Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes

Ursula Flowerbutton ! There, now that I have got your attention, let’s begin training about this funny and entertaining “Whodunnit” read. The first thing that caught my fancy and made me immediately take interest in this book was the name of the protagonist, Ursula Flowerbutton. The story starts with a newspaper report written by our very own, younger version of Miss Marple and the mysterious murder of a fellow student makes us sit straight. Not to worry, the rest of the book is not half as serious as the first page. Full of hilarious pop culture and dapper house parties, Plum Sykes’ first in a series of Oxford Mystery novels, makes for a great beach read.

Ursula, an orphan from the countryside, joins Christminster college at Oxford, with high hopes of joining the University newspaper Cherwell and meets Nancy Feingold, an American heiress, who is here for her party year. They instantly become quite close friends and Nancy manages to convince Ursula into gatecrashing a party by one of the wealthy “Yahs”, Wenty. What follows is a series of amusing scenarios and a horrifying murder.

The characters have highly superficial lives and Sykes paints a brilliant caricature of the upper royalty class present in the 1980s London. Starting from the fashion to the food habits and sitcoms, everything is perfectly depicted.

Other than the slightly disappointing build-up of the discovery of the mysterious murderer, the book is a really funny read. It makes you laugh, roll your eyes and keeps you occupied for a couple of hours. This is one of those books that you can finish off in one sitting with some wine and cake to accompany.

Publisher : Bloomsbury

Pages : 352

Format : Paperback

Rating : 3.5 / 5

You can buy the book here.