What do you think?
Rate this book
What Happened to Helen Rochester
Marigold Sparks is one exam away from finishing her first year of law school. Summer is so close she can taste it, but when her freshman roommate (and mortal enemy) texts Marigold out of the blue with an urgent request, her plans are derailed.
Helen Rochester – daughter of the university president – has mysteriously died of an overdose, and unlike the police, her closest friends are desperate to find the culprit. Mare reluctantly agrees to help investigate, even if it’s in part to distract herself from the sudden reappearance of her best friend from undergrad who vanished from her life one year ago with no explanation.
But uncovering the murky truth behind that night is more fraught than Mare could have imagined, and before she knows it, she's wrapped up in the plot herself. To clear her name, protect her friends, and get Helen the justice she deserves, Marigold will be forced to put herself in situations just as shadowy as what happened to Helen Rochester.
Helen Rochester – daughter of the university president – has mysteriously died of an overdose, and unlike the police, her closest friends are desperate to find the culprit. Mare reluctantly agrees to help investigate, even if it’s in part to distract herself from the sudden reappearance of her best friend from undergrad who vanished from her life one year ago with no explanation.
But uncovering the murky truth behind that night is more fraught than Mare could have imagined, and before she knows it, she's wrapped up in the plot herself. To clear her name, protect her friends, and get Helen the justice she deserves, Marigold will be forced to put herself in situations just as shadowy as what happened to Helen Rochester.
301 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 17, 2024
23 people are currently reading
1527 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
September 25, 2024
My heart is POUNDING but I am also HAPPY because it was so GOOD clare gilmore is SO GOOD
April 21, 2024
Can this be a series? Please? I want to solve more crimes with Marigold and Sally and the guys!
April 24, 2024
It’s official: I will happily read absolutely anything that Clare Gilmore writes.
For fans of Love Interest and the upcoming Perfect Fit, please know that this is not a romcom. Yes, there is a romantic element threaded throughout, but this is a mystery through and through. And my god, it was just SO good.
I am never the person to guess plot twists or reveals, and let me tell you: this book surprised me every step of the way. I truly didn’t know how I felt about a majority of the characters and that made it such a fun reading experience. Clare did such a good job of making so many of these people completely unreliable to keep the reader on their toes!! Van Sellers is such a wild card - do I love him? Do I hate him? Is he guilty? Isn’t it always the boyfriend??? The back and forth with his character was a large reason why I had the best time with this book.
Marigold is such a great MC: so self-aware and intelligent. I loved her friendship with Sally and her realizations about Noah.
I like to think of this book as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but college and less dark. Highly recommend picking What Happened to Helen Rochester up on Kindle Unlimited!
For fans of Love Interest and the upcoming Perfect Fit, please know that this is not a romcom. Yes, there is a romantic element threaded throughout, but this is a mystery through and through. And my god, it was just SO good.
I am never the person to guess plot twists or reveals, and let me tell you: this book surprised me every step of the way. I truly didn’t know how I felt about a majority of the characters and that made it such a fun reading experience. Clare did such a good job of making so many of these people completely unreliable to keep the reader on their toes!! Van Sellers is such a wild card - do I love him? Do I hate him? Is he guilty? Isn’t it always the boyfriend??? The back and forth with his character was a large reason why I had the best time with this book.
Marigold is such a great MC: so self-aware and intelligent. I loved her friendship with Sally and her realizations about Noah.
I like to think of this book as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but college and less dark. Highly recommend picking What Happened to Helen Rochester up on Kindle Unlimited!
June 3, 2024
My only complaint is that it ended too fast!!! I wanted more!!!
Seriously though I really enjoyed this. Think pretty little liars with some gossip girl vibes thrown in there, add some betrayal, secrets, and a lil romance and you have this book. A murder mystery set at a prestigious law school in Nashville and 5 friends that can’t trust each other. This was so fast paced, so fun, and I didn’t predict who did it so that’s always a huge plus. I loved the fmc, Marigold bc I could relate to her a little too much!!! Truly my only complaints are that I wish there had been more romance/flashbacks/interaction between Noah and Marigold and that the ending had been extended a little more!!! Overall a great book and just what I needed at the time!!
