Since University, they have continued to stay in touch, with the annual New Year's Eve getaway as their most cherished social event of the year.Įmma desperately wants to be accepted and this is her chance, by hosting the best holiday weekend they've ever had. Thusly, they have a well-established, though complex, history. The rest of the crew, Samira, Miranda, Katie, Mark, Giles and Julien, have been friends since their days at Oxford. When it's Emma's turn to plan the annual 'Friends Getaway' for New Year's Eve holiday, she is looking to impress.Įmma, by dating Mark, has become included in the group, but has never truly felt welcomed.

There's a group of frenemies, a remote location in the Scottish Highlands, a blizzard and some murder. The Hunting Party features many elements that I gravitate towards in my Mystery-Thrillers. Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands-the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves. One of them is a killer.ĭuring the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. and murder and mayhem ensue.Īll of them are friends. Everyone's invited.everyone's a suspect.įor fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge.

The hunting party by lucy foley