Two Can Keep a Secret

A dead body in the middle of the road (the high school’s science teacher) welcomes twins Ellery and Ezra Corcoran, 17, to their new home in Echo Ridge, Vt., where they’ve been sent to live with their estranged grandmother during their mother Sadie’s court-appointed rehab for opioid addiction. Ellery, a true-crime buff, uses the opportunity to look into Echo Ridge’s notorious unsolved mysteries: the disappearance of Sadie’s identical twin sister after Sadie was crowned homecoming queen 23 years earlier, and the murder of Lacey Kilduff, the homecoming queen found strangled at Murderland, the local Halloween theme park, five years ago. After the science teacher dies, Ellery is nominated for the homecoming court, and someone begins to threaten Ellery and the other two nominees for queen, tagging signs and promising a Murderland redux. When one of the two possible queens goes missing, Ellery dons her amateur detective hat, putting herself and her loved ones in danger. With complex characters and intricate plotting, McManus (One of Us Is Lying) delivers a fast-paced, twisty whodunit. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Jan.) [/em]