We had a hunch A mystery

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Former teen detectives pursue a killer in this sinuous small-town thriller from Ryan (The Treasure Hunters Club). In the year 2000, ambitious 17-year-old twin sleuths Alice and Sam Van Dyne tire of helping their police officer dad with low-stakes cases and contrive to trap the murderer terrorizing Edgar Mills, Mass. Their sting goes sideways despite computer whiz Joey O'Day's assistance, and the killer--school janitor Bruce Kershaw--slays the girls' father and Alice's boyfriend before being arrested. Twenty-five years later, Alice, Sam, and Joey receive calls from the Edgar Mills police chief, who is chasing an apparent Kershaw copycat. Though incarcerated, Kershaw claims to have valuable intel about the new killer that he will communicate only to Joey and the twins. After the trio pay him a visit, they launch their own investigation. The setup is convoluted, but 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. Agent: Samantha Haywood, Transatlantic Literary. (Oct.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

In 2000, the town of Edgar Mills, MA, was home to competing teenaged detectives: tech whiz Joey O'Day and twin sisters Sam and Alice VanDyne. Their attempt to solve a series of local murders in high school resulted in both the capture of "the Janitor" (a.k.a. Bruce Kershaw) and the killing of the twins' police-chief father and Alice's high school boyfriend, ending their nascent careers. Twenty-five years later, copycat killings have started again, and Sam, Alice, and Joey are called back because Kershaw has information about the new cases that he'll share only with them. The erstwhile sleuths are all at a crossroads and welcome the case as a distraction from their crumbling marriages, professional dissatisfaction, and midlife ennui. As Sam, Alice, and Joey investigate, they are joined by a next-generation teen detective, true-crime TikTok influencer Evan Stevens. As he did in his previous adult mystery-adventure, The Treasure Hunters Club, Ryan keeps the tone breezy, the action twisting, and the characters intriguingly complex, calling to mind Lisa Lutz's Spellman series. VERDICT A fun, fast-paced page-turner centered on an endearing and multifaceted group of amateur sleuths that will have broad appeal.--Jon Jeffryes

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Three former teen sleuths unexpectedly reunite and revisit their shared pasts along with the horrific crime that changed their lives forever. Twin sisters Alice and Samantha Van Dyne became the sensation of Edgar Mills, Massachusetts, when, as high schoolers, they helped their father, Police Chief Bill Van Dyne, crack a case involving drug smugglers. Their friend Joey O'Day joined them in notoriety when he used his computer skills to solve an internet scam. Then the twins tackled a case involving a serial killer dubbed "the Janitor" and became involved in a series of mishaps that led to the death of their father, leaving them permanently traumatized. In a narrative that moves between third-person accounts focused on each member of the trio, Ryan crafts a character-driven, deeply psychological narrative about loss, heartbreak, and redemption. Chapter One begins with Alice, who stayed on in Edgar Mills and married the brother of the high school sweetheart who was also one of the Janitor's victims. Her sister, Samantha, became a reality-TV star in LA while Joey made his fortune in the Boston tech industry. When a Janitor-inspired murder in Edgar Mills makes national headlines 25 years later, Alice, Samantha, and Joey cross paths once again, not only with each other, but with the now-jailed Janitor, who claims he didn't commit all the murders that were attributed to him back then. Inexorably drawn into a new investigation, the trio finds themselves forced to confront not only their roles in the first set of Janitor murders but also disturbing truths about themselves, their loved ones, and apparently innocent bystanders with agendas more shocking than any of them could imagine. Clever, tightly plotted, and complex, Ryan's novel is as immersive as it is satisfying. A fabulously twisting maze of murder, intrigue, and suspense. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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