New Young Adult Mysteries

 There are many varieties of mystery/thrillers, but they all have one thing in common. They create intrigue by revealing the identity of the antagonist only at the climax of the story.  Mystery writers drop clues throughout the plot to invite readers to solve the puzzle. The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson follows the Agatha Christie format where a murder is committed and teen sleuths identify a number of suspects before finding the culprit. In These Deadly Games by Diana Urban an anonymous perpetrator threatens to kill a 16-year-old esport competitor's sister, unless she follows his orders which target her fellow team members. Social media plays a big part in  The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra which finds an online troll fanning the flames that destroy student reputations. Finally, Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price (Pride and Premeditation), the second in the Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, reimagines Sense and Sensibility. The Dashwood girls, whose detective father is murdered, must work together to find his killer.  

In The Agathas,  Agatha Christie fan Alice Ogilvie, pulls her own disappearance stunt (much like Christie's) after her boyfriend Steve dumps her for her BFF Brooke Donovan.  Hoping to gain sympathy and her neglectful parents' attention, Alice sees her plan backfire when she returns after 5 days and becomes a social pariah.  When Brooke disappears after a party where she is seen fighting with Steve, Alice teams up with her peer tutor Iris Adams to solve the case.  Alice and Iris co-narrate the story and each chapter begins with a quote from an Agatha Christie mystery.  With many twists and turns, the mystery unravels as the teen sleuths solves clues and narrow down the suspect list until the exciting denouement. 

As The Deadly Game opens, Crystal and her team of esports gamers are preparing to compete in a MortalDusk tournament, when she receives an anonymous text saying her sister has been kidnapped. She will be killed unless Crystal competes in a deadly real-life game with a 24-hour time limit, targeting her team members. At first she suspects someone is trying to keep them from the competition, but as the hours pass, Crystal realizes Anonymous has discovered a secret from their past and wants to punish them for what they did.  She uses her gaming instincts to discover who is behind the game, but not before her teammates suffer the consequences.

The Rumor Games explores from three points of view the rumor mill at Foxham Prep, which can quickly ruin a student's career and social standing. The narrators are Bryn,  whose queen bee status is destroyed when she runs her ex-boyfriend's car off the road in a jealous fit; Cora, her best friend and head cheerleader whose boyfriend Baez was hurt in the accident; and Georgie, Bryn's Desai neighbor who went through a transformation after a summer at fat camp. Looking to regain her social status, Bryn takes Georgie to Cora's party, where Georgie is seen going upstairs with Cora's boyfriend. An online troll posts pictures of them together and creates suspicions about Baez's fidelity. As rumors spin out of control, Bryn sees an opportunity to regain her status by starting an anti-rumor campaign through her role as student body president.  Told in four parts, "The Rumor,"  "The Lies," "The Game," and "The Truth,"  the story examines the role social media can play in rumors destroying reputations and futures.  Who is the troll who is fanning the flames?

As with the original, Sense and Second-Degree Murder, a reimagining of Sense and Sensibility, begins with the death of Mr. Dashwood and his second family, including his wife and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, losing their home to his son by his first marriage.   However, Mr. Dashwood ran a detective agency, and his daughters discover he had been poisoned. Marianne, an apprentice detective, and Elinor, a budding chemist, take on the case and discover a network of opium peddlers involved in the complex mystery.  All the original characters are cleverly reassigned parts in the plot.  In an author's note, the popularity of laudanum in Regency-era England and the lucrative opium trade are explained, as well as some historical inaccuracies that do not deter from the enjoyment of this clever whodunit.

YA Novels filled with Magic

 Magic, defined as the power of influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces, figures heavily in all the books I'm recommending this month. Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian (Ash Princess trilogy) introduces triplet princesses conceived through magic so that their conniving mother can expand her empire. The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman is set in the country of Ashoka that depends on their soon-to-be depleted quarry filled with magic to protect them from invasion.  It is up to the four royal siblings to find a fabled key that will unlock lost quarries that were hidden in the past.  Shattered Midnight by Dhonielle Clayton is the second installment in the Mirror fairytale series. Zora Broussard, a young black singer who wields magic, flees to New Orleans in the 1920s, after her magic causes a deadly accident in NYC.  Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe is a reimagining of The Tempest in which Lord Prosper uses a magical substance to enslave all the spirits on his island. Mae, the daughter of his steward, longs to learn to wield this magic in order to stay on the island once she comes of age.  

Castles in their Bones kicks off a new fantasy series which focuses on triplet sisters conceived in magic by their scheming mother Empress Margaraux, who wants to marry them off to expand her rule. Sophronia, Daphne and Beatriz have been betrothed to princes of neighboring kingdoms. They have been tasked with driving their new countries into war against each other so that the Empress can swoop in and gain control.  However, Sophronia falls in love with her fiancé, Leopold of Temarin. Daphne's fiancé dies and she is passed to bastard son Bairre of Friv, who becomes an ally. Beatriz finds herself married to Pasquale, the gay prince of Cellaria, where magic is banned. Although platonic, they develop a strong friendship and have plans of their own.  The story is told in alternating perspectives of the three princesses, who are trained in poisoning, coding and seduction in order to accomplish their goals. Along with her instructions to be achieved however the girls see fit, the empress has gifted each daughter the ability to pull magic from the stars to grant one wish.  The tale is filled with intrigue and changing allegiances as the girls attempt to decide whether to carry out their mother's plan or follow their own hearts. Meanwhile, Margaraux is behind the scenes manipulating characters and situations to her own end. I suspect their being conceived in magic will impact the girls' fates in the sequel.

