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One Must Die
You are invited...
To the annual game where teenage competitors search Sky Manor for the key to open a vault hidden behind the deceptive walls. The winner will have the wealth of a lifetime, but there is one catch.
One contestant must die.
This year, seven people step off the zeppelin to compete. A banker's son. A rich gentleman. A nice girl. A poor shopkeeper. A gold digger. An outsider. A thief. All have secrets of their own, and all have reasons to kill.
When one player turns up dead, the other six find themselves in a game of cat and mouse, the murderer among them.
Who will win, and who will die?
To the annual game where teenage competitors search Sky Manor for the key to open a vault hidden behind the deceptive walls. The winner will have the wealth of a lifetime, but there is one catch.
One contestant must die.
This year, seven people step off the zeppelin to compete. A banker's son. A rich gentleman. A nice girl. A poor shopkeeper. A gold digger. An outsider. A thief. All have secrets of their own, and all have reasons to kill.
When one player turns up dead, the other six find themselves in a game of cat and mouse, the murderer among them.
Who will win, and who will die?
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2024
14 people are currently reading
293 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
September 24, 2024
A fun and clever little story, I don’t want to be done!
I beta read this a few months ago and I remember enjoying the guessing game I played with myself, before the authors made their announcements on who wrote which pov character. I had even more fun trying to guess whodunnit and deciphering clues.
This was a clean, well-paced exciting murder mystery novella!
I beta read this a few months ago and I remember enjoying the guessing game I played with myself, before the authors made their announcements on who wrote which pov character. I had even more fun trying to guess whodunnit and deciphering clues.
This was a clean, well-paced exciting murder mystery novella!
April 8, 2025
Wow, this was so much fun. Secrets and strategies and a mysterious manor, what could be better?! This was more about interpersonal mind games than puzzles or clues which I really enjoyed. The character arcs were amazing too.
Definitely looking forward to the spin-off novels and hopefully a reunion of the main characters. 😍
Definitely looking forward to the spin-off novels and hopefully a reunion of the main characters. 😍
October 31, 2024
If you’re a fan of the gas lamp genre, meet your next read.
Readers who enjoy Clue, The Westing Game, or Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (or her other Hercule Poirot novels) will be delighted with this murder mystery set in a steampunk world.
I loved the interesting characters who all give their own viewpoint in this puzzler. Even more impressive is that they were each written by a different author (it’s a multi-author collab) but the experience is seamless. The characters are each distinct but the writing style feels like one author. I’m not sure how they merged all of their writing styles but it’s an impressive feat.
A sky manor full of secrets and clues brings a cast of characters from different social ranks together, and it’s a fun adventure with the right amount of Victorian references that give it the steampunk feel.
There’s a lack of clean mystery/suspense written for teens and we need more.
Readers who enjoy Clue, The Westing Game, or Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (or her other Hercule Poirot novels) will be delighted with this murder mystery set in a steampunk world.
I loved the interesting characters who all give their own viewpoint in this puzzler. Even more impressive is that they were each written by a different author (it’s a multi-author collab) but the experience is seamless. The characters are each distinct but the writing style feels like one author. I’m not sure how they merged all of their writing styles but it’s an impressive feat.
A sky manor full of secrets and clues brings a cast of characters from different social ranks together, and it’s a fun adventure with the right amount of Victorian references that give it the steampunk feel.
There’s a lack of clean mystery/suspense written for teens and we need more.
November 13, 2024
I'm not sure I've ever read a novel co-written by six people before. Not an anthology, but a single novel! It's quite the ambitious endeavor, but I think it worked really well.
This book is kind of like if you put The Westing Game and Clue and Murder on the Orient Express and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in a blender. It's a fast-paced ride, but never gets too scary or too bloody or too intense. I'll be handing this off to my tween and teens to read now that I've finished it.
This book is kind of like if you put The Westing Game and Clue and Murder on the Orient Express and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in a blender. It's a fast-paced ride, but never gets too scary or too bloody or too intense. I'll be handing this off to my tween and teens to read now that I've finished it.
December 22, 2025
So I technically didn’t finish this but THAT’S HOW BAD IT WAS. This book sounds like it would be right up my alley, but it wasn’t. I’m immensely disappointed. I’ll rant about it soon
Dnf at 50% flipped through the rest and skimmed the ending which looked horrible.
I’m still counting it towards my reading goal though, because I can
On second thought I’m actually not gonna count it towards my reading goal. If you can’t tell I’m an indecisive girlie ✨
Dnf at 50% flipped through the rest and skimmed the ending which looked horrible.
