July 1, 2023
Heirs to a fortune derived from copper mining, the glittery Van Ness siblings always blow out their birthday candles together, bringing their partners to the family vineyard in New York's Finger Lakes region for a frolicsome weekend. This time, secrets plaguing all three couples bubble up, even as a stranger stands staring at the vineyard gates. Laskowski won multiple debut honors for One Night Gone and Anthony finalist honors for The Mother Next Door; with a 75,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.
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October 9, 2023
The wealthy Van Ness family gathers at their extravagant Finger Lakes winery for a weekend celebration that devolves into simmering jealousies, betrayals, and violence in this clever thriller from Laskowski (The Mother Next Door). A breaking news report prologue establishes that “multiple people” have died at the Van Ness estate but withholds details about who has died or how. From there, Laskowski flashes back to the days leading up to the party, as Richard, a successful attorney, and his twin sister, Harper, who runs an online cosmetics company, prepare to celebrate their 35th birthday. Richard keeps his financial problems from his underappreciated wife, Elle, who’s become the family’s de facto event planner. Harper’s business is imploding due to a leaked video showing her verbally abusing her employees; meanwhile, her slimy husband Lucas’s tech company soars. Youngest brother (and black sheep) Zach has brought along his girlfriend, Lauren, a gossip blogger with a special focus on the lives of the wealthy. Laskowski shifts perspectives between the siblings, their partners, and a revenge-bent anonymous visitor referred to only as “The Party Guest.” She wrings plenty of suspense out of the narrative structure, and utilizes the family’s Gilded Age mansion, with its myriad secret passages, to build more. The result is a satisfying mash-up of Succession and Agatha Christie. Agent: Michelle Richter, Foreward Literary.
December 1, 2023
Richard, Harper, and Zach are the entitled siblings named as heirs to the infamous Van Ness fortune. Their recently deceased mother raised them to live extravagantly, and they are following her legacy by celebrating a family birthday on the family's opulent and vast wine estate. As if acting out the plot of a game of Clue, they gather with their significant others for a weekend that will become deadly, and soon it's evident that each of them is running from a growing secret. The old family mansion is keeping secrets of its own, and when tensions flare up between the six, all that has been kept hidden threatens to come to light. As a torrential rainstorm approaches, it becomes clear someone is hiding in the shadows, planning revenge on the family, but who could it be? This exploration of the perils of keeping secrets in an affluent family is a twisty mystery filled with self-centered and conniving characters and a potent mix of Liane Moriarty and Agatha Christie.
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