The Family Plot - by Megan Collins (Paperback)

About the Book

"At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse has a lot to learn when it comes to the real world. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she spent the last several years living on her own, but unable to move beyond her past--especially the disappearance of her twin brother Andy when they were sixteen. With her father's death, Dahlia returns to the house she has avoided for years ... [When] the rest of the Lighthouse family arrives for the memorial, a gruesome discovery is made: buried in the reserved plot is another body--Andy's, his skill split open with an ax. Each member of the family handles the revelation in unusual ways. Her brother Charlie pours his energy into creating a family memorial museum, highlighting their research into the lives of famous murder victims; her sister Tate forges ahead with her popular dioramas portraying crime scenes; and their mother affects a cheerfully domestic facade, becoming unrecognizable as the woman who performed murder reenactments for her children. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin"--

Book Synopsis

"Exceedingly entertaining." --The New York Times "Umbrella Academy meets Tana French. Dark, claustrophobic, and beautifully written." --Andrea Bartz, author of We Were Never Here From the author of The Winter Sister and Behind the Red Door, a family obsessed with true crime gathers to bury their patriarch--only to find another body already in his grave.At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse is haunted by her upbringing. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she is unable to move beyond the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were sixteen. After several years away and following her father's death, Dahlia returns to the house, where the family makes a gruesome discovery: buried in their father's plot is another body--Andy's, his skull split open with an ax. Dahlia is quick to blame Andy's murder on the serial killer who terrorized the island for decades, while the rest of her family reacts to the revelation in unsettling ways. Her brother, Charlie, pours his energy into creating a family memorial museum, highlighting their research into the lives of famous murder victims; her sister, Tate, forges ahead with her popular dioramas portraying crime scenes; and their mother affects a cheerfully domestic facade, becoming unrecognizable as the woman who performed murder reenactments for her children. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.

Review Quotes

"With her third novel, Megan Collins may have unlocked a new level of fictional discourse on the true-crime industrial complex...an examination of how flattening people into stories and churning them through the true-crime mill creates lasting, intergenerational damage...an exceedingly entertaining look at how corrosive family bonds can become." -New York Times

About the Author

Megan Collins is the author of Cross My Heart, Thicker Than Water, The Family Plot, Behind the Red Door, and The Winter Sister. She teaches and mentors authors through Jericho Writers and is the editor-in-chief of 3Elements Review. She lives in Connecticut, where she obsesses over dogs, miniatures, and cake.