Only Najwa and Trina’s former boyfriend Mark seem to care about the clues, though. The posts are all scrambled letters, clues to decipher. No one really finds Trina’s death suspicious until when, one year later, at the same Scrabble tournament venue where she died, Trina’s Instagram starts posting again. Also, the mystery is simply not that mysterious.

As such, it is admittedly difficult to really care about the mystery, since no one (aside from Najwa) really seems to mourn Trina’s loss (shocking and horrible as that may be). The book is Najwa’s journey to accepting what everyone else already seems to know–Trina was not a nice person. The mystery surrounding Trina Low, previous reigning champion of the Scrabble tournament scene, is more or less a set up for the main character, Najwa, to explore her feelings about a friendship where she constantly took backseat to Trina’s wants and desires. Queen of the Tiles is probably more accurately described as a novel about grief, and not really a thriller. Read Queen of the Tiles if you really love Scrabble, but maybe pass if you have high standards for thrillers. I never really felt that Najwa or her friends were in danger–there was simply no suspense.

The plot is slow to start, the sleuthing sort of haphazard, and the drama almost nonexistent. However, while I enjoyed learning more about Scrabble tournaments, and the people who compete in them, I admit to finding the mystery itself lackluster.

Queen of the Tiles lured me in–as I have no doubt it will many a word lover–with the intriguing premise of a mystery set in the world of competitive Scrabble.

Queen of the tiles by hanna alkaf