Guardian (Deen)

Selected for the Best Books for Kids & Teens 2015 Selected for The Sunburst Award For seventeen-year-old Maggie Johnson, transitioning the dead isn't hard. What's tough is surviving the insults and pranks of Serge Popov, high school thug and the dumbest jock to ever set foot in Dead Falls, Alberta. When she finds him dead and later discovers his spirit trapped in her room, she figures it's a case of divine justice. Let the jerk rot for eternity, bound to an earthly prison. But someone-or something-has a different agenda. If Maggie doesn't help Serge cross over, she'll die at the hands of the otherworldly entity that's taken an interest in the dead bully. As she digs into the circumstances of Serge's murder, she'll uncover the secrets hidden by the world of the living and the wonders revealed by cities of the dead-if her investigation doesn't kill her first.

Short-listed for the Alberta Readers' Choice Awards A month after solving her first murder (and almost getting killed in the process), Maggie Johnson and her soul brother Serge Popov are hoping for some peace and quiet to figure out...well, everything. But the dead wait for no one. Especially a dead guy like Kent Thomas. He was every parent's dream, the kind of good kid who excelled at school, and never caused trouble. And he was the kind of guy all the guys liked. Add in a hot factor that made him every girl's fantasy, and he was the least likely person to be murdered. So who tossed him off a cliff? Maggie's determined to find the killer but if she's not careful, she'll end up just like the soul she's trying to save.

Selected for the Best Books For Kids & Teens Maggie Johnson is dealing with too much - the rising distrust and hate of the townspeople, her growing (and unpredictable) supernatural powers, and the dead, waiting to be transitioned from this side to the next. Right now, they're her saving grace. But when a soul-eater steals the ghost she's transitioning, things don't just take a turn for the worse, they take a turn for the personal. This thing has a connection to her and to her family, and it's coming for revenge. As Maggie races to stop the entity, the body count ticks up, and the soul-eater's touch reaches close to home. The answers Maggie seeks are coming to a head, but will she survive the revelation? "[I]f you're a new reader to the Guardian series, you've got three books of robust plotting, clever characters and bright banter ahead of you. Enjoy!" – CanLit for Little Canadians