Hi, friend.

Welcome to a surprise extra issue and the first guest recommendation on Crooked Reads! I asked my pal Cassie from Reading Under the Radar to share some good books for summer reading, and boy, did she deliver. She’s a mystery lover, which is great, because that’s a genre I know very little about.

Be sure to check out her newsletter, where she drops a fabulous under-the-radar book every Tuesday.

Here’s Cassie.

Nothing says summer to me like reading by the pool (or beach, or lake—even a kiddie pool!), and my go-to genre for that has always been YA murder mystery.
I choose these intentionally: I like the mystery element that I know will keep me engaged for long periods of time, and by choosing a YA book instead of adult, they’re usually (not always) on the lighter, less believable side. I know, I know, most people want realistic books. And these technically are realistic. But teen sleuths and podcast hosts and amateur investigators are not exactly common in the real world, and I find that having an exaggerated story allows me to escape reality for a bit.
These are some of the best YA murder mystery books I’ve read, all set in the heat of the summer sun.

The books

I’ll Never Tell by Abigail Haas

This book sticks with me because of all the twists and turns, and it’s the book I think of when I think of summertime beach read. It originally came out in 2013 as Dangerous Girls and was rebranded in 2019, and while I’ve not read the updated version, I imagine they’re the same story. Whichever version you pick up, you’re in for a wild ride.
During their senior year spring break, Anna, her boyfriend, and a bunch of other friends are headed for an elite and epic vacation in Aruba. But then Elise, Anna’s best friend, is found brutally murdered, and the teens are held in Aruba for questioning while authorities investigate.
It’s fast-paced and gripping and will have you out in the sun long after you should have reapplied sunscreen because you just could not tear your eyes away.

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

I’m obsessed with all things Stevie Bell, and it was the absolute highest compliment when one of my friends said I reminded him of the teen sleuth.
Stevie’s adventure begins in the Truly Devious trilogy, but the fourth installment is a standalone mystery set at summer camp. The owner of Sunny Pines, the site of an infamous unsolved murder case, contacts her to help him make a true crime podcast about the case. When Stevie dives into the decades-old murder of four camp counselors, she discovers secrets that may not stay buried forever—and she may be in more danger than she realized.
Stevie is smart and funny, and the mysteries Maureen Johnson crafts are so detailed and exacting and an absolute delight to read.

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick

While I’m a bit burnt out on true crime podcasts and now wondering why exactly we’re all so obsessed with true crime in the first place (I wrote a whole essay on that), I’m still drawn to fictional stories about podcasts in true crime form.
I Killed Zoe Spanos brings readers exactly that: It’s the story of Anna, who gets a summer job nannying in the Hamptons. She soon hears about a local girl, Zoe, who had gone missing. Everyone’s on edge, and they all tell Anna how much she looks like the missing girl. Meanwhile, Martina Green, an aspiring teen journalist and host of her own podcast, is also on the trail, and she wants to know what exactly happened to Zoe Spanos—and she knows Anna knows something.
I loved the story-within-a-story format of this one, following both the current timeline, the past timeline, and the podcast as the episodes air. Everything unfolded with expert timing as I tried to play sleuth myself.

Do you have a favorite young adult murder mystery? Please tell Cassie and me all about it in the comments!

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The backlist

In case you missed ’em, or want to peep the archives:

I also wrote a guest post for Reading Under the Radar, showing love for one of my favorite underrated memoirs, Let’s Never Talk About This Again.

xoxo

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