Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer - Book Review

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Sixteen-year-old Colette is super excited to be taking a spring break trip to Paris with her French classmates. Things are not going well for Colette at home—her father's mid-life crisis ended her parents' marriage, her mom doesn't have enough money to support both Colette and her younger brother, Colette's best friends are super rich and she's been hiding her problems from them to fit in
—so she is really looking forward to some time away. Far away!

But when she arrives in Paris, she discovers that a murderer is on the loose, beheading his or her victims just like the way Marie Antoinette died. Is it really the ghost of Marie Antoinette come back to haunt the City of Lights? And why is the murderer targeting only the teenagers from prominent and wealthy French families? And is Colette next?

As Colette goes sight-seeing with her group, she also discovers that the necklace she's wearing, the one that was passed down through her family, might be related to Marie Antoinette in some way. And there might be more to Colette's family than she knows.

All of this new information makes Colette take a look at who she really is. Is she the person who hangs out with the popular and snotty rich girls? Is she French? Is she really a duchess? Is she a girl who kisses a cute boy at the top of the Eiffel Tower? Who does she really want to be?

This was a fun and fast-paced mystery novel by Katie Alender. There were a lot of French words and phrases in this book. Obviously. It takes place in Paris. But I don't speak French, and often there were no translations, so I couldn't really follow some of what took place. Kids who are in French class, though, might find this and the history of Paris detailed in the book interesting. The book is for ages 12 and up, but I think that because the characters are in high school and because the story involves a serial killer, maybe it's more suited to older kids.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is published by Point, an imprint of Scholastic and is available to purchase now. I received a free review copy for my honest review.