Weiss (If the Creek Don-t Rise) delivers an intriguing coming of age story of two 13-year-old girls whose summer idyll is complicated by mysterious events. Lucy Brown lives on a tobacco farm in Riverton, N.C., in 1943 with her six siblings. She forms a quick friendship with Bert Tucker, who comes to Riverton to stay with her pregnant aunt Violet, whose husband Larry has disappeared, after Bert-s mother dies. Lucy-s mother then brings Bert into the Browns- home when Violet is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Lucy-s understanding of WWII is based on her knowledge of her older soldier brother, Everett, and of her father-s deal with the U.S. government to provide beeswax. But after Riverton becomes home to a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, Lucy learns firsthand of the war-s divisiveness, as rumors and distrust run rampant through the community. Lucy, an avid Nancy Drew reader, then bands with Bert in an effort solve the mystery of Larry-s disappearance, and of a singer who went missing after performing at a town dance. Weiss expertly highlights how Lucy and Bert-s innocence is altered by their experiences, with spot-on depictions of the rural Southern community. This is magnetic from the start. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher and Co. (July)