Deadly Cool

by:  Gemma Halliday
published by:  Harper Teen
publish date:  October 11, 2011

First I find out that my boyfriend is cheating on me. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And now he’s depending on me to clear his name. Seriously?

As much as I wouldn’t mind watching him squirm, I know that he’s innocent. So I’m brushing off my previously untapped detective skills and getting down to business. But I keep tripping over dead bodies and I’m still no closer to figuring out who did it. And what’s worse: all signs seem to point to me as the killer’s next victim.

I thought this was a fun book.  Hartley is a high school student that finds out her boyfriend, Josh, is cheating on her with the president of the Chastity Club.  When she goes to confront them she stumbles upon the Virgin Queen's dead body.  Convinced that Josh is innocent she sets out with her best friend Sam to prove that he's a cheater, but not a murderer. 

This was definitely not one of the more serious type mysteries.  I would compare it to a YA version of the Stephanie Plum books.  Hartely and Sam get up to some goofy shenanigans, but they figure out who the culprit is behind the murders and it isn't who you think it is!

I liked it.  I would read more YA from Gemma Halliday.  I thought it was age appropriate as well.  No language, the girls were censoring, that was explained in the book.  Some sexual references, but no actual sex, definitely nothing out of line.