Dactyli are elemental magicians who can access the “memories” of the Earth; as one character explains “The earth is alive. It lives and breathes and hears and sees just like you and me.” The group harnesses nature’s power and preserves its narrative as keepers of the sgeulachds a compilation of objective truths. These mages have encoded and guarded living history for thousands of years but time has eroded their strength reducing them to relics of the very past they seek to protect. A deadly threat emerges that could seal their fate: Alev a rogue fire mage with a thirst for power is supporting a torturer king. Driven by the belief that a boy possessing the white flare—the ability to wield all elements—could end his reign of terror Alev orders the murders of all male children believed to be nascent dactyli. However a mysterious forest woman searching for her missing father emerges with the white flare and a calling to restore justice. United with two dactyli allies—Lovelace and Gunnar—and their brave allies Pif and Ailwin she’ll embark on a journey to restore peace and foster respect for the land. Readers will be swept into an unusual landscape that’s engagingly similar to our own in some ways; in this world nature has been stripped of its resources and corruption has silenced dissent though it’s not too late for compassion to prevail. As the story which features vivid descriptions and intricate history weaves in elements of mystery readers will wonder whom the heroes can trust; along the way they’ll enjoy scenes of fast-paced action and dangerous magic. The action is seldom graphically violent but it’s worth noting that the villain is responsible for the slaying of children and the discovery of one victim is described in detail that some may find disturbing. That said the work also contains great beauty and a sense of hope and readers will likely be excited for a sequel.

As a business owner whose patented product has been sold to the Ford Motor Company the United States Army and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program among others the author is well aware of the difficulties confronting 21st-century manufacturing inside the U.S. Blending his personal success story with commentary on national economic policy Gardner calls for a renewed national emphasis on manufacturing in this concise treatise and ode to “the unsung strength of America’s core industry.” The book begins with a brief overview of the history of manufacturing in America suggesting that as early as the 1700s pre-Revolutionary Americans recognized that local manufacturing was essential to their individual self-interests and desire for economic independence. The narrative quickly moves through the rise of American manufacturing and steel production in the 19th and 20th centuries prior to its decline in the 1970s as the rustbelt consumed places like the author’s hometown of Lancaster Ohio. Nuanced in its analysis the work blames the weakening of American manufacturing both on corporate and government policy. Per Gardner the outsourcing of labor complacency regarding “shoddy workmanship” and corporate mismanagement (combined with a growing emphasis in the 1980s and ’90s on free trade) led to a precipitous decline in American manufacturing. An optimist by nature the author still has a “fundamental hope for our country” and puts forth a multi-chapter analysis of the ways in which “we can still save manufacturing and in doing so rebuild America.” Central to the book’s vision is what Gardner calls “America-first capitalism” which rejects the unilateral free trade vision of conservative economists like Milton Friedman as well as the principles of globalization endorsed by neoliberals. (In particular the book endorses tariffs on foreign goods.) According to the author embracing this approach would not only bolster American jobs but also strengthen America’s national security by making it less dependent upon rival nations like China for things that range from medical supplies to the raw materials needed for infrastructure revitalization. Another proposition calls for the redirection of educational priorities away from college degrees toward trade schools and on-the-job experience—the author posits that “there are too many head chefs in the kitchen and not enough prep cooks dishwashers and line cooks.” The book’s concluding chapter stumps for a vigorous government campaign to promote the values of buying American-made goods that would combine the ubiquity of Covid-19 awareness campaigns with classic pro-American propaganda poster imagery celebrating industrial workers.

While overtly political the book’s down-to-earth accessible narrative never resorts to the incendiary hyper-partisan rhetoric that is now commonplace in U.S. political discourse. At less than 118 total pages the book supports its arguments with more than 80 research footnotes. Some readers may cringe at the author’s use of the politically loaded phrase “America-first” and passing endorsements of the trade policies of controversial politicians like Donald Trump and J. D. Vance though Gardner is careful to keep the book’s focus on his optimistic views of American manufacturing. Economists who favor free trade and policies that encourage the U.S. to embrace globalization will certainly disagree with the book’s conclusions but they will also find that their positions are treated fairly within the book’s analysis which never resorts to strawmen arguments in its critiques.

