Ten Perfect Guests

New York Magazine -To Do: Ten Perfect Guests

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

Shelf Awareness: Maximum Shelf -Ten Perfect Guests

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

Collider: 5 Psychological Thriller Books for Fans of Agatha Christie

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 >>

Publishers Weekly: Ten Perfect Guests

Santlofer (The Lost Van Gogh) misses the mark with this bloated retread of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. After the death of painter Victor D’Arcangelo, 10 people connected to him—including his widow, his ex-wife, his art dealer, his son, and his brother—accept an invitation to a celebration of life on an isolated island in the Bahamas. Most are wary of the invitation, but persuaded to attend by its insistence they must be present if they want to benefit from D’Arcangelo’s will. Shortly after they arrive, one of D’Arcangelo’s assistants reads a document prepared by the artist that prompts each attendee to share how they either helped or hurt him while he was alive. That gives way to more mind games, and eventually the guests are picked off one by one in goofy, elaborate fashion (one is devoured by a tiger shark). Santlofer fails to put his own spin on the premise, populating the … Read more

Mystery Fanfare – Crafting a Whodunnit for Our Time: Guest post by Jonathan Santlofer

I grew up on Edgar Allan Poe, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, Patricia Highsmith, and comic books. In between, I read a few adventure stories, The Three Musketeers, Robinson Crusoe (though it’s possible I read the latter in a Classic Comic version and only think I read the book). Reading was difficult for me, so I concentrated on what I considered my only gift: art. Though a poor student, I could draw anything, and that got me into art school where I learned I had slight dyslexia and after a year-long series of exercises, became a voracious reader making up for lost time. When I started writing my first novel—after a successful career as a painter, sidetracked by a fire that destroyed 10 years of my artwork—I chose to write a semi-autobiographical novel (auto-fiction in today’s literary lingo). It was about a mid-career artist who had lost all his work and was professionally and emotionally … Read more

Crime Reads – The Best Psychological Thrillers of the Month: September 2026

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 >>