By the time you read this I'll be gone: an original novel

Kuehn's Murder, She Wrote--inspired novel will turn a new generation to cozy mysteries. Beatrice lives in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine, where a surprising number of mysteries have occurred. As a true-crime enthusiast, Beatrice anonymously writes for an unsolved-mysteries outlet, but both of her worlds unexpectedly overlap when her friend goes missing. While trying to make sense of his disappearance, Beatrice uncovers other Cabot Cove secrets and mysteries--some quite old--under the guidance of her elderly great-aunt Jessica Fletcher. As expected in a cozy mystery, Kuehn introduces an interesting cast of characters with red herrings that will have readers on their toes. In this first book in a planned series, Kuehn interweaves mysteries that could be explored in future installments, though those breadcrumbs often battle the novel's main mystery for attention and occasionally make it difficult to keep conflicts in order. An overarching theme of the importance of strong mental-health support grounds the story. Readers who are looking for a gentler mystery will surely lose themselves in this series opener.

In a gripping series opener, Kuehn (We Weren't Looking to Be Found) mixes small-town coziness with intriguing dual mysteries. Striving to be as tenacious as her crime novelist great-aunt, Cabot Cove High School student and amateur investigative reporter Bea Fletcher, 15, cracks cold cases and writes about them on crime website TrueMaine. When her best friend, Jackson, is declared missing after failing to accompany Bea to her teen anxiety support group, she persuades calculating twins Leisl and Leif and charming Carlos--students at nearby elite Broadmoor Academy--to find him. Though each of the enigmatic trio is hiding a secret, they agree to help, motivated by their own desire to solve a mystery surrounding the 1980s death of a local teen. But as the group's members struggle to trust one another, they discover they're not the only ones in Cabot Cove with something to hide. Fully fleshed out backstories empathetically cover topics of grief, privilege, and suicidal ideation, and Kuehn's elaborately plotted narrative stays true to the inspiration's format, culminating in a briskly paced resolution that handily concludes these mysteries while leaving plenty of clues behind to set the stage for the next. Bea is white, Black, and Mexican; Carlos is Latinx-cued; Leisl and Leif are white. Ages 12--up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Gr 8 Up--Beatrice Fletcher, mixed race 17-year-old great-grandniece of the famous (fictional) author Jessica Fletcher, is a bonafide true crime aficionado who even writes a column about cold cases for TrueMaine, a new crime site. When her own best friend, white Jackson Glanville, doesn't show up to meet her, Bea immediately suspects something is terribly wrong. While searching the woods near their rendezvous spot, Bea stumbles into a potentially dangerous game played by students of the local boarding school. While trying to figure out what happened to Jackson and attempting to steer clear of his controlling, emotionally abusive parents, she also gets drawn further into the secrets surrounding Broadmoor's ritualistic game, and the solutions to both may be more intertwined than she could imagine. Kuehn's first volume in a new series brings Murder, She Wrote to life for a new generation of mystery fanatics by combining the elements of classic mystery fiction with a wholly contemporary tone and present-day characters. Honest and straightforward discussions of Bea's journey to learn to live with her anxiety and the normalization of medication and therapy are important inclusions, and perceptive commentary on human nature is thoughtful and deliberate but stops shy of becoming too esoteric. Unsolved pieces of the mysteries set up the next volume in the series, and readers should be aware of discussions of suicide, self-harm, and parental death. Beatrice is Black, Mexican, and white. VERDICT A slow-building, intellectual mystery recommended for ambitious readers.--Allie Stevens

