The secrets of Lily Graves

Title:

Author:

Strohmeyer, Sarah author.

ISBN:

9780062259608

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

298 pages ; 21 cm

Abstract:

Subject:

Secrets -- Fiction.

High school students -- Juvenile fiction.

Undertakers and undertaking -- Juvenile fiction.

Murder -- Juvenile fiction.

Love -- Fiction.

Murder -- Fiction.

High schools -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Secrecy -- Fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Young adult fiction.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Young adult fiction.

Available:*

Audience	Shelf Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Current Location
Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Book	YA FIC STROHMEYER	Searching... Unknown

Summary

Gone Girl meets Six Feet Under in bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer's romantic YA mystery about a girl who must unravel a web of lies in her small town before it's too late.

Descended from a long line of female morticians, Lily Graves knows all about buried secrets. So after senior-class president Erin Donohue--perfect saint to the community--turns up dead, Lily believes it's her job to find the culprit. But Lily has feelings for Erin's ex-boyfriend, Matt, which makes both of them suspects and makes Lily's investigation . . . complicated. As her world crumbles around her, Lily must figure out the difference between truth and deception, between genuine love and a web of lies. And she must do it quickly, before the killer claims another victim.

Fans of Sara Shepard who enjoy realistic contemporary fiction with a dash of mystery will love the secrets, lies, and romance swirling in this sexy, intriguing novel.

Author Notes

Sarah Strohmeyer grew up in Bethlehem, PA, & is a former newspaper reporter. Her previous book is "Barbie Unbound: A Parody of the Barbie Obsession". She lives outside of Montpelier, VT, with her husband & two children.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up-Lily Graves is aptly named, living as she does in her mother's funeral parlor and working with her Aunt Boo to prepare bodies for burial. Erin, a fellow high school senior, rudely confronts Lily in a cemetery to remind her to stay away from Matt, Erin's on-again-off-again boyfriend. Though nothing more than chaste tutoring has happened between Lily and Matt so far, Erin is right to suspect they have a degree of mutual attraction. Complications emerge the next day when Erin is found with her wrists slit, and what was originally thought to be suicide begins to seem more like murder. Further difficulties arise since Lily's mom is dating the local chief of police and Matt is a prime suspect. Lily, her best friend Sara (a fan of television crime investigation shows), and Matt begin to investigate on their own, and find that Erin's virginal "good girl" reputation hides some darker activities. The overall tone of the book is that of a murder mystery/romance, and the occasional humorous parts (her mother's health-food obsession, a lighthearted exchange in the kitchen after the wake) feel out of place among the possible drug deals and death by embalming fluid. A secret about Matt's brother distracts from the main story without an appreciable payoff. Lily's gothic-style funeral home and her descriptions of how bodies are prepared for burial are interesting and seldom the topic of teen novels. Readers looking for something new and slightly macabre may be drawn in. Consider for larger collections.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Strohmeyer (How Zoe Made Her Dreams [Mostly] Come True) delves into murder mystery territory in a story helmed by 17-year-old Lily Graves, who has had a lifelong relationship with death. "I'd been warped, for better or worse," she explains, "growing up in a funeral home and being lulled to sleep as a toddler by the whirr of [aunt] Boo's embalming machine injecting pink-tinted formaldehyde into the veins of corpses in the room below." Lily's goth-girl attire, fearless attitude, and knowledge of mortuary science help fuel an eerie story that opens with an aggressive graveyard confrontation instigated by Lily's holier-than-thou classmate Erin Donohue, who believes Lily is after her boyfriend, Matt. Soon after, Erin is found dead, her wrists slit in a bathtub with "surgical precision," and Lily and Matt both become suspects. Together, they attempt to find the killer, uncovering Erin's many secrets as they do. Lily's acid narration and proud outsider status are high points in what's otherwise a fairly run-of-the-mill mystery, albeit one with enough twists to keep readers guessing until the final pages. Ages 13-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Lily Graves has the perfect name, a fact her classmates never tire of reminding her. The women in her family run a funeral home, and Lily helps with the cleanup, the funerals, and the embalming. Thankfully, her best friend Sara has her back, although even Lily finds her fascination with true crime a bit creepy. When Lily's tutoring of Matt Houser becomes more than book learning and Matt's gorgeous, brilliant, Harvard-bound girlfriend is found murdered in her own bedroom, Lily's life becomes even more complicated. Matt is a prime suspect and suddenly Lily is, too. Aided and abetted by funeral home, dead body, and burial information, Strohmeyer's light high-school romance morphs into something more sinister. Add to that assertive women navigating a male-dominated profession and police force, as well as possible sexual abuse and a conservative religious family, and you have an interesting yet easy read for a diverse audience.--Bradburn, Frances Copyright 2010 Booklist

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review