I’m still counting it towards my reading goal though, because I can
On second thought I’m actually not gonna count it towards my reading goal. If you can’t tell I’m an indecisive girlie ✨
September 23, 2024
This is a twist on the classic “whodunit” type story. A steampunk version of people trapped in a creepy house for wealth and fame. Reminiscent of Clue or House on Haunted Hill, the story has many twists and turns, finger pointing, hidden passages, lies, and a vault of gold.
The plot was intriguing. It has plenty of surprises and revelations that will make you change your position the culprit. Each contestant comes with a dark past and secrets that they want kept hidden. However, this game could be the undoing of their lies and be the beginning of their downfall.
The characters all have many layers. They are brought to life in technicolor flaws and all. None are perfect and all have done things they regret. They represent backgrounds of all sorts. All trying to make the best of the cards dealt them whether by the consequences of their own actions or the circumstances of their birth.
This does end on a cliff hanger…cue the frustration of waiting for the next one. I do hope they dive a little deeper into the world at large to understand better the political and social hierarchy as well as the magic. I’d also like more backstory on all the characters. We get glimpses of things in their past, but I definitely want more info on them!
If you love mysteries, steampunk vibes, multi-pov, hidden identities, creepy mansions with secret passages, creepy deep riddles, and a side of whimsy, this one is for you!
No spice, no language(that I can recall), a little violence but nothing too descriptive.
The plot was intriguing. It has plenty of surprises and revelations that will make you change your position the culprit. Each contestant comes with a dark past and secrets that they want kept hidden. However, this game could be the undoing of their lies and be the beginning of their downfall.
The characters all have many layers. They are brought to life in technicolor flaws and all. None are perfect and all have done things they regret. They represent backgrounds of all sorts. All trying to make the best of the cards dealt them whether by the consequences of their own actions or the circumstances of their birth.
This does end on a cliff hanger…cue the frustration of waiting for the next one. I do hope they dive a little deeper into the world at large to understand better the political and social hierarchy as well as the magic. I’d also like more backstory on all the characters. We get glimpses of things in their past, but I definitely want more info on them!
If you love mysteries, steampunk vibes, multi-pov, hidden identities, creepy mansions with secret passages, creepy deep riddles, and a side of whimsy, this one is for you!
No spice, no language(that I can recall), a little violence but nothing too descriptive.
January 7, 2025
A deadly contest in an ominous floating mansion? Can't get much cooler than that, however there were a few execution flaws I think prevented it from reaching it's full potential. I'm going to break this review into what I liked and what could have been better.
What I liked:
- The concept is extremely cool, especially setting it in a steampunk world and a sort of sentient mansion that adapts to its players strengths and weaknesses. It's filled with automatons, winding passageways, and strange rooms that increase the eerieness. It's an enjoyable setting!
- The character portraits at the beginning of each chapter, as well as the nicknames, helped me keep all the characters straight. Seven POVs is a lot to juggle, but I appreciated this help.
- The cover design is really gripping and the key design on the pages looks so pretty!
- I was surprised by all the plot twists and the pace kept everything moving quickly.
What could have been better:
- I wish I'd had more chances to explore the mansion in depth. The descriptions tended to be rather brief and scattered and due to the frequent changes in POV I had trouble piecing together any kind of layout. I think with a hundred or so more pages, the story, it's character, and plot could all have been much more fleshed out and met it's full potential!
- Despite the authors' diligent efforts, I still found myself confused about the characters fairly often. Seven POVs was simply too many for me to connect with any of the characters in a significant way. Which was a bummer because most of the characters had interesting pasts and unique secrets I would have enjoyed exploring.
- Some of the twists felt a bit out of nowhere because of the lack of foreshadowing... Just a bit more length to the book and perhaps a few less POVs and I'm sure the twists would have packed their full punch.
Overall, it was a quick read that piqued my interest multiple times, but unfortunately fell short at times.
What I liked:
- The concept is extremely cool, especially setting it in a steampunk world and a sort of sentient mansion that adapts to its players strengths and weaknesses. It's filled with automatons, winding passageways, and strange rooms that increase the eerieness. It's an enjoyable setting!
- The character portraits at the beginning of each chapter, as well as the nicknames, helped me keep all the characters straight. Seven POVs is a lot to juggle, but I appreciated this help.
- The cover design is really gripping and the key design on the pages looks so pretty!
- I was surprised by all the plot twists and the pace kept everything moving quickly.
What could have been better:
- I wish I'd had more chances to explore the mansion in depth. The descriptions tended to be rather brief and scattered and due to the frequent changes in POV I had trouble piecing together any kind of layout. I think with a hundred or so more pages, the story, it's character, and plot could all have been much more fleshed out and met it's full potential!
