YA Book Talk + News, July 25, 2024

Lucy’s mom is a private detective, so sometimes even the best intentions on vacation turn into something entirely different. They’re supposed to be on the beach, but Lucy’s mom has been called to a meeting at an abandoned amusement park and Lucy and her mom find a body.

While mom is involved in the investigation over the body, Lucy begins her own detective work to figure out her mom’s connection to this area. That’s when she meets Audrey, who was there at the amusement park on her motorcycle the night that the body was found. Lucy wants answers, and Audrey might have them, but there’s a problem: Lucy’s mom is investigating Audrey’s mom for the murder.

A genre-bending mystery? Yes, please.

Willie “died” when he was young and he’s grown up convinced that there’s a reason he ultimately lived. That reason might be the Game called Manifest Atlas. The game asks players to enter an intention and they receive a target, and on his second time playing the game, Willie’s target is three empty graves. Is the Game telling him that it’s his turn to die now?

Bones, Willie’s older brother, doesn’t buy this, but some of Willie’s friends think something suspicious is up. So when Sarai enters her intention, the Game sends them to coordinates that lead to Sarai’s dead stepfather’s body.

Sarai is now trying to figure out who killed her father. But Willie thinks something even bigger is happening and it’s pointing to a connection between the town that almost killed him and the Game itself.

Marlowe has had a disastrous few months and decides to take a summer job at Morning House. Morning House is is a 1920s mansion built on an island and then abruptly abandoned. Marlowe will be giving tours of it.

The problem is Morning House has a host of secrets and the person who brought Marlowe in for the job has gone missing. Now Marlowe has to solve the mystery of the House’s secrets — and find the person who has gone missing.

This one’s set in the Thousand Islands region of New York.

Gemma, May, and Peony are the three Chow sisters. Gemma and May are the older two and have continued in their father’s footsteps selling flowers after his death. When Gemma and May are at a local farm in a remote barn and stumble upon the dead body of Lulu Wong — one of the most well-known stars to come out of Chinatown and their former classmate — they know that this was no accidental death. The police disagree with their assessment and assure the girls that her death was nothing suspicious. But Gemma an May won’t let it go. They know there was foul play, especially as the rise of anti-Asian violence has escalated and the city itself wants to destroy what’s left of Chinatown.

The girls plan to take on the investigation themselves, despite the trouble it will put them in. With a single mom at home and the fear that they will lose what’s left of their community and their home with the city’s plans for a new train depot, Gemma and May have to be cautious. But as they dig deeper into Lulu’s death and uncover what happened — and who killed her — they might also do more for their Chinatown community than they could have ever imagined.

This one might be the most likely candidate for landing more on the thriller side than the mystery side, but it’s being included regardless. That cover is chilling!

Loren invites Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway. It’s meant to help honor Mara’s missing sister and Mara’s hopeful it will help her forge some meaningful relationships on the reservation.

But then Samantha White Tail, a girl from the Giveaway, is found murdered. Now the four involved in the Giveaway are all suspects because they were last to see Samantha. Each wants to clear their names and find out who killed Samantha. The problem is each of them also had a complicated relationship with the victim.