Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls

Based on an actual crime in 1955, this YA novel is at once a mystery and a coming-of-age story.

The brutal murder of two teenage girls on the last day of Nora Cunningham’s junior year in high school throws Nora into turmoil. Her certainties—friendships, religion, her prudence, her resolve to find a boyfriend taller than she is—are shaken or cast off altogether.

Most people in Elmgrove, Maryland, share the comforting conviction that Buddy Novak, who had every reason to want his ex-girlfriend dead, is responsible for the killings.

Nora agrees at first, then begins to doubt Buddy’s guilt, and finally comes to believe him innocent—the lone dissenting voice in Elmgrove.

Told from several different perspectives, including that of the murderer, Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls is a suspenseful page-turner with a powerful human drama at its core.

When the whole town is sure they have the killer, what happens when one girl starts asking the wrong questions?

• Based on a True Crime: Inspired by a real-life 1955 double murder, this novel plunges readers into the heart of a tragedy that shattered a suburban community.
• Small Town Mystery: In Elmgrove, Maryland, gossip travels faster than truth. As paranoia rises, everyone has a theory—and everyone is watching.
• Wrongly Accused?: Everyone is certain Buddy Novak killed his ex-girlfriend. But as Nora digs deeper, she starts to believe the town has condemned an innocent boy.
• A Shattering Coming of Age: As Nora hunts for the truth, her own certainties about friendship, faith, and justice are destroyed, forcing her to find her own voice.