- Despite the authors' diligent efforts, I still found myself confused about the characters fairly often. Seven POVs was simply too many for me to connect with any of the characters in a significant way. Which was a bummer because most of the characters had interesting pasts and unique secrets I would have enjoyed exploring.
- Some of the twists felt a bit out of nowhere because of the lack of foreshadowing... Just a bit more length to the book and perhaps a few less POVs and I'm sure the twists would have packed their full punch.
Overall, it was a quick read that piqued my interest multiple times, but unfortunately fell short at times.
Read
November 27, 2024Fun read for my preteen daughter and I together! The storyline kept us guessing constantly. It was hard to believe that this book had several different authors, because it felt seamless. We’ll definitely be interested in further stories with these characters.
August 24, 2025
I loved the concept of this ! a bunch of authors got together and each author wrote for a different character - this was such a fun short read that very much reminded me of the board game Clue 🔍
September 30, 2024
This was a fun steampunk version of clue. Even though there are several authors contributing to this story, it flowed and read as if it was just one author. I loved the character art at the beginning of each chapter as well. I also enjoyed trying to piece together the clues. I would definitely recommend this book!
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
September 18, 2024
Fun mystery. I liked the touches of Steampunk, but it was nice to see the authors didn't go overboard with that element. The setting served the story well. I also loved the little touches with the character portraits and the butler's notes between chapters. Made everything a lot easier to keep track of.
This is the first of what appears to be two novellas.
This is the first of what appears to be two novellas.
December 12, 2024
This steampunk murder mystery had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! I'd never read a novel written by so many authors before, and I was incredibly impressed by how seamless the story was and how well it worked with the multiple viewpoints of the different characters. The characterizations were great, and I loved the way information about each character and his or her relationships was slowly revealed to the reader. The thread of redemption woven through the book was great--more murder mysteries should be written that way! Five stars for an exciting, compelling book! 😊
October 27, 2024
This steampunk murder mystery is so fun to read. Clues are woven into the story so well that I found myself going back and rereading random chapters because I kept thinking "Wait, I know something about this, right!? There was a clue in chapter three, right!?"
The authors did an amazing job weaving together this story. I hope there’s a book two coming 👀 I highly recommend One Must Die!
The authors did an amazing job weaving together this story. I hope there’s a book two coming 👀 I highly recommend One Must Die!
October 30, 2024
Did you love watching Law & Order, NCIS, CSI, or any of the other shows and trying to figure out who the bad guy was before they were revealed? Do you like Clue and whodunnits? Did you love the Inheritance Games series, especially the games within them?
If so, give this book a chance! It's the perfect mix of fantasy, steampunk, and whodunnit elements. Trying to figure out what is going on with everyone and solve it all before the end.
While there's a sequel I can't wait to read, it still left with an overall satisfying feeling that I loved.
The characters kept you guessing... are they good? Are they bad? Do they have a tragic backstory? Are they just in survival?
I loved the steampunk mansion game. It was a creative house-turned-escape room. The butler made me laugh, especially with his "notes" along the way through the story. Honestly, this book really seemed to have a little bit of everything for everyone! I highly recommend it!
If so, give this book a chance! It's the perfect mix of fantasy, steampunk, and whodunnit elements. Trying to figure out what is going on with everyone and solve it all before the end.
While there's a sequel I can't wait to read, it still left with an overall satisfying feeling that I loved.
The characters kept you guessing... are they good? Are they bad? Do they have a tragic backstory? Are they just in survival?
I loved the steampunk mansion game. It was a creative house-turned-escape room. The butler made me laugh, especially with his "notes" along the way through the story. Honestly, this book really seemed to have a little bit of everything for everyone! I highly recommend it!
October 24, 2024
I went into this book, expecting something great, and that is exactly what these authors delivered!
This was a great steampunk murder mystery, with unique characters, multiple POV’s, plot twists, a tad bit of romance, and of course mystery.
We do get a happy ending, but beware, it does end on a cliffhanger👀
One little issue I had with the book was not getting enough information about the different characters pasts. It sometimes got a bit jumbled, and I felt like I didn’t have enough info about them.
All in all, these six authors came out with an excellent book, with great characters and an equally great plot🤩
I can’t wait for the next book and see how the rest of this series plays out🫣
I received an ARC from the author, and here is my honest review on this book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a great steampunk murder mystery, with unique characters, multiple POV’s, plot twists, a tad bit of romance, and of course mystery.
We do get a happy ending, but beware, it does end on a cliffhanger👀
One little issue I had with the book was not getting enough information about the different characters pasts. It sometimes got a bit jumbled, and I felt like I didn’t have enough info about them.
All in all, these six authors came out with an excellent book, with great characters and an equally great plot🤩
I can’t wait for the next book and see how the rest of this series plays out🫣
I received an ARC from the author, and here is my honest review on this book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 28, 2024
I LOVED THIS!!!
What a fantastic ya steampunk murder mystery!! The idea of the game, with all the hidden keys and a hidden vault inside a floating mansion with deceptive walls, played by seven people who all have secrets that will be revealed, it was so much fun!! When it ended, there was a reveal of a second book coming in 2025!! I can’t wait!! Highly recommended!!!
What a fantastic ya steampunk murder mystery!! The idea of the game, with all the hidden keys and a hidden vault inside a floating mansion with deceptive walls, played by seven people who all have secrets that will be revealed, it was so much fun!! When it ended, there was a reveal of a second book coming in 2025!! I can’t wait!! Highly recommended!!!
November 18, 2024
This was a really fun concept for a book! I loved the setting and the cast of characters that you are trying to discover their true motives. I thought some parts of the ending could have been a little stronger and some aspects a little tighter throughout, but overall a very fun and quick read.
Trigger/content warnings: discussion of death and murder. No spice/steam to note.
Trigger/content warnings: discussion of death and murder. No spice/steam to note.
October 28, 2025
Eh. I really wanted to like this, but for some reason, it just didn’t work for me.
October 29, 2024
I loved the high stakes, intriguing characters and surprising plot twists in this book. I also loved the charecter development!
October 25, 2024
I enjoyed this one. It's a very quick read with multiple POV. It's giving steampunk Clue vibes. There were some things I would have liked to be explained a bit more. I don't know if this is planned to be a series but I hope so based on the ending.
Thank you to the authors for an advanced copy of this book
Thank you to the authors for an advanced copy of this book
November 16, 2024
A great book. The more I read, the more I couldn’t stop reading it! I can’t wait for more❤️
December 11, 2024
This steampunk mystery/adventure story had me glued to my seat. I read it in one day! I have the ebook and the audiobook, so I listened as I read. I sped up the audio to match my reading speed - what a terrific reading experience! Full immersion - highly recommended! In the story world, there are floating islands in the sky where the wealthy vacation in luxurious mansions. One of them, Sky Manor, hosts a competition for a fabulous treasure every year. 100 teenaged competitors are invited via a letter, but only a small group accepts the challenge. Why? Because in order for any of the competitors to win the prize… One. Must. Die.
October 31, 2024
A Delightful Collaboration
Six authors, one delightfully deceitful cast of characters. In One Must Die, seven contenders fight for a prize of great riches all while their most devious secrets come to life. But in the search for keys and clues, all but one will find a greater prize than what the hidden vault has to offer. Who will win and who will die? Read this engaging steampunk murder mystery to find out!
One Must Die is a fun character-driven story that explores the secrets and connections between the seven contestants. The engaging point of views made it fun to follow each character and I loved the portraits for each person at the start of their chapters. I also loved the mysterious nature of the floating island and Sky Manor. Those automatons working throughout the mansion were slightly spooky and added an excellent layer of suspense to the story. I can’t wait to see how the story continues in book two after the exciting way book one ended!
Six authors, one delightfully deceitful cast of characters. In One Must Die, seven contenders fight for a prize of great riches all while their most devious secrets come to life. But in the search for keys and clues, all but one will find a greater prize than what the hidden vault has to offer. Who will win and who will die? Read this engaging steampunk murder mystery to find out!
One Must Die is a fun character-driven story that explores the secrets and connections between the seven contestants. The engaging point of views made it fun to follow each character and I loved the portraits for each person at the start of their chapters. I also loved the mysterious nature of the floating island and Sky Manor. Those automatons working throughout the mansion were slightly spooky and added an excellent layer of suspense to the story. I can’t wait to see how the story continues in book two after the exciting way book one ended!
December 5, 2024
SO intriguing!! Could not put this down and drank in every moment! Loved Loved Loved!
October 14, 2024
⭐️: 4.5 stars
✨review ✨
this was a interesting read, I normally do not like multiple points of view books it didn't bother me so much on this. this book was a interesting premise with each author writing a different POV. It made for a different read for sure. I would totally recommend this book.
✨review ✨
this was a interesting read, I normally do not like multiple points of view books it didn't bother me so much on this. this book was a interesting premise with each author writing a different POV. It made for a different read for sure. I would totally recommend this book.