By June of 1803 20-year-old Mary Mackenzie has had her fill of the island of Barbados. She and her family have been there for two years ever since her father was appointed colonial governor of the island the Crown’s Caribbean center of trade. (Barbados’ wealth is derived from its prodigious production of sugar cane farmed by African slaves.) It is on the island where Mary first confronts the cruelty with which the British colonists treat their slaves. To her dismay she discovers that even her beloved father beset by gambling debts and in need of an income-producing investment has purchased a plantation and 200 slaves. She longs to return to her life in the Highlands and London. Fortunately she meets and falls in love with someone who can grant that wish: the esteemed Sir Samuel Hood a commodore in the Royal Navy. After their nuptials Mary and Samuel set sail for England establishing residence in Samuel’s elegant London townhouse. Yet a shadow hangs over the couple’s happiness in the form of a 100-year-old frightening prediction from legendary Highlands seer Coinneach Odhar. A free thinker with little regard for religion Mary has steadfastly refused to give credence to the legendary prophecy of doom (“I did not believe in the curse. I refused to”). But as she suffers one personal tragedy after another Mary begins to question her skepticism. This second novel in Bernard’s Historic Women of the Highlands series is rooted in historical sources (including the letters and diary of the real Mary Mackenzie) and brought to vivid life by the author’s imaginative and well-paced prose. The poignant highly dramatic family saga paints a detailed period portrait of the era’s luxurious upper-class British lifestyle and is nicely peppered with appearances from luminaries of the day. It’s gratifying to witness the independent Mary growing into a forceful standard bearer for her family as she lays claim to her position as clan chieftain the first woman to do so.

The third book in Supplee’s fresh well-crafted Winnie and the Wizard fantasy series  begins with the return of 14-year-old Winnie Harris her 6-year-old stepbrother Mikey and teenage magician Kip to Winnie’s family beach house on Earth after a dangerous mission on an alternative “Frama” world known as Hutra. (The “Frama” worlds introduced in Book 1 [Frama-12 2022] are accessed through the use of “Frama-scopes” magical devices once solely the province of powerful time guardians.) Winnie famed on Frama worlds as army general Windemere learns that the pet toad Mikey brought back from Hutra is actually an enchanted princess from Aylen Isle. In a dream visitation Princess Gwen begs Winnie to take her home and undo the spell. Winnie can’t resist. She “had already encountered her share of crazies” during her previous Frama missions. “But a fairy-tale world? The possibility sounded too nutty to pass up.” Besides Winnie needed to return another travel companion a large bird to its original world to ensure its survival so she might as well do both. By mutual consent the three adventurers and the toad/princess jump through a time portal to Aylen Isle. With an ear for well-paced plot-furthering dialogue and a flair for worldbuilding the author molds familiar fairy-tale tropes (tree sprites “leafling” fairies two princesses and a kingdom in peril) into a dynamic adventure involving “mother” trees as healing havens carnivorous plants an attempted royal coup a lethal gatekeeping “Myst” and sentient magic “glow stones.” This vivid fantasy can be enjoyed on its own. Readers of the first two books however will find a rewarding progression of intriguing elements including an amphibian military general that inhabits Mikey’s small body Winnie and Kip’s thorny and evolving relationship and the motivations of Winnie and Kip’s interfering nemesis Krell whom innocent Mikey still loves as his “non-Dad.”

