Books & Audiobooks
On New Year’s Day, Amy and Jo discover their younger sister brutally murdered in the woods just outside their house, on the path they had just walked the previous night after a New Year’s party.
Beth’s murder throws the family and the town into notoriety. But it’s not the first time the family has been in the spotlight. Months ago, the girls’ father had published a controversial novel about his daughters, titled Little Women. In it, Beth dies, and afterwards, as the book became a bestseller, the girls all struggled with the way their father portrayed them, all before he ran away, claiming to protect the family.
As the murder investigation unfolds, each of the four sisters’ secrets are laid bare and more questions are raised than answers found, proving it difficult to know who killed Beth March.
Creatively reimagined, Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet is a modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, with all the gusto and heart of the original. As someone who loved the original but doesn’t remember all the details, I really enjoyed Bernet’s retelling, which was fresh and original as a murder mystery.
The story is told in alternating perspectives amongst the four sisters (even Beth’s), while also alternating between the present and the past. We find out that Beth and Amy fought, right before Amy left Beth alone at the New Year’s Eve party, only to see her dead the next day. Jo, an aspiring writer herself, has amassed a huge number of followers on social media, and has also done some other dubious acts to try and get more attention. Meg has left home and attends Harvard, where she’s gotten caught up in some wrong-doing, and her lover is someone who had a fight with Beth in the weeks leading up to death. Every girl has a motive and a reason to get rid of Beth, but there are others around them who may have had something to do with it.
Bernet expands on each of the March sisters and breathes new and modern life into them, so that they are modern young women you grow to care for as they navigate this new reality without their beloved sister. The mystery keeps you on your toes as you unwrap the series of events over the past few months. Through the flashbacks, we see the publication of the explosive Little Women novel, Beth’s acceptance into a prestigious music school, the discovery of a hidden recording device in the March home, Amy’s dalliance with an older art mentor, and lastly their father leaving home after the book’s controversy and not getting in touch, even when Beth’s murder hits the news.
A rich retelling of a beloved classic, Beth is Dead will keep you turning pages till the end, rooting for its heroines as you wait for Beth’s brutal murder to be avenged after all.