September 2026

TEN PERFECT GUESTS by Jonathan Santlofer opens with 10 people being invited to a private island for a weekend memorial service for Victor D’Arcangelo, an artist who recently has died. Attendance is mandatory if you hope to reap part of the inheritance that he has left behind. All attendees arrive via first-class travel on planes and water vehicles. It feels very posh, and though there is tension among them, there is an expectation that this could be a pleasant weekend. 

The guests include Victor’s art dealers, a critic, his ex-wife, his son…you get the picture. And they are all in it for the money. 

As they walk to their accommodations, they are warned about poisonous flowers and waters where the creatures who inhabit them are flesh-eating, not friendly. There’s a beautifully laid-out dinner where the food and service are top-notch. And then they are left on their own. They all know secrets about each other. They have no idea that revenge is going to be one of the overarching parts of this weekend. 

There are vibes of Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith --- the high stakes and the foreboding feeling as you turn the pages. You quickly get the sense that survival is not going to happen, but you are not sure how and when.

Jonathan is an artist as well as an author, and he has drawn the artwork that you see as section dividers throughout the book. It is also a reason why it makes such sense that the deceased is an artist with a large inheritance to be shared. And there is something else artistic about the ending for these characters that I am not going to reveal. 

Oh, and hang on right to the end --- the part that made me say, “Aha!” 

I talked to Jonathan about TEN PERFECT GUESTS. You can watch the interview here or listen to it here.