In their different ways Blakely Garner Thera Grey Grace Howard and Meg Watson had all been misfits. They bonded at Camp Pendleton a place for gifted children with Blakely as their natural leader. Trouble arrived or was revealed in the form of tennis coach Jared Crosby whose good looks made Blakely think she could use an apparently compromising photo Meg took of the two of them to make Clint a fellow camper jealous. The prank succeeded beyond everyone’s wildest dreams and not in a good way. Clint swiped and shared the picture Crosby got fired and by the time the dust settled his wife Regina was convicted of stabbing him 117 times and attempting to kill their twin babies as well. Now 26 years later someone claiming to know the sordid truth behind the story has written all four ex-campers pulling Thera away from her work as a psychic and spiritual counselor Grace out of her orbit as a supermodel influencer and Meg from her marriage to Claire to meet at the plush Houston home of Blakely. Regina it seems has been granted parole and she’s obviously learned who pushed her over the edge into murder. Or maybe since this is another poisonous Berry special that’s not so obvious after all and the truth is even darker and more devious.

Los Angeles teenager Maya is about to graduate from high school. She and her longtime girlfriend Alana set out on a hike to see the superbloom of brilliant wildflowers in Antelope Valley just like they do every year. Maya who struggles with anxiety loves Alana fervently even though she can be mean and cutting dismissing Maya’s needs whenever she actually manages to voice them. Showing some real strength Maya breaks up with Alana as they stand among the flowers—and then after Alana mocks her Maya leaves her there without a ride. But back at home Maya’s anxiety flares—Alana hasn’t reached out to Maya or her own mom; what if something happened to her? Soon Alana is declared missing and Maya is anxious that she’ll get blamed for ditching her. In a panic Maya returns to the lake house where her family used to summer and where ghosts both literal and figurative haunt her. This eerie and captivating debut manifests deep-seated internalized trauma as living paranormal metaphors. The narrative reads like a gothic romance that acknowledges the intense damage that unhealthy relationships can cause: Maya who suffers from depression and panic attacks and experiences emotional abuse at Alana’s hands courageously struggles for the right to live for herself and pursue her own happiness. The teens are both white.

The foreword and introduction explain how Fowler quarantining in a rural Connecticut cabin after shuttering his Brooklyn storefront posted to the shop’s Instagram account a call to make art with the purpose of buoying a beleaguered populace. Though overwhelmingly North American and European and always in English responses came from around the globe: three-by-three grids of left-to-right sequential art whimsical sentimental psychedelic and sometimes all three at once. Many of the works collected here express a longing for physical touch a yearning for reunions with friends and lovers and even the casual physicality of busy bars and bustling sidewalks. Others celebrate the slowing down that accompanied quarantine savoring simple pleasures and walks in nature and the idea that an earth ravaged by industry was healing through the deceleration or even cessation of human activity. Many depict transcendent journeys through the cosmos and/or planes of existence encountering more than a few ghosts and cosmic entities. Pets feature prominently with one small pup teleporting from his couch to an alien world where he snatches mutated coronaviruses from the air like they were spiky tennis balls chomping and chewing the plague into submission. The most poignant feel grimly optimistic seeing the quarantine as an opportunity to reset oppression and inequality (“Normal wasn’t working for most of us”). Vividly expressed through linework with occasional collage these individual accounts of a shared event strum the cord that connects us. Our current fraught postquarantine moment haunts the pages and time will tell if it is unfinished business or missed opportunity.

Camille Prescott is a sociopath. She doesn’t love her perfect husband Will or her children 6-year-old Georgiana and 4-year-old Jackson. Instead she does such a conscientious job of faking love that she’s taken in her family and everyone else. And her lifelong masquerade isn’t really Camille’s fault for as her therapist back in Chicago once told her “sociopaths were made but psychopaths were born” and Camille was made by Lucinda Nichols her monstrously abusive mother. Persuading Will to relocate to San Diego without telling him that her motive is getting away from Lucinda Camille settles into an artfully simulated routine that’s disrupted when Georgie tells her that in addition to Bestie her imaginary friend she’s made another buddy at school. Imaginary as Georgie calls her bears a striking resemblance to Imogen Carrey a new teacher’s aide at Ocean Vista Elementary School but an even more disturbing resemblance to Lucinda. Alarmed at the possibility that her mother has found her and discovered a way back into her life Camille methodically follows Imogen hoping to establish a link between her and Lucinda. The result of her aggressive defensive maneuvers threatens to turn the people who’ve supported her in the past especially Will and his well-born mother against her. Given Camille’s troubled history and lack of true emotional affect who’s going to believe her when things go calamitously wrong?

