Dead Girls Walking (Dead Girls Detective Agency #2) by Suzy CoxRelease Date: May 15th, 2014
Publishers: Much-in-Little
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance
Genre: YA, Paranormal, Romance
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Pages: 320
The Dead Girls Detective Agency trilogy charts the adventures of teens in NYC, tasked with solving the mystery of their murder from beyond the grave.
Lorna has been dead long enough to know the Rules. But that doesn’t stop her showing up at her little sister’s high school production of Hipster Hamlet. But when she arrives, a lighting rig comes crashing down on the lead cast member mid-performance. All fingers point to Lorna’s little sister, Emma, and it’s up to The Dead Girls Detective Agency to find the real culprit. Unless Em’s not as innocent as she looks?
Charlotte wants to help Lorna prove her sister’s innocence, but she’s completely distracted. Not only is her ghostly-self suspended in this New York-limbo-hotel, she is having to deal with the fact that the very alive love of her life has moved on. And then there’s the cute dead boy Edison, who seems to be acting nice all of a sudden. But is Charlotte ready for a new boyfriend, and one with such a murky past?
Lorna has been dead long enough to know the Rules. But that doesn’t stop her showing up at her little sister’s high school production of Hipster Hamlet. But when she arrives, a lighting rig comes crashing down on the lead cast member mid-performance. All fingers point to Lorna’s little sister, Emma, and it’s up to The Dead Girls Detective Agency to find the real culprit. Unless Em’s not as innocent as she looks?
Charlotte wants to help Lorna prove her sister’s innocence, but she’s completely distracted. Not only is her ghostly-self suspended in this New York-limbo-hotel, she is having to deal with the fact that the very alive love of her life has moved on. And then there’s the cute dead boy Edison, who seems to be acting nice all of a sudden. But is Charlotte ready for a new boyfriend, and one with such a murky past?
Excerpt from Dead Girls Walking
by Suzy Cox
‘I’ve never been at a murder scene this early before.’ Nancy’s confusion was clearing; her detective brain kicking into gear. She’d switched from mine and Lorna’s hurt best friend to head of the Agency the second Edison gave her the note.
‘Disturbing doesn’t cover it. The body’s over there under that blanket, like, five steps away.’ Lorna unneces-sarily pointed at the only dead-girl-shaped object within a trillion block radius. ‘Like, she’s still hot.’
Edison’s attention shifted from me as he raised his eyebrows with a mischievous grin. ‘Hot? Not another cheerleader? I know those girls are about as annoying as a room temperature IQ, but surely someone could give the pompom and peroxide posse a break from homicide for one week?’
Urgh. Honestly?
‘Edison, look—’ Nancy ignored his lame-as attempt at a not-even-joke ‘—what Lorna’s trying to communicate is that we’re incredibly lucky to be on a case this early – we actually saw the murder for the first time ever!’
Wow, was she enthusiastic now we knew this wasn’t just some ‘tragic accident’, but a case to be solved. Ithought back to my first day in the Attesa when Nancy had patiently explained that yes, I was dead, but hey, she’d help me get through this – like losing your life was no worse than losing a button off your favourite shirt.
‘So these seconds now,‘ Nancy said, ‘the ones I am currently wasting talking to you, Mr Hayes, are vital. The police aren’t here yet. No one even knows it’s a murder but us. We need to secure the crime scene so it doesn’t get contaminated. Or try to possess some of these kids so we can interview everyone who wasn’t onstage. Or – seeing as we can’t photograph the scene – write down everything so we can remember it later.’ She pulled her trusty spiral notebook out of the pocket of her A-line denim skirt.
‘Been ODing on late-night cop shows again, have we?’ Edison gently leaned on the tower. My tower. His arm brushed against mine as if it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘Or you could just wait until the profes- sionals arrive and copy their homework.’
Nancy scowled. Ever since the Tess Incident, she’d gone from ignoring Edison when he acted more Hyde than Jekyll, to actively looking like she might slug him. Which made me love her even more. Her Geekiness was way too professional to ever admit she was sore at Edison for the part he played in what happened to my Key, but the fact she so obviously was, was one of the gazillion reasons she ruled.
‘When did this arrive?’ Nancy coldly waved the letter at Edison.
He shrugged again. He was an evil Key-stealer ’s ena- bler. His shrugs were definitely not cute. ‘One port and half a smoke ago.’
Edison reached into his other back pocket and pulled out a beaten-up packet of cigarettes. He absent-mindedly tapped the bottom of the box until a white stick jumped out and into his other hand, before bouncing it into his mouth. No matter how often he smoked – and it was way too much – Edison never seemed to run out. I’d been too out-of-my-mind mad at him for the last few weeks to ask how his little party trick worked. Maybe dying with an object on your person meant you had a supply of it forever. Was that why the ancient Egyptians buried their dead with gold and wine and all that jazz? Lorna must be majorly pissed she’d not been holding a suitcase of Chanel when that crown came down on her lovely head.
‘Please don’t smoke in here, Edison.’ Nancy scowled again. ‘It’s not allowed and you know it. This is a place of learning, not a dive bar.’ ‘C’mon, Nancy, what’s it going to do to the students – kill them?’ Edison gently bit down on the cigarette as he lit it. ‘Because the last time I looked, there seemed to.
AUTHOR BIO
Suzy’s Biog: Award-winning journalist and author Suzy Cox began her writing career in teen magazines, asking popstars what kind of biscuit they’d most like to be. From Smash Hits, Mizz and 19, she moved on to Cosmopolitan, before becoming Features Director of Grazia and Associate Editor of Fabulous, the UK’s biggest newspaper supplement. She’s interviewed everyone from Kylie to Cheryl Cole and Russell Brand, taken Debbie Harry to Number 10, and reported from Thai police stations, American prisons and 18-30 holidays. Suzy is now back at Cosmo for a second time, as deputy editor of the magazine — and also edits its student spin-off title, Cosmo on Campus.
