Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
Publication: 24th September 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 304
Genre: Paranormal/Mystery
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.
But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.
Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .
Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.
My Thoughts.But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.
Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .
Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.
HEADS WILL ROLL!
Katie Alender has crafted an exceptionally entertaining and engrossing novel combining the Paris landscape, an intriguing and fascinating historical twist and oh yeah the presence of a ghostly, serial killing Marie Antoinette!
Colette is traveling with her French class to Paris, bunking with her friends Hannah and Pilar (the most popular girls in school) in the penthouse, she has been keeping the truth from them about her current wealth status after her parents divorce afraid that she will be cut off by Hannah who is all about appearances.
On their travels around Paris, Colette begins to see the ghost of a woman dressed up in attire from the 18th century, knowing that no one would believe her she doesn't say a word to anybody thinking that they'll believe she's crazy, and then she realises that the ghost haunting her is none other than Marie Antoinette, the famous Queen who was beheaded alongside her King, many years ago.
In-between all of this Colette is trying to investigate the meaning of an image that is displayed all over the palace Versailles the former residence of Marie Antoinette, an image that is on a medallion she found amongst her ancestors belongings, she discovers that it is from a secret society called the Order Of The Key, loyal to Marie Antoinette and her family brought together to protect her, even creating a blood oath, and Colette's descendants were one of six families that betrayed her in the end.
From the day of her arrival, a series of murders have all been committed with the victims all having been beheaded, once Colette, fellow traveler Audrey and tour guide Jules put together the pieces of the murders, the Order Of The Key society and the ghostly apparitions that keep appearing more and more to Colette they'll be shocked with what they discover once it's all put together.
I loved the historical aspects scattered throughout the book, the concept of the infamous Marie Antoinette and her tragic death becoming quite a big plotline to this story had me glued to the pages, and of course having any book set in Paris is a bonus as well, I really enjoyed the writing style, it made this a quick and addictive read, I ended up starting and finishing this book in the space of nine hours I found it that enjoyable.
I will definitely be picking up Katie Alender's other books at some point in the future.
Highly recommended!
I give this 4/5 Stars.
About Katie.
Katie Alender (rhymes with “calendar”!) grew up in South Florida. She is the third of four children (three girls and a boy) and the child of three very loving and encouraging parents.
She attended high school at the Palm Beach County School of the Arts, studying Communication Arts. From there, she went on to the Florida State University Film School, which led her to her current hometown, a tiny hamlet on the West Coast known as “Los Angeles.”
She enjoys writing, reading, sewing (especially quilts), practicing yoga, photography, visiting friends’ blogs, and hanging out with her husband (known on the blog as “the husb”) and her daughter.
Her first brush with publication was in high school, when her article “So You Want to Live On Mars?” was published in Sassy magazine in December 1991. More recently, she was the head writer on the 48-Hour Film Project “Best of Los Angeles 2007″ winner, Project 96-B, and worked for many years as writer/producer for the Animal Planet Dog Championships and AKC/Eukanuba National Championship dog shows on Animal Planet. Currently, she is a mostly-full-time author.
She is represented by Matthew Elblonk of DeFiore and Company and is a member of SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and ITW (International Thriller Writers).
She does not like scary books or movies, but apparently the books she writes are considered scary by many people. She is also a huuuuge fan of talking about herself in the third person.
