Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I freaking loved this. A 5-star YA Mystery that’s highly underrated, IMO. Pretty Dead Queens is perfect for fans of Kara Thomas or Karen M. McManus!!
In this story, which is set in a small coastal town called Seaview, in California, we follow 17-year old, Cecelia Ellis, who goes to live with her estranged Grandmother following her Mom’s untimely death.
Cecelia’s Grandmother isn’t an ordinary Grandmother though. She happens to be a world-renowned Mystery author. She’s wealthy, feisty, lives in a gorgeous Victorian mansion, and pretty much has the entire town of Seaview wrapped around her little finger.
As the granddaughter to such a powerful figure, it’s no surprise that once she starts school, Cecelia gets enveloped by the popular crowd.
Her transition to her new environment is going way better than she ever could have expected. She has friends, a comfortable new home and even a couple of love interests. Even though she misses her Mom with every breath, it’s hard to complain about her current circumstances.
The town of Seaview is preparing for Homecoming, which is also a time when they think back on a tragedy that shocked the town decades before, when the Homecoming Queen was slain on the night of her coronation.
50-years earlier, Caroline Quinn’s body was found in the school pool, drowned on what should have been the most fun night of her life. A local man was convicted of the crime and is still serving time in prison.
Cecelia’s grandmother based her first novel on this crime and to this day, it remains one of her most popular stories.
On the Friday of Homecoming weekend, Cecelia finds herself in desperate need of a bathroom. She’s been watching the football game and at halftime all the bathrooms closer to the field are full. She can’t wait.
Cecelia knows there are locker rooms by the pool, so maybe she can find a free stall there. Unfortunately, what she finds instead is a dead body floating in the pool, practically a mirror-image of Caroline, all those years ago.
It seems the town has a copycat killer on their hands. Cecelia becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind the crime. The dead girl was her friend, she needs to find justice for her, but what if one of her other friends is to blame?
I had so, so, so much fun with this story. The set-up and cast of small town characters were straight out of a classic mystery book. I loved the seaside setting and a new girl trope is something I always enjoy.
I liked how easily Cecelia slipped into her new life. It made sense in the context of who her Grandmother was that everyone would want to be close to Cecelia, and count her as one of their friends. She was an auto-It Girl.
I think Donne did an excellent job of tying in the history of the town, in particular, the case of the murder of Caroline all those years before, with the current mystery. I absolutely love stories that are set in small towns full of secrets, which describes this book to a tee.
I also appreciated how quickly this one kicks off. The setting itself provides a bit of an ominous tone, and you know something is going to happen, but it was fun getting there.
Cecelia also took to her role of amateur sleuth so well. She really wanted answers and was willing to put herself at risk in order to get those answers. I like that. It was dogging her and she wasn’t going to back down.
I feel like in a way, the mystery took her mind off the loss of her Mom, so I’m sure in that respect, it was helpful to her.
The side characters were all great too. I found myself really getting swept up in the town drama. It was interesting to watch Cecelia, as the outsider, navigate it all.
I feel like this is so underrated at this point and I feel like I am going to be championing it from here on out.
If you love YA Mysteries, you should absolutely check this one out. It’s so much fun. It’s got a classic, campy feel that I will always show up for.
Thank you to the publisher, Crown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m so sorry it took me such a long time to get to it.
Silver lining: it was well worth the wait!!!
