Burn It All

A series of arson attacks lead to the discovery of a much deeper mystery in Auffarth’s jaw-dropping debut. In the small town of Riverside, Ga., police discover the scorched remains of a young woman at the latest in a string of deliberate blazes. After Dalia Wright identifies the body as her daughter, Thea, who’d struggled with severe depression since she was a teenager, investigators come to suspect that Thea set all the fires, then died by suicide. But Marley Henderson, her next-door neighbor and best friend since childhood, doesn’t buy it. When investigators find a positive pregnancy test in Thea’s home, the mystery deepens, and Marley reconnects with an old flame to ferret out the truth. Little is as it first appears in this wily thriller, which unfolds across multiple timelines and alternates between Thea’s and Marley’s first-person perspectives. Along the way, Auffarth lands some stirring insights about love and loss. This catches fire early and burns bright to the end. Agent: Jess Regel, Helm Literary. (June)