Jane the narrator of this piercing second novel by poet-essayist Manguso is an accomplished writer who’s fallen for John a visual artist. From the start of their relationship it’s clear that he has a competitive streak that manifests as jealousy: When Jane wins an esteemed fellowship in Greece that John lost out on he sulks and judges. In the years that follow Jane episodically tracks how her life with John tightens (marriage a child) and then asphyxiates—John is constantly short on cash perpetually traveling and moving the family for work absent when it comes to housework and dismissive of Jane’s ambitions. (Every time she mentions John taking another trip to Calgary you can feel Jane grit her teeth a little harder.) Given the asymmetrical nature of the relationship it’s not hard to predict the novel’s eventual arc. But given the title it’s also easy to wonder how much Jane might be eliding—though more brutally the narrative showcases how much self-deception is required to keep a struggling marriage together. Regardless much like Very Cold People (2022) the novel is driven by tart brutal sentences. Sometimes Jane is sarcastically furious (“Congratulations! You’re forty years old and completely financially dependent on your husband!”) or vividly resentful (“At supper I bit down on a shard of glass he’d gotten into the stir-fry”). Most often though the tone reflects a kind of bitter self-resentment that an intelligent and self-possessed feminist has been roped into a conventional sexist gender role. Catching herself defending John she thinks “That’s just me projecting a pretty moral onto a story of deliberate harm.”

Seventeen-year-old talented artist Riley Thomas’ world has been turned upside down. Her parents’ new jobs require her family to relocate to small-town Nebraska from Southern California the summer before her senior year. Even worse Mom and Dad are dragging Riley and her younger brother on a week of forced family fun with the Oregon Trail Adventure Co. Cowboy Colton Walker is the reigning 18-and-under solo lasso champion and the strong silent type whose family’s business is guiding wagon trains along the trail. When the teens first meet they feel an instant mix of attraction and annoyance. But throughout the laid-back days and starry nights on the Nebraska plains they’re drawn together as they begin to realize that there’s more to the other than meets the eye. Emmel does a beautiful unhurried job of drawing out the transformation of Riley and Colton’s relationship from awkward tension to tentative friendship to budding romance. Readers will root for these two stubborn souls to let down their guards and get out of their own ways. The family relationships are realistic and nuanced and Riley’s fury and frustration toward her parents is relatable to anyone who’s ever had to relocate against their wishes. Fans of Jenny Han and Kasie West will especially enjoy the innocent portrayal of first love. Main characters are cued white.

In this addition to the Little Tractor series originally published in Belgium and the Netherlands Little Tractor and his barnyard friends meet Gaston a small one-seater airplane. Little Tractor envies Gaston’s ability to fly and do acrobatic stunts. A few days later Little Tractor surprises his friends by strapping a wooden board to his hood—these are his wings he explains. But when Little Tractor revs up to fly he ends up plowing into a group of bushes. Though his friends remind him of all he can do Little Tractor remains upset over what he can’t do—fly. As luck would have it Gaston swoops in too low one day and gets stuck in a tree in the woods. Anton the horse pulls Gaston out of the tree but the plane doesn’t have enough room to take off. Little Tractor comes to the rescue and takes to heart Gaston’s praise—and envy—of his pulling ability. By the time Gaston leaves both he and Little Tractor have learned to appreciate their own special strengths. Little Tractor illustrated in bright red is a cheery contrast to blue-and-white Gaston. Attentive readers will notice how Little Tractor’s and Gaston’s facial features add emotion to each scene. Colorful detailed backgrounds complete each scene and make this book a strong storytime read that will help little ones learn to value what makes them special.

