I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Thursday, Mar. 12, 2026--San Antonio

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai is a different kind of "who done it" novel.   It centers around a murder that took place toward the end of the senior year at a private prep school--not an ultra exclusive one, but one exclusive enough to attract students from near and far.  It centers around a student who had been there on scholarship, was somewhat reclusive while there (while keeping watch on everything happening), and a couple of decades later is still bothered by the fact that she thinks the wrong person (the black janitor) was found guilty for committing the murder.  She is now a podcaster and is returning to the school to teach two 2-week long mini-courses during the winter break for students staying on campus.  Two of her students decide to investigate that murder as their class podcast project and the book is structured around her writing to her former music teacher who she suspects was the actual murderer.  In writing to him, she goes through all of the other potential suspects one at a time outlining how it could have gone if they were the murderer while reaching a point where she explains why it doesn't seem likely that it could have been each of them--building up to the point when she goes through why she thinks he was the one.  Former classmates become involved through the students' research process, and other podcasters who have already been interested in the past become involved further.  But the book itself is as much about the problems of modern society as it is about finding the real murderer.  It is about the cancel culture that exists where people are always ready to immediately jump to conclusions and criticize others to the point that they lose jobs and are hounded by those who have turned against them.  It's about the tendency to believe that a minority member is likely the criminal and to build a case against them without thoroughly investigating the crime.  It's about friends protecting friends by agreeing to tell the same story so that no one of them has to suffer what they consider to be undue suspicion.  It's about how what is known and suspected can lead to conclusions that may be partially right but not completely right.  I read the book because a reviewer from the NY Times said that it was recommended to her and she became so wrapped up in the story that she finished the whole book within one day.  I enjoyed it, too.  I gave if 4 stars out of 5.