Keep your friends close by Cynthia Murphy

Things haven’t started out well this year for Chloe Roberts, even though she has won a place at exclusive Morton Academy and is a member of the secret Jewel and Bone society which ensures special sponsorship to go to university. The thing is, she’s been beaten to Head Girl honours by her former best friend Nikhita Patel, and on top of that her boyfriend Theo has deserted her . . . for the same Nikhita. Cool girl Nikhita seems determined to sabotage Chloe’s standing in the school. And then, strange things start to happen, first a disappearance, and then bodies start piling up. Is Nikhita the murderer, or is it the work of a mysterious cult, or perhaps a ruthless drug manufacturer?

It sounds like the makings of a riveting school murder mystery, and that’s how it starts out. But the plot really challenges believability with the school principal as leader of the student secret society in a dark underground crypt, and the police easily bought off investigating the murders. And, unfortunately it’s hard to empathise with Chloe, or even like her: she does a lot of crying, feeling sorry for herself, and regretting not taking better care of her friends. She realises she’s been just as much a mean girl as Nikhita, in the way she’s treated others. There is an interesting moment, in a discussion with the school librarian when Chloe complains about Bronte’s Jane Eyre being so irritating, ‘simpering around after a man who didn’t deserve her’, and needing to ‘stop worrying about what other people think and look after herself’. In a moment of insight Chloe realises that is exactly how she herself has behaved, but she never acts on these apparent insights.

Keep your friends close has the same Morton Academy setting as Murphy’s earlier bestseller Win, lose, kill, die (2023) so maybe there are readers who will also enjoy this very twisty murder mystery. Teenage readers who would like to move onto other school mysteries could try The other girl (2025) by Emily Barr and, for slightly older readers, Not like other girls (2024) by Meredith Adamo  and Where sleeping girls lie (2024) by Faridah Abike-Iyimide.

Themes: Murder, Mystery, Secret society, School stories, Mean girls.

Helen Eddy