The Housewarming: A Novel

In a haunting novel of psychological suspense, a summer getaway gone wrong rips apart a group of lifelong friends, thrusting their story into the true crime spotlight—and potentially their secrets, too.

For five friends vacationing on Block Island, it was a summer to remember. How could they forget it when only four made it back to the mainland?

Now, half a decade after Zoe Gilbert’s unsolved disappearance, Callie Sutter invites estranged friends Meg, Tess, and Lindsey—the last to see Zoe on that fateful trip—to reunite on the anniversary of the mystery that tore them apart. Back on Block Island, Callie reasons, they can come together again, memorialize Zoe, allay old resentments and recriminations, and put the past to rest. But it won’t be so easy. Patricia Adele, a true crime podcaster who once made a name for herself by casting suspicion on Zoe’s surviving friends all those years ago, is most eager for the reunion. She’s resurfaced with a book proposal claiming to expose them all as cold-blooded liars and conspirators in a crime once and for all.

Driven by self-preservation, the women must reckon with their long-held secrets and shared history if they’re to find out what really happened to Zoe on that hot August day. But will the truth set them free or condemn them all? No one is prepared to find out.

From the Publisher

All is not well when four friends reunite on Block Island to memorialize the fifth member of their formerly tight squad who went missing five years earlier. If you like your beach read to have a side of true crime and juicy secrets, look no further than this stunning debut novel from Kristin Offiler.

—Liz Pearsons, Editor

About the Author

Kristin Offiler holds an MFA from Lesley University. Her short fiction has appeared in the Raleigh Review, Waccamaw Journal, The Bookends Review, and The Bookends Review Best of 2020 print anthology. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading on the porch of her 130-year-old house or exploring charming corners of New England. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and dog.