“What do I want? To belong somewhere.
To belong with friends who want to belong with me.”
Come for my neck why don’t you!!!
Seriously though I really enjoyed this. Think pretty little liars with some gossip girl vibes thrown in there, add some betrayal, secrets, and a lil romance and you have this book. A murder mystery set at a prestigious law school in Nashville and 5 friends that can’t trust each other. This was so fast paced, so fun, and I didn’t predict who did it so that’s always a huge plus. I loved the fmc, Marigold bc I could relate to her a little too much!!! Truly my only complaints are that I wish there had been more romance/flashbacks/interaction between Noah and Marigold and that the ending had been extended a little more!!! Overall a great book and just what I needed at the time!!
“What do I want? To belong somewhere.
To belong with friends who want to belong with me.”
Come for my neck why don’t you!!!
April 22, 2024
One thing about me is that if Clare writes something I will read it immediately.
Literally the only reason that I didn’t have this fully finished the same day she surprise-dropped it is because I was already in the middle of another book and I knew this would deserve my full attention 😅
And once again she DELIVERED and DID NOT DISAPPOINT.
Y’all have heard me complain SO much about how I have been drifting from mysteries/thrillers/etc because the relationships in them are always toxic garbage. But guess what!!!! The romantic subplot in this is SWEET AND WHOLESOME AND EARNEST and they are FRIENDS who TRUST AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
One major TW: the plot of this is centered around the death of a college student due to an overdose, and while no specific drugs are ever named, this is very sensitive subject matter for a lot of people (myself included) and I urge anyone interested in reading to make sure you’re in a place to read about that! Clare includes TWs at the start of the book as well.
When Marigold gets an SOS text from her ex-roommates (who are also ex-friends), it throws her entire life into chaos. Days away from completing law school, Marigold finds herself in the middle of an investigation into the overdose death of Helen Rochester - the daughter of the university president and a woman who has replaced Marigold in more ways than one.
But while the police seem content to rule her death an accident, her friends are not convinced; and the more Marigold looks into it, the more sure she is that there was nothing accidental about it. For reasons both circumstantial and extremely personal, Marigold agrees to help them investigate - only to be joined by her best friend from undergrad who all but ghosted her a year prior.
As Marigold finds herself deeply invested (and involved) in what happened to Helen Rochester, she’s also forced to face parts of her past that she’s been trying hard to put behind her. And the deeper she searches, the more danger she finds herself in - and the clearer it becomes that nothing is clear at all.
Literally the only reason that I didn’t have this fully finished the same day she surprise-dropped it is because I was already in the middle of another book and I knew this would deserve my full attention 😅
And once again she DELIVERED and DID NOT DISAPPOINT.
Y’all have heard me complain SO much about how I have been drifting from mysteries/thrillers/etc because the relationships in them are always toxic garbage. But guess what!!!! The romantic subplot in this is SWEET AND WHOLESOME AND EARNEST and they are FRIENDS who TRUST AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
One major TW: the plot of this is centered around the death of a college student due to an overdose, and while no specific drugs are ever named, this is very sensitive subject matter for a lot of people (myself included) and I urge anyone interested in reading to make sure you’re in a place to read about that! Clare includes TWs at the start of the book as well.
When Marigold gets an SOS text from her ex-roommates (who are also ex-friends), it throws her entire life into chaos. Days away from completing law school, Marigold finds herself in the middle of an investigation into the overdose death of Helen Rochester - the daughter of the university president and a woman who has replaced Marigold in more ways than one.
But while the police seem content to rule her death an accident, her friends are not convinced; and the more Marigold looks into it, the more sure she is that there was nothing accidental about it. For reasons both circumstantial and extremely personal, Marigold agrees to help them investigate - only to be joined by her best friend from undergrad who all but ghosted her a year prior.
As Marigold finds herself deeply invested (and involved) in what happened to Helen Rochester, she’s also forced to face parts of her past that she’s been trying hard to put behind her. And the deeper she searches, the more danger she finds herself in - and the clearer it becomes that nothing is clear at all.
