Murder Between Friends

Gr 7 Up–Two years ago, the town of Brawner was torn apart when a popular high school English teacher was murdered and one of her students was convicted of the crime. But now the conviction has been overturned, and the accused killer is coming home. The whole town is on edge, especially Henry, Ally, and Grace. They used to be friends, but once Henry’s brother, Jake, was convicted of their teacher’s murder, and Grace’s testimony helped put him away, their friendship seemed to be over. Now that Jake is back, Grace isn’t so sure of what she saw that night, and the three former friends reluctantly team up to try to get to the truth of what happened. The chapters alternate points of view among the three characters, and sometimes it can be hard to distinguish between their voices; many of the characters’ secrets seem inserted only to drive the plot. Still, the several twists the story takes will keep readers guessing, even if the character development feels thin. All main characters are cued white.