“Music sex and addiction have intersected or collided in my life catalysts for confusion beauty and restlessness.” So writes Gordon the author of such acclaimed operas as The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and My Life With Albertine. The music runs throughout this episodic memoir as “the cause of most of my joy in life as well as much of my unhappiness. Sometimes it’s a bed of nails at others a field of clouds.” It does not emerge easily but when it does it often does gloriously fed by a diet that includes Neil Young and Joni Mitchell as well as Paul Hindemith Olivier Messiaen and Stephen Sondheim. As to the last composer Gordon writes about a tangled relationship that began and ended with admiration but numerous missteps including getting drunk enough in his home “to go vomit so violently [that a friend] has to peel me up off the floor of the bathroom.” Gordon’s reconciliation with Sondheim is one of many supremely touching moments in a text laced with pain: the loss of friends family and lovers to AIDS addiction and age. Regarding AIDS Gordon’s frontline memoir is as valuable as Larry Kramer’s. He writes that as a caregiver he had essentially been given carte blanche from the medical community to commit murder when the suffering became too great to bear: “We were all basically assigned euthanasia and it was up to us to decide when to do it.” Gordon’s scars are many but clearly he has recovered from those wounds as from his addictions well enough to produce a body of work that though born in difficulty is revelatory all the same.

Though he was born and raised in New Orleans Peter Kent has unexpectedly become the Duke of Stanhope. He’s enjoyed getting a chance to lecture his new peers in the House of Lords about the urgent necessity of abolishing slavery in all British colonies but he still longs for his old life. When he learns that his father had two unacknowledged illegitimate children—12-year-old Lu and 10-year-old Freddie—he sees a chance to use his new authority for something positive but he’s told that if he wants to become their legal guardian it would help to be married to an “impeccable” lady. Enter Lady Selina Ravenscroft—not to marry but to be his matchmaker. She can’t possibly marry him no matter how attractive she finds him because her secrets would ruin his reputation even further. First she’s the secret power behind Belvoir’s Library “the most popular circulating library in England.” And as if a lady earning money from trade isn’t bad enough Belvoir’s has a popular underground business putting out seditious and salacious publications including those included in the Venus catalog a ladies-only collection with a “combination of radical philosophy erotic memoirs and titillating novels.” Unfortunately Selina’s attempts at matchmaking fail when she and Peter their burgeoning attraction getting the better of them are caught in an indiscreet moment. Though their hasty marriage gets off to a steamy start Selina’s secrets are suddenly on the verge of being made public and their coupling might need to end as quickly as it began. Using wit and a bookish rom-com sensibility Vasti has built a charming new Regency series around Belvoir’s Library. And spicy too—though Selina’s a virgin when she marries Peter she’s also an erotica fangirl and all their intimate scenes would be right at home in Belvoir’s Venus catalog. Though the plot is uneven in places the genuine humor and solid character development will keep readers turning the pages.

Thunder loves her owner a light-skinned purple-haired girl named Sage. Sage gives Thunder a comfortable home serenades her and takes her on walks. But Thunder is coming to learn more about the gulf between her canine nature and her human’s expectations. Exploring a newfound passion for magic and fantasy Sage dresses her pet in a wizard’s robe. Thunder’s inner wolf comes to life in her frustration urging her to rip up the robe and embrace her lupine leanings. What begins as a bright buddy comic quickly becomes a poignant reflection on canine domestication as Thunder realizes that her responses to stimuli in the human and natural worlds are rooted in wolfish instincts. Growling at other dogs is her way of protecting her pack while her need to hunt comes out when she chases squirrels. Eventually Thunder flees to the woods. Will she find a way to balance her love for Sage with her wild instincts? Capturing both goofy and tender moments Murguia’s cartoon illustrations depict the cozy comfort of civilization and the untamed beauty of the woods. Editorial comments in big black arrows and occasional “wagometers” indicating Thunder’s state of mind ramp up the humor. Each chapter concludes with “Pack Manners” interludes—brief comics with hilariously spot-on examples of typical canine behaviors—and backmatter further examines the origins physiology and habits of the modern dog.

