the other guests have ties to each other beyond the initial obvious wedding party connection. The storm and resulting mudslides gives Ellery the time she needs to put together the clues just as the snow does for Poirot.

The mystery though has to compete with Ellery's own troubled past. She is still reeling from the swiftness of the divorce as well as how coldly her ex-husband now treats her. She's constantly seeing reminders of two traumatic accidents she was in not to long ago.

While these flashbacks try to build Ellery's character they compete with the current events. The murders are already dramatic enough and the isolation caused by the storm already adds plenty of tension. The flashbacks quickly become filler and since they're almost always rendered in italic text are easy to spot, signaling a section that can either be skimmed or skipped.

Three stars

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