Nothing More to Tell

     Karen McManus is deservedly seen as one of the great ones when it comes to YA chillers.  When I see her name on a new volume I do my happy library dance.  A reviewer's dream come true, she not only produces prolifically, but improves with practice.  Her latest, Nothing More to Tell, is also her greatest.

     Four years ago a gruesome murder shook Saint Ambrose school and the small Massachusetts town it occupies.  A popular teacher, Mr. Larkin, was found brutally slain by three eighth grade students.  Tripp was one of them.  

     The murder was ascribed to a vagrant passing through.  Some people are not so sure.  One kid was found holding the murder weapon.  Another had an envelope of stolen money found in her locker.  One's father's corporation that had never done so before or after donated a substantial amount of money to the town's police department.  There are those who think the investigation should be reopened.

     One of them is Brynn, former classmate of the students who found the body and aspiring crime reporter.  After four years in Chicago she's returned to her former hometown and school in journalist disgrace.  A cruel practical joke has potentially ended her career before it begins.

     "Since then, I've been scrambling to find some kind of internship that might make Northwestern take a second look at me.  My first half dozen rejections were all short, impersonal form letters.  Nobody had the guts to say what they were really thinking:  Dear Ms. Gallagher, since your most-viewed article of the school paper was a compilation of dick pics, you are not suitable for this position."

     But her luck may be changing.  She's sold herself to Motive, a fledgling true-crime show, with promises of inside connections to and ability to unearth new information on a local murder.

     I bet you can bet what murder I'm alluding to.  

     Told in Tripp and Brynn's alternating voices, Nothing More to Tell is a chilling roller coaster ride of a read.  Memories can be long  and grudges clung to in insular private schools and small towns.  Relationships can be quite twisty.  And, as any real Karen McManus fan can tell you, there are always people determined and willing to do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming to light.

On a purrrsonal note, we're coming to the end of what for me has been a very productive weekend.  What I'm enjoying most is this unseasonably warm weather.  We got up in the 70s both days.  I'm writing this outside in a tee shirt and shorts.  I've been able to wash and hang out two weeks worth of laundry and do lots of my homework in fresh air and sunshine.  Today I made Eugene and me grilled cheese sandwiches using sharp cheddar instead of of plastic wrapped American.  What a difference! (Jules)

She even had the windows open yesterday.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Karen McManus.  May she have a long and prolific YA chiller writing life!!!

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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