Nancy Drew meets Yellowjackets in a new small-town mystery from USA TODAY bestselling author Tom Ryan that asks a simple question: what happens to your favorite teenage detectives when they grow up?
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Few stories captured the public's imagination in the year 2,000 like the friendly rivalry between the Teen Detectives of Edgar Mills, Massachusetts. Twin sisters Alice and Samantha VanDyne were thrust in the spotlight when they helped their father Sheriff Bill VanDyne identify and track down a slippery drug smuggling ring. Across town, introverted and bookish Joey O'Day proved himself to be a talented investigator of a different sort when he used his computer skills and idiosyncratic mind to expose an online grifter who had been preying on elderly victims.
The fact that Edgar Mills had not one, but two sets of teenage sleuths did not escape the notice of the press. As the trio began jockeying to outdo each other, solving one low level crime after another, the wider world began to pay attention. Before long, they were a sensation, appearing on talk shows and the covers of teen magazines.
But when a brutal series of murders rocked Edgar Mills, a deadly miscalculation on the part of the VanDyne twins led to the shocking and gruesome deaths of their father, Sheriff VanDyne, and Alice's boyfriend. The killer, Bruce Phillip Kershaw- better known as The Janitor-was ultimately captured with the help of Joey O'Day, but both Edgar Mills and their beloved Teen Detectives would never be the same.
Today
It's been a quarter century since The Janitor terrorized Edgar Mills, and the Teen Detectives have grown up. Samantha and Joey have scattered: Sam to Los Angeles and a life as a B List reality TV star, and Joey to a lucrative tech career in Boston. Alice, on the other hand, still lives in Edgar Mills, her guilt and heartbreak having taken root and kept her stuck in this town.
When Edgar Mills is shaken by a new murder that appears to follow The Janitor's MO, Bruce Phillip Kershaw offers, from his maximum-security prison cell, to provide new information that might help crack this new case. The catch? He'll only talk to the Teen Detectives that put him away. Tom Ryan is the author of two adult mysteries, the internationally bestselling The Treasure Hunters Club, which was a 2025 Edgar nominee for the Lilian Jackson Braun Award, and We Had a Hunch, which Publishers Weekly called "criminally good fun". He is also the author of the YA mystery Keep This to Yourself, winner of the 2020 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel, the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book, and the 2021 Ann Connor Brimer Award. His YA follow-up, I Hope You're Listening, was the winner of the 2021 Lambda "Lammy" Award for Best LGBTQ Mystery. Tom, his husband, and their dog live in Nova Scotia. "[A] sinuous small-town thriller... it doesn't take long for Ryan's tale to hit its stride. Whiplash-inducing plot twists and convincing red herrings abound, but Ryan leaves plenty of room for character development, using the present-day mystery as a means for his three protagonists to confront their pasts and reassess their futures. This is criminally good fun."
- Publishers Weekly "Ryan crafts a character-driven, deeply psychological narrative about loss, heartbreak, and redemption. . . Clever, tightly plotted, and complex, Ryan's novel is as immersive as it is satisfying. A fabulously twisting maze of murder, intrigue, and suspense."
- Kirkus Reviews "Have you ever wondered what it might be like to be in the middle of a true crime investigation? We Had a Hunch puts you right in the middle of one to great effect. The twins at the heart of this mystery are engaging and interesting, and the dual timeline serves this mystery well."
- CATHERINE MACK, USA Today bestselling author of Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies "A charming mystery packed with