Remi Denier was abandoned by his father and raised by a single mother who died when he was a teenager. After restless years of race car driving and loneliness Remi accepted his dominant nature and created RainFire a pack located deep in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains. He was joined by others interested in the challenge of building a pack from scratch. While scouting nearby land the pack was hoping to annex Remi discovers heavily pregnant Auden Scott in a newly constructed cabin. Auden is a Psy a race of humans with psychic abilities. Auden has a peculiar specialty: When touching objects she can “read” the thoughts and feelings of anyone who has previously touched those items. Pregnancy has amplified her skill and the machine-made cabin has been designed to give respite from the flood of feedback that overwhelms her Psy senses. Something about her scent disturbs Remi but as an alpha he also feels a deep-seated urge to protect Auden and her unborn child. Auden eventually confides the truth in Remi: Her powerful Psy parents experimented on her brain when she was a teenager and her pregnancy seems to be reviving old symptoms. She experiences long blocks of missing time and is afraid her personality may have split in two. Even more frightening she’s sure her doctors have sinister plans for her baby. The romance between Remi and Auden is an afterthought; Singh’s novel is focused on the continuation of a multibook arc describing the challenges facing the Psy as they race to save the millions of minds connected to their failing neural net. In previous books in this long-running series Singh kept the romance arc at the center but this installment feels noticeably off balance.

The folks at the Eastbrook Playhouse have more or less become Tasha Weaver’s family. Under the steady hand of artistic director Arthur Winston the players have delighted Tasha since she was barely old enough to sit through a show. After Tasha’s mother died of cancer the sad teen sought solace in the Playhouse’s costume department. While her high school friends went off to college she stitched gowns and tuxedos that helped make the magic happen. Now as wardrobe manager she hopes a revival of Annie Get Your Gun featuring Broadway stars Kurt Mozer and Olivia Grace can boost the Playhouse’s flagging attendance before developer Garrison Miller turns the historic theater into a shopping mall. Mozer goes wobbly on the production fussing fuming and threatening to go back to New York. But before he can bail someone shoots the temperamental star triggering a new crisis. Though it’s not clear how solving Mozer’s murder will save Annie Tasha feels an unstoppable urge to investigate. Sifting through the rivalries jealousies and general bad behavior that led to the star’s demise takes patience and perception. Who better than detail-oriented Tasha who clothes mighty choruses one stitch at a time to tackle the tangle of a male diva’s death?

Ellie Marlowe and Bill Starlin’s friendship goes all the way back to their childhood in Avalon when Ellie was best friends with Bill’s sister Ava. As adults they went their separate ways Ellie to a high-powered corporate job and Bill to the Massachusetts State Police. Now they’re both back in their hometown Ellie to her dream job running the Kaleidoscope Theater and Bill as head of Avalon’s two-person police force. Married to Darlene Bill has a bunch of kids; Ellie and husband Mike are trying for their first. As she works behind the scenes Ellie keeps her tics under reasonable control until the death of lead actor Reginald Thornton IV during the last scene of the premiere of Murder in a Teacup thrusts her into the limelight. Though Bill’s former MSP colleagues are quick to call Reggie’s death a heart attack Bill suspects that one of Reggie’s many enemies may have dispatched the relentless bully with a dose of Valium. Determined to help her old friend and save her theater’s reputation Ellie launches her own investigation. Ellie and Bill’s increasingly complex relationships to their spouses and each other command the lion’s share of interest in what looks like a series debut. The everyone-hates-the-victim setup is shopworn the investigation is routine and the solution leaves many of the questions raised in the first few chapters unaddressed. Learning whodunit just isn’t enough.

