The Last House Guest

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death. 

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Miranda’s novel alternates between the present-day investigation and flashbacks to the previous summer. How did this structure affect your experience reading the mystery and understanding the characters?

2. The Last House Guest has been compared to other atmospheric small-town mysteries like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies or Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train. If you’ve read either of these works, what similarities or differences did you notice in Miranda’s approach to suspense and character development?

3. What specific details about Littleport made the setting feel authentic to you as a sharply divided town between locals and wealthy seasonal visitors?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Avery and Sadie’s friendship is complex and at times unbalanced. When have you experienced a friendship with similar power dynamics?

2. Throughout the novel, Avery struggles with her identity as someone who straddles two worlds in Littleport. Which aspects of her struggle to belong resonated with you most strongly?

3. The novel portrays how grief can transform a person in different ways. Which character’s experience of grief felt most authentic or relatable to you?

4. Where do you find your strongest sense of belonging, and has that changed throughout different stages of your life as it did for Avery?

5. What object in your life might symbolize your identity the way Avery’s broken infinity tattoo symbolized hers?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel portrays a clear economic divide between the locals and seasonal visitors in Littleport. What other communities experience similar seasonal transformations, and what impact does this type of tourism-based economy have on the local community?

2. In what ways does our real-world justice system similarly privilege those with wealth and connections as depicted in the novel?

3. How does the novel’s portrayal of the economic privilege to buy silence and protection compare to Gillian Flynn’s exploration of similar themes in Sharp Objects?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How reliable is Avery as a narrator? Are there moments when you noted that her perception might be skewed or incomplete?

2. Identify key moments when characters or situations are revealed to be different than they initially appeared.

3. What role does silence play as both a plot device and a thematic element throughout the novel?

4. How does Avery’s broken infinity tattoo reveal her character development from the beginning of the story to the end?

5. How does Avery’s relationship to various properties in Littleport reflect her emotional state and sense of belonging?

6. What effects does Miranda achieve by employing flashbacks and a dual timeline structure rather than telling the story chronologically?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Which actors would you cast in a film adaptation of The Last House Guest, and what aspects of the setting would be most important to capture accurately? Describe the poster art for the film.

2. Write a short paragraph describing what Avery’s life might look like five years after the events of the novel.

3. If Detective Collins had lived to face justice, how would it impact the resolution of the story and Avery’s journey toward healing? Write an alternate ending to the story with this change in mind.

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