Little Pretty Things

Former high school runner Juliet Townsend, the narrator of Rader-Day’s disturbing second novel (after 2014’s The Black Hour), is stuck in a job at the seedy Mid-Night Inn in her Indiana hometown when a friend she hasn’t seen in 10 years, Maddy Bell, checks in at the motel, sporting a diamond ring and other trappings of a glamorous urban lifestyle. Juliet, still smarting from playing second fiddle to Maddy on the track, fails to process indications of disquiet beneath the glittering facade until she finds Maddy’s body hanging from a balcony railing the next day. Juliet begins to sift through her memories and accounts of those who knew Maddy—including high school classmates and staff—to reconcile her old friend’s past and present and to uncover the killer. Although alert mystery fans may spot the perpetrator before the denouement, the musings on roads taken and not taken will resonate with anyone wishing they could rewrite their youth. [em]Agent: Sharon Bowers, Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management. (July) [/em]