It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense, small or large, has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles; crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches; the “Manor Mule” cocktail (grapefruit, ginger, vodka, and a dash of CBD oil) is being poured with a heavy hand. Everyone is wearing linen.

But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. Something’s not right with the guests. There’s been a fire. A body’s been discovered.

It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder at The Midnight Feast.

“There’s been a right of way through here for centuries – before that house even existed. You’re the ones trespassing. Local people have always walked among these trees … using their wood, their flora and fauna. There’s a unique convergence of ley lines here. Keeping people away from the land.”

Lucy Foley is dominating the mystery/thriller genre right now. Having really enjoyed her previous work, The Paris Apartment, I was eager to dive into her latest offering, The Midnight Feast. I was allured by its loud orange cover and the promise of the Dorset coat (aka one of my favourite places!!) as well as a luxury wellness resort with an ugly past. I’m a big fan of wellness mystery slash horror and while I knew Foley wouldn’t be bringing the gore, I was strapped in for a journey of murder mystery thrills and chills.

Foley, by all means, did deliver. 95% of The Midnight Feast is so eerie and so atmospheric that I couldn’t put it down. I had haunting dreams of the secretive gang dubbed ‘The Birds’ and tore through the novel, obsessed to learn more about this spooky collective, the ancient wood and the secrets Francesca, The Manor’s owner, was hiding.

There was so much to love: an idyllic setting, a cast of shady characters all harbouring secrets and the luxurious veneer masking a sordid past. While I have a love-hate relationship with multiple POV novels, Foley is the rare kind of author who can pull off juggling different perspectives and voices whilst maintaining intrigue. Told from the viewpoints of the Francesca, her architect husband, a local dishwasher, a dectective and a guest who knows all about Francesca’s dirty deeds, the timeline of The Midnight Feast jumps back and forth between the present day and the characters’ teenage past.

The Midnight Feast‘s plot has good bones and Foley’s writing continues to be compelling, vivid and tense. Much like The Paris Apartment, it’s a slow burn and I felt that helped flesh out the characters and their motivations.

That being said, it all fell apart in the final act for me. Foley loves to ramp up the action as her novels near the end and it was no different in The Midnight Feast. There was plenty of promised drama and chaos but the reveal and subsequent wrap up of the story felt almost a bit twee. I won’t say the specifics for the sake of spoilers but the ending is somewhat Midsomer Murders, if you will, which undid all the creepiness for me.

On the whole, The Midnight Feast is an ideal read as we approach spooky season. It’s dark, full of local legends, has an evocative woodland and gothic setting and is filled with interesting characters that will keep you hooked. Foley’s propensity to conclude what had been a very slowly unfolding mystery at breakneck speed paired with what I felt was quite a weak ending, was disappointing. She’s a realiable msytery author so I don’t doubt that I’ll pick up her next read but I just wish the endings were as satisfying as the build up.

RATING

★★★