Murder She Wrote: Four YA Thrillers

Katie Zhao is the author of the middle-grade fantasy novel The Dragon Warrior and its sequel, The Fallen Hero. In How We Fall Apart (Bloomsbury Y.A.), Zhao’s young adult debut, Jamie, an elite prep school student, turns up dead. Her former best friend, Nancy Luo, and her friends become prime suspects thanks to the “Proctor,” someone anonymously incriminating them via the school’s social media app. Because they all used to be Jamie’s closest friends, she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow, the Proctor knows them, too. And as the past threatens the future they have so carefully crafted, Nancy starts to suspect that her friends may also be keeping secrets. School Library Connection said “part thriller, part mystery, Katie Zhao weaves a suspenseful read that will have readers on the edge of their seat.”

Ismery Pavon is a book blogger, book reviewer, former bookseller, and a program coordinator at Miami Book Fair. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University in mass communications and journalism.

Karen M. McManus is the New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying, Two Can Keep a Secret, One of Us Is Next, and The Cousins, and her work has been published in more than 40 languages. In You’ll Be the Death of Me (Delacorte Press), a ditch day goes horribly wrong. Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close; now all they have in common is Carlton High. But because each of them is coming off a bad experience, when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn things around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say, until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school and follow him to the scene of his murder. Their Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-style adventure has just gone from dull to deadly, and it’s about to get worse. It seems they all have a connection to the victim – and they’re all hiding something. Was their chance reconnection really just a matter of chance? Kirkus announced that a “master of the teen thriller delivers again.”

Holly Jackson is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. She started writing stories at a young age, completing her first (poor) attempt at a novel when she was 15. As Good as Dead: The Finale to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Delacorte Press) concludes Jackson’s three-part young adult mystery series. As Pip is about to head to college, she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her true-crime podcast, but there’s an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? Soon the threats escalate. Someone is leaving dead pigeons in Pip’s front yard and mysterious chalk figures in her driveway – and following her. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars. When the police refuse to act, Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself, or be the next victim. Kirkus called it “intricately plotted and heart-pounding.”

  Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a writer from South London who has dreamed of writing books about Black kids saving (or destroying) the world all her life. In the young adult thriller Ace of Spades (Feiwel & Friends) – her debut novel – classmates Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo have just been selected to be part of their elite private academy’s senior class prefects. It’s great news for their plans for the future, but soon after the announcement someone calling themself “Aces” begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about Devon and Chiamaka that turn their lives upside down – and threatens all their aspirations. Both students are at different stages of their queer identity. Devon, a musician, can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Chiamaka, a rich, popular girl, isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid to get it. Aces shows no sign of stopping, and what seemed like a sick prank at first quickly turns into a dangerous game. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop what’s happening before things become incredibly deadly? Publishers Weekly noted that “Àbíké-Íyímídé excels in portraying the conflict of characters who exist in two worlds … Devon and Chiamaka are dynamic and multifaceted, deeply human in the face of Aces’ treatment.”