The Ivory Key is told from the perspectives of four quarreling siblings who must save their country Ashoka from impending war.  The tale focuses on them finding the ivory key that will unlock quarries filled with magic which fuels their economy and protects them from invasion. Vira has ascended to the throne after her mother, the maharani, is killed.  Brother Kaleb has been wrongfully imprisoned for the assassination. Brother Ronak is planning to rescue Kaleb and flee with him.  Sister Riya, who ran away after arguing with their mother, returns to the palaces after two years of working with a group of rebels who want her to spy.  The only quarry in Ashoka is running out of magic, but it is rumored that there is a map which will lead them to the key that unlocks the lost quarries, which were closed when the Kamala society sought to control the mining trade.  After Vira's fiancé is murdered by the society, she must convince her siblings to band together to help her save their kingdom.  The epilogue, told from a fifth perspective, will leave readers anxious for the sequel in this fast-paced duology opener. 

Shattered Midnight, the second book in the four-book Mirror fairytale series, (Book 1: Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao) introduces Zora Broussard, a young Black teen who flees to New Orleans from New York during the 1920s, after her magic causes a deadly accident.  Living with her Aunt Celine, a high society maven, Zora is expected to become a debutante; however, she sneaks out at night to sing in jazz clubs as "Sweet Willow."  Fearing she will cause more harm, she bargains with a local conjure woman to take away her magic.  However, in return she must give up her music, which is her connection to Phillip, a White pianist with whom she has fallen in love.  Phillip is determined to be with her despite the racial segregation of the era.  Zora must decided how love, magic and music figure into her future happiness. What to keep and what to give up. 

In Bright Ruined Things, an homage to Shakespeare's The Tempest, Lord Prosper's island teams with a magical substance know as aether that keeps the island's spirits his captives and provides a glamourous life for his descendants.  Mae, an outsider who is the orphan of Prosper's steward, worries about being exiled from the island on her 18th birthday.  She schemes to find a way to stay and has many prospects.  Lady Vivian wants her to marry their sullen eccentric grandson Ivo, who is a powerful magician and heir to Lord Prosper's realm. Granddaughter Coco, Mae's best friend, wants her to leave the island and forge a new life together.  Grandson Miles, Mae's secret crush, leads her on in hopes of finding out what Ivo did to his mother, who is now a hopeless addict. First Night, the legendary once-a-year party hosted by the Prosper family, is coming up at which cousin Apolonia's engagement to Rex, magician and son of a rival family, and Mae's engagement to Ivo are to be announced.  But all does not go as planned.  Mae discovers family secrets and waffles between allegiances to various family members and even Rex, as she desperately tries to find a way to learn magic and secure a place in the family. 

New Fantasy Duologies: Tess of the Road, Between the Blade and the Heart and The Belles

Three new fantasy duologies, that I think teens will like, debuted in early 2018. Rachel Hartman returns to her Seraphina series with Tess of the Road, a tale about Seraphina's stepsister Tess Dombegh, who disguises herself as a boy to seek a legendary serpent.  Between the Blade and the Heart, the first in the Valkyrie duology by Amanda Hocking (Trylle Trilogy and Kanin Chronicles), introduces Malin, a Valkyrie whose job it is to slay immortals and return them to the afterlife. The Belles by  Dhonielle Clayton in her solo debut introduces a world where a jealous God has made everyone gray and ugly. The wealthy  pay women known as Belles to use their magic to transform them into something beautiful, depending on the latest fads and personal ideas of beauty.

In Tess of the Road the main character Tess is recovering from a catastrophic downfall after being seduced and abandoned.  Although she tries to redeem herself, all is lost when she ruins her twin sister Jeanne's wedding by drunkenly punching the groom.  Disguising herself as a boy, she hits the road to help her childhood friend, a quigutl dragon, find a legendary serpent. Along the way she must pose as a priest, work as a manual laborer and fend off robbers, as she slowly makes peace with her past.  At first bitter and self-pitying, Tess ultimately shows her worth through her courage, resilience and empathy. Her triumphant quest to find the serpent allows her to begin to reenter society in this tale of female empowerment.  The first in a duology, this novel sets the stage for further adventures on the road.

Between the Blade and the Heart, the first in the Valkyrie duology, introduces Malin, a Valkyrie-in-training, whose job it is to slay immortals and return them to the afterlife.  When she discovers that her mentor/mother failed to carry out an assignment, resulting in the death of a fellow Valkyrie, Malin joins her son Archer to find the culprit and kill him.  Malin's roommate Oona, a sorceress-in-training, and her ex-girlfriend Quinn come along for the ride.  The story is immersed in Norse mythology and includes many fascinating creatures, making this novel heavy on world-building, but not lacking in action and romance.  The obligatory love triangle has a new twist in that Malin is bisexual. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers thrilled that the sequel From the Earth to the Shadows, comes out April 24, 2018.

In The Belles the God of the Sky in the opulent world of Orleans becomes jealous of the Goddess of Beauty's love for their children, so he curses them with ugliness.  She in retaliation creates the Belles, who have magical powers allowing them to transform people's ugliness.  Camellia and her 5 sisters are Belles who have just finished their training and are about to enter society.  A contest is held to determine which one will get to serve in the royal household.  Although not chosen at first, Camellia ultimately ends up in the palace, where she finds the crown princess in a coma and her younger sister obsessed with power.  As Camellia struggles to unravel the political plot, she uncovers the secret to the Belle's origin in a culture obsess with beauty.  This novel challenges readers to think about their own ideas of beauty and what women go through financially and physically to attain it. The Belles, as well as the other two novels reviewed, are most appropriate for mature readers.