Tea by the Sea the Cape Cod tearoom Lily Roberts left a stressful job in Manhattan to open is hosting a wedding shower and some of the guests are staying at the nearby Victorian B&B owned by Lily’s grandmother. As the big day approaches the tension is palpable with the bride Hannah Hill and her mother Jenny on one side and the groom’s snooty mother Sophia Reynolds and grandmother Regina Reynolds who don’t approve of the marriage on the other. The two families share a mysterious past that may be driving the hostility. Greg the groom arrives just in time for the gift opening along with his brother Ivan; their father Ralph; and his best man Dave. The final gift is a headless doll that sends Hannah into shock. When Ralph is found dead in his room the next morning Regina accuses Sophia who hints that Jenny may be the killer. Lily and her best friend Bernadette Murphy a virtuoso researcher and budding author have already solved several crimes and Det. Amy Redmond is not averse to hearing their ideas. The suspect pool seems limited because none of the other people staying at the B&B has any obvious connection to the two families about to be united by marriage. And the fact that Ralph was poisoned suggests he knew whomever he admitted to his room to share a drink. Undeterred by the prospect of disturbing the impending nuptials Lily and Bernie go into sleuthing mode to dig up all the possible motives before wedding bells peal.

Elyan Hollow was a quiet town on Oregon’s Columbia River until a famous Halloween movie was filmed there. Now it’s a Halloween-themed tourist destination supporting many small businesses including Lazy Bones Books which Bailey Briggs’ grandfather is passing on to her. After Bailey’s mother now a doctor with a second family got pregnant in high school Bailey was raised by her grandparents. For the Halloween festival she’s planning Bailey has extended invitations to three well-known authors including bestselling Rex Abbot who graduated from high school in Elyan Hollow. Also in town is a crew from the TV show Gone Ghouls including Taylor Edison a snooty research assistant who’s talked Bailey into letting them shoot in the bookstore and one-time local Lance Gregory star of the show. The shoot supervised by Bailey’s assistant trashes the shop leaving Bailey furious. When Bailey finds Lance dead in the maze created for the festival she becomes a prime suspect. Learning that Lance and Rex were both in school with her mother Bailey wonders who her father was and does some sleuthing to try to find out. Once the obnoxious Taylor becomes the next to die she steps up her efforts to save herself from a murder charge and solve the riddle of her paternity.

Charlotte Illes a recovering child detective struggling with adulting is headed back to school. This time she’s not Lottie a smarty-pants troublemaker questioning the authority of her teachers at Frencham Middle School; she’s Ms. I a substitute at the same school seeing what it’s like to be the one in charge. Well kind of in charge because 25-year-old Charlotte is far from sure she can take herself seriously in the role even though Lucy Ortega her longtime best friend is a teacher at the same school. Lucy’s investment in encouraging Charlotte on the job isn’t limited to Charlotte’s potential as a long-term sub. On Charlotte’s first day at her old school in her new role Lucy brings her to meet Kim aka Ms. Romano a colleague who’s receiving threatening letters about what might happen if she doesn’t quit her job. Lucy’s prepared to beg Charlotte to resume her old ways and take the case but she barely has to nudge the former detective to get her moving. Whether because she had a recent success testifying in court for her crush Mita Ramachandran a lawyer who’d hired her for a little detective work or just because she wants to relive her glory days Charlotte is certain she can figure out who’s blackmailing Kim. She’s assisted in her investigation by Gabe Reyes her other best friend whose informal vibes make Charlotte look downright professional. The mystery proves no match for the ragtag team of Lucy Gabe and Charlotte especially when Charlotte involves a new generation of potential kid detectives.