Kirjahaku

A darkly funny and thoroughly queer mystery thriller with a touch of camp, for fans of Kara Thomas and Kit Frick by way of Only Murders in the Building.When Gianna “Gigi” Ricci lands in detention again, she doesn’t expect the glorified study hall to be her alibi.But when she and her friends receive a mysterious email directing them to her favorite teacher, Mr. Ford's, room, they find him lying in a pool of blood. But calling the math teacher’s death an accident doesn’t add up, and Gigi needs all the help she can get to find the truth. Luckily, she’s friends with her high school’s Mystery Club, and so with her best friend, Sean, and longtime crush, Mari, Gigi sets out to solve a murder.But it turns out that murderers are extremely unwilling to be caught, and the deeper Gigi gets in this mystery, the more dangerous things become. Between fending off a murderer, continual flare-ups of her IBS, and her archnemesis turning flirtatious, making it out of junior year is going to be one killer problem.With a wry, hilarious voice and a main character who is the walking definition of a disaster bi, this book is an ode to cozy mysteries, queer found families, and fighting for the people you love, no matter what.

Murder most fowl? In this sardonic and campy YA thriller, an anxious, introverted nonbinary teen birder somehow finds themself investigating a murder with their neighbor/fellow anime lover, all while falling for a cute girl from their birding group...and trying not to get killed next. Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre is an avid birder undergoing a gender identity crisis and grappling with an ever-growing list of fears. Some, like Fear #6: Initiating Conversation, keep them constrained, forcing them to watch birds from the telescope in their bedroom. And, occasionally, their neighbors. When their gaze wanders to one particular window across the street, Bianca witnesses a creepy plague-masked murderer take their neighbor’s life. Worse, the death is ruled a suicide, forcing Bianca to make a choice—succumb to their long list of fears (including #3 Murder and #55 Breaking into a Dead Guy’s Apartment), or investigate what happened. Bianca enlists the help of their friend Anderson Coleman, but the two have more knowledge of anime than true crime. As Bianca and Anderson dig deeper into the murder with a little help from Bianca’s crush and fellow birding aficionado, Elaine Yee (#13 Beautiful People, #11 Parents Discovering They’re a Raging Lesbian), the trio uncover a conspiracy much larger—and weirder—than imagined. And when the killer catches wind of the investigation, suddenly Bianca’s #1 fear of public speaking doesn’t sound so bad compared to the threat of being silenced for good.In this absurdist, darkly comical YA thriller that is a deceptively deep exploration of anxiety and identity, perhaps the real murder investigation is the friends we make along the way.

Coraline meets Ghost Squad in this terrifying story about what happens when you aren't careful what you wish for. Ollie Di Costa wishes things could be different. He wishes the bullies at school would leave him alone. He wishes his parents would stop fighting. He wishes his sister Mia didn't have to worry about things like paying for college. But most of all, he wishes he wasn't so angry about all of this. When he and Mia find a two-tailed cat they name Wishbone, Ollie takes comfort in telling him everything he wishes would change-then suddenly, it does. Everything Ollie and Mia wish for comes true, and it's like all of their problems are solved. But magic comes at a price. Whatever they wish for is not simply given to them, but taken from others. And to make matters worse, a mysterious shadow man called The Mage is after Wishbone and his power. With each wish, darkness takes over more and more of their world, and worst of all, it threatens to take over Ollie, too. But can he let go of everything he's ever wanted? Justine Pucella Winans, author of the Stonewall Honor book The Otherwoods, brings us another bone-chilling middle grade horror, urging readers to not only be careful what you wish for, but beware of who you may become if you aren't.

There’s a reason CJ Smith’s hometown of Satterville, Ohio is infamously known as Slasherville: years ago, it was the site of not one, but two real-life Friday the 13th-style massacres. CJ’s dad survived the first attack; only CJ survived the second. And thanks to the mysterious writer Moon Satter’s two bestselling novels based on the events, the town—and CJ—will always be defined by its horrific past.Then a third unpublished Moon Satter manuscript shows up addressed to CJ. But unlike the other two, it’s not based on the past. Instead, this one predicts new murders.Fortunately, CJ appears only as an extra (chances of survival: high). But what are they going to do, just stand by as their classmates get picked off one by one? On the morning that the manuscript predicts the first murder to occur, they set out to stop it. CJ succeeds in saving one classmate, but in her place, the story's intended final girl turns up dead. CJ and their friends have suddenly gone from extras to leads—and they’re going to have to use everything they know about the rules of horror movies to make it out alive.

The Lost Library meets Not Quite a Ghost in this middle grade horror novel about a girl uncovering secrets about her new, haunted home. The only thing worse than having ghost hunters for parents is having fake ghost hunters for parents. Luna Catalano would know. Her moms are haunted house flippers who use their home reno skills and pretend psychic powers to turn spooky old houses into ghost-free modern homes. Not only does their job require the family to move all the time--meaning Luna is completely friendless--but the only thing haunting any of those houses is bad decor. For once Luna wishes there was an actual, for-real ghost. When they move yet again, Luna isn't expecting much. But this house feels...different. Things start out innocent enough--items not where they should be, strange noises--but soon things turn sinister. Her moms are waking up with cuts and bruises, and disturbing drawings showing them with even worse injuries are being left in Luna's room. With the help of her next-door neighbors and a mysterious woman who seems to know a lot about the home, Luna starts to piece together what exactly happened in that house before she moved in. But not everything is as it seems. In order to save her moms, Luna will have to get the story right before everything goes completely wrong. Stonewall Honor-winning author Justine Pucella Winans returns with another middle grade horror with heart about friendship, family, and the stories we tell when real life feels too scary.