Expectant Detectives

Can they solve the mother of all murders? For Alice and her partner Joe, moving to the sleepy village of Penton is a chance to embrace country life and prepare for the birth of their first child. He can take up woodwork; maybe she'll learn to make jam? But the rural idyll they'd hoped for doesn't quite pan out when a dead body is discovered at their local prenatal class, and they find themselves suspects in a murder investigation. With a cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the whole group, Alice and her new-found pregnant friends set out to solve the mystery and clear their names, with the help of her troublesome dog, Helen. However, there are more secrets and tensions in the heart of Penton than first meet the eye. Between the discovery of a shady commune up in the woods, the unearthing of a mysterious death years earlier, and the near-tragic poisoning of Helen, Alice is soon in way over her head.

J. S. Lemon's middle grade debut is an utterly transformative, fiercely original, and surprisingly funny story about consent, friendship, healing, and a beauty that transcends all else. Greta Goodwin's life is changing. On top of moving to a new neighborhood far away from her best friend, Lotti, she's also starting middle school. Greta isn't totally ready for boys, bras, and bad cafeteria food. She still feels like a little kid compared to those female classmates who have suddenly matured over the summer. Girls who are now objects of curiosity, scorn, and entertainment for everyone else. So, Greta adopts a new motto: "Do not call attention to yourself." But at her first-ever middle-school party, a boy does pay attention to Greta. At first it feels good. And then it feels awful. Aggressive. Abusive. In the aftermath, Greta can't make sense of what's happened, let alone talk about it, even to Lotti. Impossibly, Greta's body starts to change, and in a vastly different way from everyone else's. What follows leads Greta to believe the world might finally see her as she truly is: ethereal, powerful, and free. “Reminiscent of Kafka's Metamorphosis” and sensitively told, stunning modern classics like “Fighting Words” and “The Thing About Jellyfish”, Greta will transform readers just as Greta herself is transformed.