Reviews

  Ten Perfect Guests “Bad People. The best game ever!” Sourcebooks Landmark Be glad you’re not among the bickering, savage retinue of art-world-affiliated landsharks (you know the types) invited to “Celebrate the Life & Art” of (or lose an inheritance from) late genius painter Victor D’Arcangelo on a remote island. Better to let artist-author Jonathan Santlofer (The Lost Van Gogh), who knows whereof he speaks, spill their tea-and blood—in this absorbing, almost cozy coup de torchon. CARL ROSEN

Jonathan Santlofer brilliantly reinvents the closed-circle mystery in Ten Perfect Guests, as 10 flawed, unlikable characters travel to a remote tropical island to learn what (and in some cases, if) they’ve inherited from a recently deceased, very wealthy artist. Two rival art dealers, an ex-wife, a lackadaisical son, the current wife, the brother, a failed art critic, a pharmaceutical heiress, a girl no one knows, and a washed-up rock star walk onto an island… except the punchline isn’t a joke at all, but the far more sinister threat of death–or perhaps worse, disinheritance. Each has received a custom invitation to the memorial service for the late Victor D’Arcangelo, whose sudden passing has left his immense fortune in question. For a variety of reasons–debt, pride, desperation, love, resentment, despair, greed, closure–all 10 agree to attend the memorial weekend, held at a remote hotel on a small Caribbean island. Accessible only by boat, and without cell signal, … Read more

Jonathan Santlofer‘s Ten Perfect Guests is a classic isolated ensemble mystery novel that recalls the timeless appeal of And Then There Were None. When celebrated artist Victor D’Arcangelo dies unexpectedly, his closest friends and associates receive an invitation to attend his weekend memorial or else forfeit their inheritance. Thus, ten curious, though self-absorbed, guests arrive at a secluded tropical island, where things take a sinister turn, and bodies begin to pile up. Read Review Here >>

Jonathan Santlofer is a writer and an artist. So it makes sense that his novels, such as THE LOST VAN GOGH and THE LAST MONA LISA, focus on the art world. “Attendance required or forfeit your inheritance.” These words, which appear on the invitation for the weekend memorial of celebrated artist Victor D’Arcangelo, both frighten and prompt each recipient. Most of them might otherwise have skipped the service, each having their own reasons for doing so. However, the promise of potentially making a windfall is too good to pass up. That is the premise of Santlofer’s latest book, TEN PERFECT GUESTS, which plays out like a modern-day thriller filled with elements of a classic Agatha Christie novel. Read Review Here >>

Having a group of people — some strangers, some acquaintances — thrown together in a remote area is a plot trope that’s withstood the test of time. It’s how the author uses this plot device that makes the difference. Jonathan Santlofer, an artist and mystery writer best known for his art-based novels, puts his own spin by making “Ten Perfect Guests” a character study in greed, entitlement and plain nastiness. None of the 10 guests is likable, let alone perfect. But Santlofer makes the reader want to know what happens to each. Naturally, “Ten Perfect Guests” includes art as expected of Santlofer, whose work has been exhibited in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago, among other galleries. No one mourns celebrated artist Victor D’Arcangelo, who has unexpectedly died. A vain, bitter man, Victor inspired those qualities in others. His one saving grace was his brilliance as an artist. … Read more

Jonathan Santlofer, Ten Perfect Guests (Sourcebooks Landmark) Jonathan Santlofer, known for his witty and intricate mysteries-cum-thrillers set in and around the art world, returns to the genre with an ingenious new locked-room mystery modeled on Christie’s And Then There Were None. In Santlofer’s latest, a group of tarnished hangers-on and grasping relations gather on a remote island for the reading of a distinguished artist’s will, only to find themselves falling victim to a nasty plan of revenge served…tropical. Original Post Here >>