A compelling mystery grounded in a well-developed setting.
A Prohibition-era murder mystery with queer coming-of-age themes.
Gertie is a senior at the Washington Female Seminary, a finishing school for the daughters of political bigwigs located in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle. One night, alongside her friends Milly and Clara, Gertie sneaks out to a speak-easy, which is promptly raided by officers from the dry squad. The girls escape, and when they return to the seminary, they find that their beloved headmistress, Mrs. Rose, is dead, reportedly from consuming liquor tainted with poisons by federal agents to discourage drinking. Now the seminary may be closed due to the scandal, and Gertie is determined to clear Mrs. Rose’s reputation and save her school. The streets of the nation’s capital in 1927 come alive through Talley’s well-researched descriptions. Gertie and her friends navigate streetcars, cabs, and wintry walks while trailing a slew of mysterious characters across historic neighborhoods. Amid these investigations, Gertie often finds herself distracted; she can’t help contemplating the behaviors of certain speak-easy patrons, the so-called pansies and violets. Perhaps more distracting are Milly and Clara, the friends Gertie has suddenly realized are both quite alluring. Fans of Talley’s lesbian histories will enjoy her latest, and the page-turning mystery will appeal to new readers. Most characters are white; the story explores Clara’s Jewish identity in a predominantly Christian environment.
A compelling mystery grounded in a well-developed setting. (Historical mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780316565318
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series.
Eighteen-year-old sleuth Stevie Bell is back to investigate another mystery in this stand-alone addition to the Truly Devious series.
Stevie is nursing a broken heart following her recent split from boyfriend David. Fed up with her parents’ lack of understanding and support—they regard her interest in solving murders as “creepy” and “weird”—she announces that she’s not coming home for Christmas. But now she’s at a loose end; spending winter break “alone on murder mountain” at Ellingham Academy, her Vermont boarding school, doesn’t seem ideal. So when the opportunity arises to accompany her close friend Nate to New York City, she willingly agrees. The third-person chapters switch between Stevie’s contemporary experience among a group of eccentric, often-clashing residents of a Manhattan apartment building and a young woman named Blue who becomes entangled in a cult in the 1970s. A trail of clues is laid that Stevie can’t resist following. Readers will be kept guessing how the intertwining storylines fit together until the very end. The novel expands to explore Stevie’s relationships and growth, including her ongoing management of her anxiety disorder. The marvelously clever dialogue, abundance of heart, and witty, memorable, and well-rounded cast elevate this beyond standard mystery fare. Both timelines establish the New York City setting as its own character. Stevie and Blue read white.
Entertaining, heartfelt, and suspenseful: a superb addition to a beloved series. (map) (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063256019
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
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