I've been on a murder mystery kick lately, buffering all the classics my book club is reading with police detective novels and psychological thrillers. So when I saw that the author of the May pick for Reese's Book Club was billed as "monied Manhattan’s very own Agatha Christie," I knew I was in for a ride. This month, Witherspoon is reading The Fine Art of Lying by Alexandra Andrews, and it immediately plunges readers into the high-stakes, violent art world occupied by the 1 percent.
Reese's Book Club's May Pick Is a Twisty Thriller Across Manhattan's Elite Art World
Think Agatha Christie for Manhattan's 1 percent
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Published May 5, 2026
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"Get ready to dive into a page-turning murder mystery set in a world of art dealers, thieves, and international criminals," Witherspoon's caption reads.
"This book is crazy," Witherspoon added in a separate video, looking very clearly engrossed and distraught at what was happening on the page. "It is all about lying and people making horrible decisions. And they're all so wealthy. And it's New York and the world of art. And there's a murder!
The novel follows Clare Bast, a girl raised in upstate New York who follows her passion for art to Manhattan, where she meets and marries the affluent Jed. Now ensconced in a comfortable Upper East Side life, she spends her days taking care of their daughter and allowing her half-finished Ph.D. to languish, all the while feeling like an imposter in her husband's posh world. But one day, Clare is introduced to an art dealer who is in possession of an influential piece of artwork, created by the artist about whom her dissertation was written. The only problem is that when she arrives at the brownstone, Clare finds herself at the scene of a grisly murder—and she's the chief suspect.
The Fine Art of Lying is Andrews's sophomore novel, following on the heels of 2021's Who is Maud Dixon?, a similarly suspenseful novel that follows a woman who wakes up after a car accident and a boss who has mysteriously disappeared. All I know is that I need both on my TBR, stat.