October 5, 2024
I enjoyed guessing who would die and who would win in this steampunk murder mystery. You’d never know this book was a multi-author collaboration the way the distinct character voices wove together perfectly. I’d recommend this book for anyone who loves clean mysteries, complex, imperfect characters, multiple POVs, mysteries, and steampunk settings.
November 23, 2024
This was such a fun twist on a typical murder mystery type story! I cannot believe it was written by so many different authors together! It flowed so smoothly and was very cohesive. I really enjoyed it and seeing how everything played out from all the different points of view.
November 21, 2024
I haven’t read a steampunk novel since Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and had forgotten how much I like them. This one has all the earmarks of true steampunk with automatons, a cloud-floating mansion, a zeppelin, steaming pipes, swiftly growing vines, and Victoria-era clothing and dialogue. The authors penned a terrific who-dun-it that kept me guessing until the end. I can’t wait for the spin-off novels.
January 7, 2025
I picked up this book as a buddy read with a friend because we were intrigued by how many authors wrote it. I have a hard enough time getting students to complete projects on time, so the idea of 6 authors successfully completing a book was downright miraculous!
The writing styles stayed fairly consistent from author to author. There are minor differences, so it’s not entirely seamless, but it’s quite impressive to pull off a feat like that. I enjoyed the writing style for Zenith’s chapters.
I enjoyed the length of the book—it was a quick read, and the pace was snappy so I never got bored. However, this is a rare occasion where that didn’t work much in the story’s favor. With something as complex as a steampunk magical murder mystery with 7 POVs, this book probably needed at least another 100 pages to build up tension, build relationships between the characters, and do some worldbuilding. There were so many cool concepts that could have been explored and it would’ve been really neat to learn more.
The characters were okay. I’m very much a character-driven reader, and the amount of characterization that occurs in this story feels inconsistent (and not quite enough). Some characters disappear entirely for large portions of the book. The female characters were mostly written in the context of their romantic connection to a man, which I found rather uninteresting. One character switches gears entirely and does a 180 with no foreshadowing. One contributes very little to the plot except for being dark and brooding. It felt like the bones of the characters were present, but the rest of them weren’t quite fleshed out yet.
I found the premise interesting, but the execution left me confused. I’m already not very good at piecing together clues, and the actual murder-mansion progression took a backseat to character dynamics. The ending also confused me, because it seemed to render the entire plot functionally useless. (I also have a lot of thoughts on the epilogue, specifically with the age gap romance between two characters that I couldn’t remember interacting in the story.)
2 stars, because I was able to finish it! This felt a lot like an early draft, and I think it has a lot of potential to grow from here.
The writing styles stayed fairly consistent from author to author. There are minor differences, so it’s not entirely seamless, but it’s quite impressive to pull off a feat like that. I enjoyed the writing style for Zenith’s chapters.
I enjoyed the length of the book—it was a quick read, and the pace was snappy so I never got bored. However, this is a rare occasion where that didn’t work much in the story’s favor. With something as complex as a steampunk magical murder mystery with 7 POVs, this book probably needed at least another 100 pages to build up tension, build relationships between the characters, and do some worldbuilding. There were so many cool concepts that could have been explored and it would’ve been really neat to learn more.
The characters were okay. I’m very much a character-driven reader, and the amount of characterization that occurs in this story feels inconsistent (and not quite enough). Some characters disappear entirely for large portions of the book. The female characters were mostly written in the context of their romantic connection to a man, which I found rather uninteresting. One character switches gears entirely and does a 180 with no foreshadowing. One contributes very little to the plot except for being dark and brooding. It felt like the bones of the characters were present, but the rest of them weren’t quite fleshed out yet.
I found the premise interesting, but the execution left me confused. I’m already not very good at piecing together clues, and the actual murder-mansion progression took a backseat to character dynamics. The ending also confused me, because it seemed to render the entire plot functionally useless. (I also have a lot of thoughts on the epilogue, specifically with the age gap romance between two characters that I couldn’t remember interacting in the story.)
2 stars, because I was able to finish it! This felt a lot like an early draft, and I think it has a lot of potential to grow from here.
September 25, 2024
“ One Must Die” is a steampunk murder mystery. Fans of “ Clue” will enjoy this. This was a clean fun mystery and perfect timing for Halloween around the corner. There are multiple POV’s, which can be confusing at times but it all came together in the end. I was guessing who the killer was until the end along with all the other details and background information. We are left on a cliff hanger and I look forward to reading the next book to find out more answers.
I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to write a review.
I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to write a review.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews