A Meditation on Murder
Susan Juby
Fiction
HarperCollins, 2024
328 pages
ISBN: 9781443469524
$24.99
Reviewed by Paige Vandop
“And with those final words, the former driver strode down the driveway, pantless and holding his loafers. He seemed, Helen thought, happy.”
In the opening sequence of A Meditation on Murder, Juby’s signature humor re-introduces us to the world of Helen Thorpe in book two of the mystery series. After her adventure at the Yatra Institute, a meditation centre, Helen finds herself working as head butler for the Levines, wealthy friends of fellow millionaire Archie Hightower and his daughter Cartier, a popular “influencer.”
Death seems to follow Cartier and her celebrity group Deep State. Cartier’s assistant dies during a windsurfing accident, and another influencer falls into a river and dies while taking photos. Cartier becomes the prime suspect in the public eye and is badly cyberbullied, significantly affecting her mental health.
The Levine’s “gift” Helen to the Hightowers to help Cartier in the real world rather than the virtual one. “It had never occurred to Helen that she could be given away. That eventuality had not been covered in the North American Butler Academy guidebook.”
Helen uses both her butler and Buddhist skills to develop Cartier’s life skills offscreen while also solving the murders. The moral of the story: social media can poison the mind.
Juby creates a cast of characters readers will love and love to hate until the last line. Helen is calm and logical, Cartier is bubbly and attractively annoying, and Nigel returns as an aspiring butler-in-training.
The first half of the book takes place in Vancouver, while the second half is on Weeping Creek ranch in the wilds of BC. From restaurants to clubs and hotels, Juby paints a picture of urban and sophisticated Vancouver and then switches to a ranch in the wilderness where Cartier, Helen, and the rest of the Deep Slaters navigate life without the internet.
“Oh my god. So you’re going to deprive me of, like, comfort? After all I’ve been through? I’m literally mourning here, Helen.”
The mystery begins to unfold once at Weeping Creek and suspicious activity begins to plague the group. When the final plot twist presents itself, readers will question the entire story.
“People on the internet will understand,’ said Cartier. ‘They don’t care if things make sense or if they’re true, as long as the story is exciting.”
A Meditation on Murder feels significantly faster paced than Mindful of Murder due to its shorter length, along with the parallels in its climactic car chase scene.
Susan Juby was raised in Smithers, BC, and currently resides in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Republic of Dirt won the Leacock Medal for Humor and her first novel, Alice, I Think, was a national bestseller and adapted into a TV series on CTV. The Truth Commission was named Best Book of the Year by Barnes and Noble, the Globe and Mail, and Kirkus. Juby teaches Creative Writing at Vancouver Island University.
