A Boston Globe Bestseller

In 1957, Jane Weld was eleven years old when her father Luce, a petty thief, disappeared. His skiff was found drifting near the marsh, empty except for his hunting coat and a box of shot-gun shells. No one in his small New England town knew for sure what happened until, three years later, his skull rolled out of a gravel bank by the river, a bullet hole in the temple. There were rumors he had been murdered by the jealous husband of his mistress, Ada Varick. Now, half a century later, Jane is still searching for the truth of her father's death, a mystery made more urgent by the unexpected romance that her willful daughter, Marne, has struck up with one of Ada's sons. As their love affair intensifies, Jane and Ada meet for a casual Friday boardgame, that soon transforms into a cat-and-mouse game of words long left unspoken, dark secrets best left untold.

REVIEWS & PRAISE

"Love a good mystery? You'll love Game of Secrets" —Providence Journal

A combination of thriller, mystery, and literary fiction; the secrets of a murder are revealed through an intense Scrabble game.....An intelligent beach-read. —The Boston Phoenix

"A gracefully told character study of three intelligent, forbidding women and the men who love them, wrapped up in a taut, suspenseful mystery, Tripp's third novel builds to a surprising finish" —Booklist"A page-turning thriller--a game of Scrabble helps two families spell out the history of a small-town murder."
—Better Homes and Gardens

"Elizabeth Strout fans will find a lot to admire about Dawn Tripp's new novel, cleverly framed around the idea of revealing old family mysteries through a continuing series of Scrabble games between two aging matriarchs …. [A] flair for drop-dead Yankee storytelling…as a grown daughter searches for clues to her long-lost father's ultimate fate in the arrangement of tiny wooden letters"
—Minneapolis Star Tribune Summer Preview

"Like a Faulkner novel, Game of Secrets weaves in and out of time....the varied points of view and fragments are rendered with such poetry, each sentence is a pleasure." -—Providence Sunday Journal"A literary thriller that pulls you into its beautifully written world with its clever premise and vividly imagined characters."
—Largehearted Boy

This novel has it all, a mystery with an addictive plot and plot twists, complex characters, a scandalous affair, complete with details of clandestine meetings. Literary thriller fans will enjoy this creative work. I was hooked from the very beginning, and I was able to read this book in just one afternoon. It is certainly one of the best literary thrillers, that I've read in a while.
—Bibliophile By the Sea

"I rave about Dawn Tripp's Game of Secrets the story of an affair in the 50′s that has consequences now. Lush, poetic writing and a several family secrets make this a difficult book to put down"
—Books on the Nightstand "Tripp folds all together in a bittersweet blend that is fragile and elegant with moments of blinding clarity.......Between her deft and haunting prose, compassion for human imperfections and aspirations and the language of the heart, Tripp snares me as surely as a tourist in a foreign land, except that this terrain is all too familiar."
—Curled Up with a Book 

"An intelligent literary thriller with beautiful writing and an ending you won't see coming."
—SheKnows

"A hypnotic literary mystery. Startlingly original, Tripp's haunting new novel explores the secrets we keep even from ourselves."
– Caroline Leavitt , author of Pictures of You

"A brilliant metaphor is at play in the center of Game of Secrets, Dawn Tripp's extraordinary new novel. In the ongoing play of a board game, in a surprising, hauntingly resonant plot, and in complex, compelling characters, she illuminates deep truths about the way we try to piece the world together into meaning, working with what we are given, struggling with family and fate and desire….This is a truly important work by one of our finest writers."
– Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain

"A clever and mesmerizing novel about infatuation, enduring secrets, and our relentless quest to make amends. Dawn Tripp's seductive and exalting prose builds a story so luminous its scenes and images and daring ending will linger with you like half-remembered dreams."
—Jim Lynch, author of Border Songs

"Tripp's best novel to date. Game of Secrets is at once a beautiful, old-fashioned love story and a heart-stopping literary thriller…..Earthy, funny, moving, and constantly surprising, it's a masterwork."
—Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg

"In gorgeous, poetic language, Dawn Tripp narrates the lives of two families linked by scandal and tragedy and the ties that bind and divide them. Illuminated throughout by a Bergmanesque boardgame, the novel explores how the past affects the present, and how secrets can mask the path to love. A striking novel of beauty and grace. I adored every page."
—Mameve Medwed, author of How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life and Of Men and Their Mothers

The perfect balance of well crafted literature and gripping drama. Tripp tells her story through fluidly layered lenses of time and point of view, building tension with each shift of focus until I ached to know the outcome but couldn't bear to see my time in her literary dream come to an end.
–Carol Cassella, author of Oxygen and Healer

"Exquisitely written, Game of Secrets is an intriguing drama about two families, the decades-old secret between them, and the revelations that emerge from a seemingly innocent game….This is an absorbing, poignant, and powerful read."
–Jessica Treadway, author of Please Come Back to Me

"Lush, perfectly calibrated language that opens doors on every page through which the enchanted reader falls."
—Jenny White, author of The Winter Thief

"Wonderfully evocative…. gritty and realistic, yet also poetic and sightful, the novel taunts us with clue after clue until the characters' darkest secrets are revealed."
—Michael White, author of Soul Catcher

"Fair warning: Don't start Game of Secrets unless you're prepared to finish it in one sitting….because once these characters get into your head they don't let go."
—Kim Wright, author of Love in Mid-Air