Starred Review Pitcher, author of the well-received My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (2012), delivers a novel that is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious. Here, 15-year-old Zoe writes to a Death Row inmate in Texas. She empathizes with him and wants to share her story ter all, she killed someone, too. From the garden shed of her home in England, Zoe (not her real name) pens lengthy letters to Stuart Harris offering snapshots from the previous year: how she met a boy with beautiful brown eyes named Aaron; how, before their feelings for each other were verbalized, she kissed, and then dated, his brother, Max; how Aaron and Zoe kept up the facade of Max and Zoe to protect Max. But one of the brothers ends up dead is much we know t we don't know which one, or how Zoe was involved, until the very end. The suspense is palpable, and Zoe's voice is witty and introspective as she explores issues relating to family, grief, and love. With each new letter, Zoe writes more familiarly, addressing "Mr. Harris" as "My dearest Stu" and signing with "Love," as the clock counts down to the inmate's execution day. While there are a couple of missteps at the very end cluding an anticlimactic family revelation ere's no denying the emotional resonance of this bittersweet novel.

Of course Zoe isn't anything like Texas death row inmate Stuart Harris. She got away with her murder. Plagued by guilt and using the alias "Zoe," the British teen writes a series of confessional letters to Harris. These episodic letters reveal a string of fateful decisions, including her role in a young man's death. Seizing on her parents' marital problems, Zoe escapes to a party and finds instant attraction with "The Boy with the Brown Eyes." But when he disappears, she takes solace--with clothing removed--with popular Max Morgan. While periodically running into the mysterious guy, who she learns is named Aaron, Zoe continues her mostly physical relationship with Max. When she also discovers that Aaron and Max are brothers, readers clearly understand that one of them will die because of her. It's not just suspense that drives this epistolary page-turner, but Zoe's authentic emotional responses and unyielding wit ("who knew that vomit could be flirtatious?"). Zoe's not a monster here but a typical adolescent who does like Max but is in love with Aaron. An engaging subplot involving Zoe's younger, deaf sister and her mother's culpability in her disability mirror Zoe's mounting tension. After many red herrings, a bittersweet ending brings compassion and answers to Zoe's dilemma and shows just how easy it is to make mistakes and how hard love can be. (Fiction. 13 & up)

Of course Zoe isn't anything like Texas death row inmate Stuart Harris. She got away with her murder. Plagued by guilt and using the alias "Zoe," the British teen writes a series of confessional letters to Harris. These episodic letters reveal a string of fateful decisions, including her role in a young man's death. Seizing on her parents' marital problems, Zoe escapes to a party and finds instant attraction with "The Boy with the Brown Eyes." But when he disappears, she takes solace--with clothing removed--with popular Max Morgan. While periodically running into the mysterious guy, who she learns is named Aaron, Zoe continues her mostly physical relationship with Max. When she also discovers that Aaron and Max are brothers, readers clearly understand that one of them will die because of her. It's not just suspense that drives this epistolary page-turner, but Zoe's authentic emotional responses and unyielding wit ("who knew that vomit could be flirtatious?"). Zoe's not a monster here but a typical adolescent who does like Max but is in love with Aaron. An engaging subplot involving Zoe's younger, deaf sister and her mother's culpability in her disability mirror Zoe's mounting tension. After many red herrings, a bittersweet ending brings compassion and answers to Zoe's dilemma and shows just how easy it is to make mistakes and how hard love can be. (Fiction. 13 & up)

Pitcher (My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece) delivers a taut epistolary novel about a British teenager who writes to a Texas death row inmate and confesses her guilt in a murder: -You killed someone you were supposed to love and I killed someone I was supposed to love, and we both understand the pain and the fear and the sadness and the guilt and the hundred other feelings that don-t even have a name in all of the English language.- Though the writer invents her name, Zoe, there-s nothing false about her one-way letters that gradually reveal her turbulent and destructive romance with two brothers, Max and Aaron, which ends in a death. Pitcher (who won the 2013 Waterstone-s Children-s Book Prize for this novel) thrusts Zoe into charged situations (her parents- strain over her deaf sister and her father-s unemployment heighten the conflict), and Zoe-s guilt casts a chill on her relationship with the boys- mother. Zoe-s introspective and surprisingly humorous voice will strike a chord with readers as they dwell on the space between guilt and innocence. Ages 12-up. Agent: Catherine Clarke, Felicity Bryan Associates. (Nov.)

Gr 4-8Pumpkin Falls, NH, is a long way from Austin, TX, but it is the place that Truly Lovejoy and her family now call home. It's where her dad's family is from, and when her father was injured in the war in Afghanistan, it's where they returned to be part of the family business, Lovejoy's Books. Mackenzie, Truly's cousin, is visiting from Texas and wants Truly to show her around the town. At this time of year, the biggest thing going on is the Maple Fest. The syrup is flowing, and the town is beset by tourists eager to soak up the charm of quaint Pumpkin Falls. However, someone is sabotaging the maple tree taps, and tensions are rising as people start suspecting one another. The protagonist and her friends resurrect Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes, which originated in Absolutely Truly, in order to investigate. In the meantime Truly and Mackenzie unearth another mystery: a diary left behind by the protagonist's ancestor, the original Truly. As the kids search for the story behind the diary, they begin to wonder if it ties into anything that is currently going on in Pumpkin Falls. Fans of the first book will not be disappointed in this mystery, while new readers will fall in love with Truly and her family as they cope with all the excitement and mystery in Pumpkin Falls. VERDICT A well-written and engaging light mystery. Recommended for most school and public library middle grade collections.Laura Fields Eason, Parker Bennett Curry Elementary School, Bowling Green, KY