April 29, 2024
I knew Clare was going to be a favorite author when I finished Love Interest and this definitely confirms that. Something to be clear about is this is not a romance, it’s a mystery. However, there is some romance in there and some one liners that were just perfect! Being a mainly romance reader I made sure to set the expectations of this not having the usual level of romance I would expect in a book I’d typically pick up.
The mystery aspect was super fun. I was right there questioning people along the way trying to figure who did it. There were multiple times where I was like well it could be this person, but also this person. The person who ended up doing it makes total sense once you finally get there.
I think it really says something when an author can thrive across multiple genres. Can’t wait to read more from Clare.
🏫 takes place in college
🔎 who did it? style mystery
👩⚖️ main character is a law student
❤️ a sprinkle of romance (friends to lovers)
single POV
4/5 stars ⭐️
The mystery aspect was super fun. I was right there questioning people along the way trying to figure who did it. There were multiple times where I was like well it could be this person, but also this person. The person who ended up doing it makes total sense once you finally get there.
I think it really says something when an author can thrive across multiple genres. Can’t wait to read more from Clare.
🏫 takes place in college
🔎 who did it? style mystery
👩⚖️ main character is a law student
❤️ a sprinkle of romance (friends to lovers)
single POV
4/5 stars ⭐️
April 25, 2024
What a pleasant surprise from Clare Gilmore - solidifying her as a favorite author!
I love when authors venture into a new genre. I get to better decide if I am a fan of their writing, and Clare helped me do that with this independently published title. This was a fun blend of light academia, murder mystery, and social commentary on the elite society of the south. And we can't forget a stunning romance subplot that had me giggling and kicking my feet like a normal romance novel!
I can't help myself when it comes to finding pieces of myself in each of Clare's characters - both the heroes and the "villains" of her books. She writes stunningly raw and complex characters that make you step back and realize there is more nuance in the argument of a "good" and a "bad" person. Even her main characters are flawed, and as a reader you go on the journey of them learning to accept those flawed parts of themselves alongside them. I am counting down the days until Clare's next release!!
I love when authors venture into a new genre. I get to better decide if I am a fan of their writing, and Clare helped me do that with this independently published title. This was a fun blend of light academia, murder mystery, and social commentary on the elite society of the south. And we can't forget a stunning romance subplot that had me giggling and kicking my feet like a normal romance novel!
I can't help myself when it comes to finding pieces of myself in each of Clare's characters - both the heroes and the "villains" of her books. She writes stunningly raw and complex characters that make you step back and realize there is more nuance in the argument of a "good" and a "bad" person. Even her main characters are flawed, and as a reader you go on the journey of them learning to accept those flawed parts of themselves alongside them. I am counting down the days until Clare's next release!!
December 20, 2024
why was this not advertised me !!!!!!!!!!!!! i was reached out to read an arc of perfect fit but i didn't even know this book EXISTED????
September 1, 2025
this is my formal petition for Clare to write more murder mysteries please and thank you
June 11, 2024
I need to read more mystery bcos I really enjoyed that! Hope she writes more of these characters
May 18, 2024
Best book I have read so far in 2024. This was so perfect in every possible way.
May 2, 2024
More people should know about this book. It was just as enthralling of a mystery as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, One of Us Is Lying, or Truly Devious. I devoured it.
My favorite romance trope + a can’t-put-down mystery = *chef’s kiss*
My favorite romance trope + a can’t-put-down mystery = *chef’s kiss*
April 28, 2024
Clare I will read anything you write
August 3, 2024
Really enjoyable mystery. Marigold was a thoroughly appealing lead and a competent investigator. Sally was a great support to Mare and, asa journalist, and even more competent investigator. I liked the surrounding cast, Van and Noah and Brenda and their intertwined connections that lead to the mishmash of a group trying to solve the murder. There were a lot of red herrings and some very subtle hints about the actual killer. I liked how it unfolded even if the final reveals felt a little rushed. I’d definitely read more about this fun little group.
Read
August 18, 2025oh no. dnf at 28%. what's going on with this author??
