Greta

Ros (Powell) delivers an immersive small-town mystery that subverts reader expectations at nearly every turn. When popular 16-year-old Greta Pugh is found dead at the bottom of an abandoned quarry with her head bashed in, the citizens of Bethesda, her tight-knit Welsh hometown, are shocked. Journalists descend on the community, hastening local police efforts to solve the case. The action is narrated by Shane, one of Greta’s classmates, whose mother is a maid for the wealthy Pugh family. As the police interrogate tight-lipped townspeople, Shane notices a disconnect between the Pughs he knows and the Pughs as seen by others, illuminating the deepening class divide sweeping across the country. Ros parcels out clues about the central mystery with restraint, carving out worthwhile time for Shane to meditate on grief (“As soon as she’d taken her last breath, we’d started slightly misremembering her”) and the differences between the haves and the have-nots. When the truth finally emerges, it’s a gut punch. Ros has outdone herself. Agent: Christopher Combemale, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Oct.)