Deep and Dark and Dangerous

Just before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an odd photograph in the attic. She knows the two children in it are her mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie. But who’s the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture?

Ali figures she’ll find out while she’s vacationing in Maine with Dulcie and her four-year-old daughter, Emma, in the house where Ali’s mother’s family used to spend summers. All hopes for relaxation are quashed shortly after their arrival, though, when the girls meet Sissy, a kid who’s mean and spiteful and a bad influence on Emma.

Strangest of all, Sissy keeps talking about a girl named Teresa who drowned under mysterious circumstances back when Claire and Dulcie were kids, and whose body was never found. At first Ali thinks Sissy’s just trying to scare her with a ghost story, but soon she discovers the real reason why Sissy is so angry. . . . Mary Downing Hahn is at her chilling best in this new supernatural tale that’s certain to send shivers down her readers’ spines.

What really happened that summer thirty years ago?

• Atmospheric Mystery: Ali just wanted a relaxing vacation. But a torn photograph and a spiteful new friend named Sissy pull her into a thirty-year-old secret her family has desperately tried to forget.
• A Supernatural Thriller: Sissy keeps talking about Teresa, a girl who drowned long ago. At first it seems like a scary story, but Ali soon suspects there’s more to it than just a local legend.
• Lake House Mystery: The old family cottage on a lake in Maine holds more than just summer memories; it holds the key to why Ali’s mother is so afraid of the water.
• A Classic Middle Grade Mystery: From beloved author Mary Downing Hahn, this tale is perfect for young readers who love piecing together clues in a story that will give them goosebumps.