I don't understand what's going on with this book. Is this supposed to be a cozy mystery or a romance? It feels half finished, with some parts well written and interesting, while other parts have glaring potholes and are just boring. It feels like an editor chose a few random pages to work on at a time and just didn't get to parts of the book. I ask almost quit in chapter 2 with the line "The kitchen exploded in feminine panic" (wtf?) I actually quit in chapter 7 when a character says "angelizing". That's not even a word!
I don't understand what's going on with this book. Is this supposed to be a cozy mystery or a romance? It feels half finished, with some parts well written and interesting, while other parts have glaring potholes and are just boring. It feels like an editor chose a few random pages to work on at a time and just didn't get to parts of the book. I ask almost quit in chapter 2 with the line "The kitchen exploded in feminine panic" (wtf?) I actually quit in chapter 7 when a character says "angelizing". That's not even a word!
April 30, 2024
It's official, I will read anything Clare Gilmore writes.
I really enjoyed this! So different from the other book I've read from Clare Gilmore, but no less interesting and fun to read. The romance sub-plot was perfect and I loved the mystery aspect and honestly was shocked at the reveal at the end.
I really enjoyed this! So different from the other book I've read from Clare Gilmore, but no less interesting and fun to read. The romance sub-plot was perfect and I loved the mystery aspect and honestly was shocked at the reveal at the end.
May 16, 2024
this book was so good!!! although i do think the ending could’ve went in a different direction, I cannot deny that clare gilmore’s writing is absolutely addictive. I read 50% of this book in one sitting bc I was so enthralled by the story and the way it was being told. I cannot wait to read their other books!
May 26, 2024
10/10 would recommend!
I liked this book SO MUCH. It’s giving Summer of Broken Rules + Finlay Donovan is Killing it!! Two of my favorite books = this one and I would highly recommend!
This law school murder mystery is filled with intrigue, secrets, romance, and a puzzle all through out!
Genuinely such a great time reading this book, hope you pick it up too!
I liked this book SO MUCH. It’s giving Summer of Broken Rules + Finlay Donovan is Killing it!! Two of my favorite books = this one and I would highly recommend!
This law school murder mystery is filled with intrigue, secrets, romance, and a puzzle all through out!
Genuinely such a great time reading this book, hope you pick it up too!
August 18, 2024
A lot of fun and a compelling page turner that had me guessing who did it and why (and honestly I didn’t expect that). It’s a cozy mystery with dash of second chance romance. But while it’s ‘cozy’ there’s real issues as one would expect at a university campus. I hope Clare Gilmore returns to this genre.
December 17, 2024
3.5 stars. I loved the mystery and the investigation the friends were doing, and i loved the dynamic betweeb Noah and “Golden” (although i feel like i could have used more of that). it was funny and heartfelt, but by the end i did wonder…what was the ultimate point? i guess i could ask that about most books i read.
March 4, 2025
An easy and fun read, perfect for a reading slump! I have only read 1 other of Clare Gilmores books and it wasn’t my favorite so I didn’t have super high expectations for this book but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Is it the most well developed mystery I’ve ever read? Definitely not. But all around I had a really fun time and genuinely wanted to know how it ended.
November 3, 2024
this story definitely needed more time to cook in the oven but it was really enjoyable in the same way you enjoy an episode of pretty little liars…not everything makes perfect sense but it’s fun and dramatic enough to make you overlook the messiness
March 14, 2025
Okay this one was sooo good! I am a sucker for murder mystery and this one kept me guessing the whole time. I didn’t guess the killer until it was right in front of my face. I hope Clare Gilmore writes more like this! I wouldn’t even mind a sequel!
April 30, 2024
As a woman of a certain age, any book with a Logan Huntzberger reference is automatically endeared to me and every other wonderful thing about this book was just icing on the cake.
May 6, 2024
4.5⭐️
The second half of this book had me at the edge of my seat!
The second half of this book had me at the edge of my seat!
May 13, 2024
Someone get Reece Witherspoon on the phone asap so we can get a short series of What Happened to Helen Rochester on HBO PLZ!!!!!!! I devoured this book!!!
May 16, 2024
a quick fun read
May 19, 2024
This book should really be more popular! It was a fun read that kept me interested. I hope the author will revisit these characters so we get to know them even better.
May 25, 2024
maybe 2.5? wasn’t bad but it really really wasn’t good either
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews