The House on Buzzards Bay

“A classic New England literary mystery pitched somewhere between The Secret History, If We Were Villains, and L’Avventura, with all of Dwyer's economy and wit. I loved it.” —Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Island

“A delicious, brooding heart-stopper of a book.” —Téa Obreht, New York Times bestselling author of Inland

When a group of old college friends reunites for a summer vacation at a beach house in coastal Massachusetts, a sudden disappearance and the arrival of a seductive stranger threaten to unearth the darkest secrets of their relationships.

As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay, the demands of work and family having caused them to drift apart over recent years. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace, sending the group into an uneasy tension.

Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone—or something—is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences—along with their already precarious ties with one other.

In The House on Buzzards Bay, Dwyer Murphy returns with a chilling, atmospheric page-turner that explores the bonds of friendship, the growing accumulation of life's responsibilities, and whether our youthful dreams can endure the complexities of adulthood.

A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2025

“[A] masterful psychological thriller. . . . Murphy takes time to flesh out each of his main characters before executing a series of dizzying rug pulls. It’s a devilish twist on the traditional locked-room mystery.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[The House on Buzzards Bay] is extremely well-crafted—it’s not just the superb writing but also the structure of the story, which grabs the reader from the opening paragraphs and keeps them constantly on their toes, trying to figure out what’s going on, and becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of these beautifully constructed characters. Murphy outdoes himself here, spectacularly.”
—Booklist

“The sly, subversive way Murphy undercuts Agatha Christie and Big Chill tropes keeps the reader on edge. . . . Another top-notch effort by Murphy, one of the most distinctive of young crime-oriented novelists.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Dwyer Murphy is the author of An Honest Living and The Stolen Coast, both of which were New York Times Editors' Choice selections. He is the editor in chief of Literary Hub's CrimeReads vertical, the world’s most popular destination for thriller readers, and was previously an Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction.

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