Emily Arsenault

The dusty files of a venerable dictionary publisher ... a hidden cache of coded clues ... a story written by a phantom author ... an unsolved murder in a gritty urban park - all collide memorably in Emily Arsenault's magnificent debut at once a teasing literary puzzle an ingenious suspense novel and an exploration of definitions: of words of who we are and of the stories we choose to define us.

Drawn back to her old neighborhood and to her former best friend Charlotte when the bones of their babysitter Rose are found, Nora must revisit the events surrounding Rose's disappearance and her own troubled adolescence.

Ivy's best friend is traumatized by finding the dead body of a young man but as Ivy seeks answers, she learns that her small New Hamshire town hides many secrets.-- For Ivy, summer means hanging out at the Fabuland amusement park with her best friend, Morgan. Then Morgan finds a dead body-- a former classmate and coworker, Ethan. And a few days later Morgan is taken to a hospital psych ward. The police claim that Ethan simply took a bad fall, but...

Shortly after she returns to her hometown, Nadine Raines' former therapist is found dead in his office, and the detective on the case suspects she's involved. --