A young woman becomes enmeshed in an increasingly complex mystery when her friend goes missing in their hometown of Cabot Cove, the fictional Maine location of Murder, She Wrote fame. High school junior Bea is insightful, tenacious--and vulnerable. She has also always felt somewhat like a misfit. Besides being one of the few brown-skinned people in town--her dad is White, and her mom was Black and Mexican--she works for the crime website TrueMaine, writing about unsolved murders and spending her free time sleuthing. She attends a teen therapy group to help manage the anxiety she has experienced since her mother's death when she was 11. When her friend Jackson disappears on the night he's supposed to join her for one of the support group meetings, it comes as little surprise that she decides to investigate. A trio of teens from nearby elite boarding school Broadmoor Academy--Carlos plus siblings Leisl and Leif--both assist and complicate her investigative efforts. Readers will be quickly swept up in the historical cold case that seems to have laid the foundation for Jackson's vanishing. Small-town secrets and scandals abound, and while the conclusion offers some degree of satisfying resolution, there is much that is left unexplained that can be addressed in the sequel. A gripping thriller with a winning protagonist that sets the stage for more. (Mystery. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kuehn's Murder, She Wrote–inspired novel will turn a new generation to cozy mysteries. Beatrice lives in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine, where a surprising number of mysteries have occurred. As a true-crime enthusiast, Beatrice anonymously writes for an unsolved-mysteries outlet, but both of her worlds unexpectedly overlap when her friend goes missing. While trying to make sense of his disappearance, Beatrice uncovers other Cabot Cove secrets and mysteries—some quite old—under the guidance of her elderly great-aunt Jessica Fletcher. As expected in a cozy mystery, Kuehn introduces an interesting cast of characters with red herrings that will have readers on their toes. In this first book in a planned series, Kuehn interweaves mysteries that could be explored in future installments, though those breadcrumbs often battle the novel's main mystery for attention and occasionally make it difficult to keep conflicts in order. An overarching theme of the importance of strong mental-health support grounds the story. Readers who are looking for a gentler mystery will surely lose themselves in this series opener. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

In a gripping series opener, Kuehn (We Weren't Looking to Be Found) mixes small-town coziness with intriguing dual mysteries. Striving to be as tenacious as her crime novelist great-aunt, Cabot Cove High School student and amateur investigative reporter Bea Fletcher, 15, cracks cold cases and writes about them on crime website TrueMaine. When her best friend, Jackson, is declared missing after failing to accompany Bea to her teen anxiety support group, she persuades calculating twins Leisl and Leif and charming Carlos—students at nearby elite Broadmoor Academy—to find him. Though each of the enigmatic trio is hiding a secret, they agree to help, motivated by their own desire to solve a mystery surrounding the 1980s death of a local teen. But as the group's members struggle to trust one another, they discover they're not the only ones in Cabot Cove with something to hide. Fully fleshed out backstories empathetically cover topics of grief, privilege, and suicidal ideation, and Kuehn's elaborately plotted narrative stays true to the inspiration's format, culminating in a briskly paced resolution that handily concludes these mysteries while leaving plenty of clues behind to set the stage for the next. Bea is white, Black, and Mexican; Carlos is Latinx-cued; Leisl and Leif are white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Gr 8 Up—Beatrice Fletcher, mixed race 17-year-old great-grandniece of the famous (fictional) author Jessica Fletcher, is a bonafide true crime aficionado who even writes a column about cold cases for TrueMaine, a new crime site. When her own best friend, white Jackson Glanville, doesn't show up to meet her, Bea immediately suspects something is terribly wrong. While searching the woods near their rendezvous spot, Bea stumbles into a potentially dangerous game played by students of the local boarding school. While trying to figure out what happened to Jackson and attempting to steer clear of his controlling, emotionally abusive parents, she also gets drawn further into the secrets surrounding Broadmoor's ritualistic game, and the solutions to both may be more intertwined than she could imagine. Kuehn's first volume in a new series brings Murder, She Wrote to life for a new generation of mystery fanatics by combining the elements of classic mystery fiction with a wholly contemporary tone and present-day characters. Honest and straightforward discussions of Bea's journey to learn to live with her anxiety and the normalization of medication and therapy are important inclusions, and perceptive commentary on human nature is thoughtful and deliberate but stops shy of becoming too esoteric. Unsolved pieces of the mysteries set up the next volume in the series, and readers should be aware of discussions of suicide, self-harm, and parental death. Beatrice is Black, Mexican, and white. VERDICT A slow-building, intellectual mystery recommended for ambitious readers.—Allie Stevens