Bury the Lead

By: Mischa Thrace

Narrated by: Joyce Oben

Sherlock Holmes may not have been a journalist, but that doesn’t stop high school senior Kennedy Carter from embracing his methods. With her sights set on becoming an investigative reporter, Kennedy lives by the famous detective’s rules: Observe the obvious, eliminate the impossible, and avoid romantic entanglements at all costs.

Kennedy has her heart set on winning the $10,000 Excellence in Emerging Journalism award so she can finally escape her small town and see the world with her very own kind-hearted Watson - best friend and school photographer Ravi Burman.

But research into a local urban legend and a murder investigation she can’t resist are threatening to derail her plans. To find the killer preying on her graduating class, she and Ravi team up to investigate the deaths and work to uncover the story of a lifetime - if it doesn’t cost them their lives first.

©2021 Mischa Thrace & BHC Press (P)2021 Mischa Thrace & BHC Press

A Mystery to Draw You In and Keep You Guessing!

I enjoy reading YA mysteries and while I like Karen McManus' books, I LOVE Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy. Bury the Lead is probably the closest you can get to GGGTM's intricate plotting and characterization. While I still prefer GGGTM, I definitely would rate this as a 4.5 or 4.75 out of 5.

So many YA books labeled mysteries do not have a main character investigating a crime, but Kennedy Carter, who wants to be an investigative reporter turns out to be an great crime investigator. I love that she is the first to figure out that an apparent suicide was actually a murder and pursues it even when the police have closed the case.

It was clever how Mischa Thrace interspersed "The Making of a Monster" segments because it gives you the motive for the murders; which the police have labeled as suicides, but also gives you insight into the murderer. I couldn't be happier with the curveball the author threw at the reader in the end. I'm rarely surprised by mystery endings anymore and Mischa Thrace managed to surprise me!