I enjoyed 2017’s One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus (and won a signed copy in last year’s bingo!) so I was immensely looking forward to her sophomore novel Two Can Keep a Secret. Luckily I was not disappointed!
There. That’s how you navigate an awkward conversation. No need to lead with Sorry your mom drove her car into a jewelry store while she was high on opioids and had to go to rehab for four months. Just acknowledge the elephant in the room, sidestep, and segue into smoother conversational waters.
Welcome to Echo Ridge.
Ellery and her twin brother, Ezra, have moved into their grandmother’s house after their mother, Sadie, is sent to court mandated rehab. On the night they arrive in picture perfect Echo Ridge they come across a high school teacher who has been the victim of a fatal hit and run. His death quickly becomes yesterday’s news as threats against the front runners for homecoming queen begin popping up. In an unexpected turn of events Ellery, whose trouble mother was homecoming queen 20 years ago, is among the nominees – and targets. While all of this plays out in the present people are reminded of Echo Ridge’s complicated past with murdered young women.
McManus splits the POV between Ellery and an Echo Ridge student named Malcom whose brother was a prime suspect during the last case of a murdered ingenue. Naturally the new-to-town Ellery and social outcast Malcom get close but when history repeats itself and another girl turns up dead Ellery has to decide how much she trusts her new friend. McManus does a good job at weaving the past and present mysteries together in an organic way that comes to a satisfying conclusion.