The best YA murder mysteries

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Young Adult murder mysteries to read at any age

Their Vicious Games

*Squid Game at an American High School - the twisty YA thriller that everyone will be talking about in 2023.* 
 
Twelve girls. Three rounds. One ultimate prize . . . for the last one left alive. 
 
Edgewater Academy is a school for the very rich and very powerful. 
 
Adina Walker is neither of those things. Alone and outcast, when she gets into a fight with a fellow student (and former friend), her scholarship to a top college is revoked, and her world falls apart. 
 
Until she's invited to The Finish. 
 
Annual games for the brightest and the best, hosted by power-family The Remingtons, the winning prize for The Finish is everything Adina wants. This is her chance at the life she's dreamed of. 
 
Then the contestants start to die. 
 
Love, revenge, pride - all are on the line. This isn't a game any more . . . 
 
Horrific and engrossing in equal measure, THEIR VICIOUS GAMES is also a thoughtful and clever commentary on race and class. Ace of Spades meets The Inheritance Games, this is a game you'll want to see through to the finish.

Joelle Wellington grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where her childhood was spent wandering the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Her love of the written word led her to a B.A. in Creative Writing and International Studies. When she isn't writing, she's reading and when she's not doing that, she's attempting to bake bread with varying degrees of success. Her work, Cottonmouth, has been published in Apex Magazine.

Twelve girls. Three rounds. One ultimate prize . . . for the last one left alive. 
 
 Edgewater Academy is a school for the very rich and very powerful. 
 
Adina Walker is neither of those things. Alone and outcast, when she gets into a fight with a fellow student (and former friend), her scholarship to a top college is revoked, and her world falls apart. 
 
Until she's invited to The Finish. 
 
Annual games for the brightest and the best, hosted by power-family The Remingtons, the winning prize for The Finish is everything Adina wants. This is her chance at the life she's dreamed of. 
 
Then the contestants start to die. 
 
Love, revenge, pride - all are on the line. This isn't a game any more . . . 
 
Horrific and engrossing in equal measure, THEIR VICIOUS GAMES is also a thoughtful and clever commentary on race and class. Ace of Spades meets The Inheritance Games, this is a game you'll want to see through to the finish.

Joelle Wellington

What happens when a horror movie becomes reality? Karen M. McManus meets Scream in this spine-tingling YA horror thriller that cleverly explores themes of race and class. 
 
Devon Harris doesn't have much planned for the summer - until her sister, Drew, invites Devon to a very exclusive private school party. 
 
Out of her element, Devon commits to being game at everything. Even when the private school kids ask her if there are fights at her school. Even when they ask her if her box braids are her real hair. Even when those weird ass kids pull out a Ouija board. 
 
But this seemingly harmless bit of fun has terrible consequences. Something has been released, and only a week later it's hunting Devon, Drew and their friends. Hunting them in an eerily familiar way . . . 
 
The real-life horror movie has begun. The blonde is up first, then the asshole - right up to the Final Girl. Unless the murderous cycle can be broken, they're all going to be next.

Joelle Wellington

Books by Joelle Wellington

Articles featuring Joelle Wellington

Young Adult murder mysteries to read at any age

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