Admit None: A Novel

by Alina Adams

From bestselling author Alina Adams comes a razor-sharp murder mystery where elite kindergarten admissions turn deadly—and everyone has secrets worth killing for.

Admissions decisions are due within the week. The woman who makes them just turned up dead.

Manhattan’s Arete Academy for the Gifted won’t let a little thing like murder derail their mission to accept the best and brightest kindergarteners. But Jamie Perlow, the admissions director’s assistant, isn’t buying the “tragic accident” story used to explain the death of her boss.

Suddenly promoted to interim director—and amateur sleuth—Jamie discovers four families were up for final review. All four are desperate. All four have secrets. And one of them may be willing to kill.

As Jamie investigates Manhattan’s cutthroat private school world, she realizes the truth may cost her more than these families’ combined fortunes.

With Decision Day looming and a killer still at large, Jamie must determine who deserves admission to Aggie…and which parent would murder to secure their child’s spot.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication March 27, 2027

About the author

Alina Adams is Jewish, lives on the East Coast, married with two kids and is the author of Berkley Prime Crime's "Figure Skating Mysteries," including "Murder on Ice," "On Thin Ice," and coming in January 2006 "Axel of Evil!"

Reviews

[Leanne · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Admit None is one of those mysteries that takes a world already simmering with tension — Manhattan private‑school admissions — and turns the heat up until it’s practically boiling. Kindergarten admissions are competitive enough, but when the woman who makes the decisions turns up dead just days before offers go out, the stakes become lethal.

Jamie Perlow, the admissions director’s assistant, is suddenly thrust into two roles she never asked for: interim director and amateur sleuth. I loved how the book frames her — competent, observant, quietly underestimated, and absolutely unwilling to accept the “tragic accident” explanation everyone else seems eager to swallow. She knows her boss didn’t just collapse. She knows something is wrong. And she knows exactly where to start looking.

Four families were up for final review. Four families with money, ambition, desperation, and secrets. The book delights in peeling back those layers — the curated façades, the carefully managed reputations, the lengths parents will go to secure a coveted spot at Arete Academy for the Gifted. It’s sharp, funny in that biting New York way, and threaded with the kind of social commentary that feels both outrageous and painfully believable.

Jamie’s investigation takes her through the cutthroat world of elite education: interviews, recommendation letters, whispered scandals, and parents who treat kindergarten admissions like a blood sport. I enjoyed how the tension builds — every family has motive, every family has something to hide, and every clue Jamie uncovers seems to point in a different direction. The mystery is tight, clever, and full of twists that feel earned rather than flashy.

What gives the story its emotional weight is Jamie herself. She’s navigating grief, ambition, fear, and the sudden realisation that the truth may cost her more than these families’ combined fortunes. Decision Day is looming, the killer is still at large, and Jamie must decide not just who deserves admission — but which parent would murder to secure their child’s future.

The atmosphere is deliciously tense: polished Manhattan apartments, immaculate school corridors, whispered threats, and the constant hum of privilege pressing against morality. It’s a world where reputation is everything, and where the wrong decision could destroy a life.

A razor‑sharp, addictive mystery about ambition, secrets, and the dark side of elite education. Smart, fast‑paced, and wickedly entertaining — Admit None proves that in Manhattan, even kindergarten can be deadly.

With thanks to Alina Adams and the publisher for the ARC

[Mal · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy

When admissions assistant Jamie Perlow shows up to work, at Arete Academy for the Gifted (aka Aggie), she doesn't expect to see police tape across the front door. And she definitely doesn't expect to learn that her boss, the director of admissions, has been killed just a week before admissions decisions go out. Worried that she might be next, if the killer is one of the families vying for a place at Aggie, Jamie sets out to discover her boss' killer, which starts with reviewing the four applicant files her boss had flagged. But, as Jamie gets deeper into her investigation, she finds that the world of the NYC elite is just as messy as the soapy TV shows her parents write for.

I'm generally a sucker for campus novels, especially ones set at fancy private schools. The set up for this book sounded fun and interesting, but the execution fell flat. Jamie is the right kind of main character to take on the mantle of amateur investigator--she's both part of the world (as her parents are wealthy TV writers in L.A. and she is a graduate of Yale) and an outsider (she isn't "gifted" and doesn't understand the special rules that govern the NYC private school system--but her relationship to her boss felt tenuous at best, which made it unclear why she would want to find the woman's killer. Even with that thin of logic, most of the book rehashes what many of the other novels about private school admissions have done and, sometimes, not as effectively. My biggest disappointment with the book was the ending, which felt like a lot of "telling" in exposition and long dialogue conversations/monologues that tried to make connections to the killer that felt very convoluted. For those who like these kinds of stories, this is one worth giving a try.

Admit None is out March 23, 2027

[Farah G · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

How will would you sleep if you were suddenly put in charge of admissions at an elite Manhattan school because your predecessor (and manager) had died unexpectedly just before a decision was due to be made about the murderously competitive admission process?

Jamie Perlow is doing her best to fullfil the role she has been thrust into, but the more she discovers about the families who want their kids admitted - at any cost - the more she wonders if the previous admissions officer's death was in fact somehow connected to the process underway at the school.

This is a compelling read and the author maintains the tension well from beginning to end.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit I didn't read the blurb properly, and picked this up hoping for a toxic what's app chat from the parents.
I didn't get that, but I got so much more.
I got a murder mystery, I got things to reflect on AND I got toxic parents.
All round, I feel Im the winner here!

This book does a great job of showing we can all be biased in our own ways, and that having kids can make you actually insane.
As I said it gave me some things to think about in terms of education, and expectations for our kids.
It also raised a smile or two.
A very enjoyable read.


Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy

[Jessika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who summit murder for THE MOST ELITE KINDERGARTEN school! Crazy but these parents are willing to kill to be here and now someone has! Whirlwind of a book. Check it out.

[Michaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to netgalley and lake publishing for the ARC comes out March 23, 2027


Unfortunately I DNF this book the premise sounded so intriguing but the exeuction feel flat. There was a lot of explaining and telling what's happening rather than experiencing what the character is going through as they go through it.