First published 2026
Stevie Bell needs a break from romance drama. Her boyfriend David has been sending mixed signals and kissing other girls in London pubs. A corpse in a Manhattan apartment building provides the perfect distraction. Stevie considers herself possibly the best teenage detective Ellingham Academy has ever produced, and she definitely prefers investigating dead people to navigating living relationships. Dead bodies don't text confusing messages or break your heart. But this New York case pulls her into a tangle of human emotions and questionable loyalties. The investigation forces Stevie to examine whether attraction is just another form of control. She wonders if anyone can be trusted and whether people recognize when they're being drawn into dangerous groups. As she works to solve the murder, Stevie must also face the question that haunts her most: has her relationship with David truly ended?
Genres: fiction, romance, mystery, contemporary, thriller, young-adult
Vibes: emotionally-complex, fast-paced, introspective, romantic-tension, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, emotional-conflict, mystery-investigation, romantic-tension
Setting: Manhattan, New York, London, Ellingham Academy
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
400 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins
Content warnings: murder