Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!
This book was absolutely un-put-downable! It was such a creepy build up, and I suspected so many characters of being a killer at one time or another. I had no idea that ending was coming, which is high praise indeed!
Fantastic read!

Paige starts receiving mysterious letters just as they've moved to her dad's hometown in the US. When she also finds a journal in the walls, she starts investigating what happened in a string of unsolved murders from when her dad used to live there. She realizes there might be a connection to a current death and she starts to wonder if she might be next. Overall, a very fast paced thriller for fans of true crime although the characterizations are a bit shallow as the focus was more on the murders.

This reminds me of the YA horror stories from the 1990s and early 2000s and I LOVE IT. This is the perfect read for this time of year. It’s suspenseful, scary and not predictable. This would make a great YA movie, just saying Netflix. Perfect for this spooky time of year!

In Signed Sealed Dead, Paige and her family move to the small town of Shorehaven, a place her dad once called home. Years ago, a series of murders shook the town, and now Paige finds herself living in the house of one of the victims. Soon after moving in, she starts receiving creepy letters warning her that the truth about those murders is still buried—and that history may repeat itself. With her new friends by her side, Paige is determined to uncover the town's dark secrets before it's too late.

This book had plenty of highs and lows! There were moments when I was totally hooked and couldn't stop reading, and other times when I found myself losing interest. I loved the idea of Paige discovering clues in her house that related to the town's history, but everything seemed too convenient. I am glad that Paige found some new friends in Madison and Carter and that the author did not make her investigate everything on her own. The ending was very rushed and I really wished the "big reveal" had been a little more drawn out. Overall, this was an enjoyable mystery with a dash of romance. While it's not my all-time favorite and it left me wanting more, I still gave it four stars and think it will definitely resonate with many young adult readers!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was okay, but I do think that the characters needed more time to bake into characters that I cared about enough to get invested in the story. I think because of that, the story lost the punch that it could have had I found myself a bit confused by the overall story, in terms of motive and reasoning. The ending was so quick, too, that I was just left reeling. I think that the bones for this story were good and interesting, but the execution felt both rushed and underbaked, leaving me wanting more from the story.

What if you were forced to move to a new country, a new town, the one your father grew up in. Unbeknownst to you before moving this town has a dark history. A serial killer who was active when your father lived there. In fact, you’re living in the house of one of the victims. Shortly after moving in girls start to die again, in the same way as before. On top of that you start to receive letters asking you to solve the murders. Paige Is forced to deal with all of this and more. Her journey is fast paced and full of twists and turns. Teens will fall in love with this book. It is the perfect blend of dark, mystery, and murder.
Thank you to Random House Children’s and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

A mixture of true crime with The Watcher, the story follows a teen girl who moves into a new home only to find that it has a bloody past and that mysterious letters keep arriving for her. Paige loves true crime and has just moved from the UK to the US. She's moved into her father's creepy hometown with a dark bloody history, and in particular her own new house is connected to a string of unsolved murders and disappearances in the 90s. When she begins receiving creepy letters, Paige then finds a diary in the walls of her home that belonged to one of the missing girls... it could be the key to solving one of the unsolved mysteries or be the reason Paige becomes the next target. This book just felt a bit shallow to me, I wasn't at all hooked by the mystery and having actually seen and read so many other similar stories that used the "The Watcher" storyline it just kind of felt meh overall. I was hoping I would like this one but it just felt a bit too juvenile to me and while it was a miss for me I do think maybe other young adult readers will enjoy this mystery.

Release Date: September 24,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

An interesting teen thriller that follows a high school student as she moves from across the pond back to her dad's hometown in America. She gets more that she bargained for as she finds out about some nasty business in the town's history and is targeted herself.

When Paige’s family moves to a small town where her father grew up, her father moves them into a haunted house for them to live in. Paige meets Madison and Carter Garcia-Moore, the twins from down the street. Born into a family of crime-obsessed people, Paige is drawn to a memorial event for victims of the 1990s Shorehaven Ripper. She soon receives an ominous letter telling her that something important is hidden in her house. As the trio explores the house, they find the diary of one of the murdered victims. As family connections unravel regarding the murder mystery, Paige must solve the mystery before she becomes the next victim. Will she succeed?

The plot is well-developed, engaging, and fast paced. Lots of topics are covered, making the plot complex to follows, but the author does a great job of tying it all together. The characters are complex, authentic, likable, and believable. Readers who like murder mysteries and thrillers will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collections. Gr 8 and up, 4 stars

I found this to be a fun read overall. I particularly loved the friendship between Paige and the twins. So often we see the mean girl trope in these kinds of books, so it was refreshing to see kids being genuinely nice and loyal to each other. I’d put this on my classroom shelf for that alone. Madison is a great character, we love girls supporting girls!
I know there were some reviews that
mentioned the British vs. American words. Honestly, as an American with a British friend, I am guilty of calling out all of the words that are different, so I thought that part was realistic! However, there was a lot of dialogue spoken by American characters that did still sound very British (filler words like “erm”, using the term “mum”, and even Madison saying “sweet dreams” to Paige).
I thought the end did seem somewhat rushed and complicated. I don’t feel like everything was explained very well. I am still a little unsure of motive? How/Why certain characters were involved or went along with things for so long?
I am assuming the author is setting up a series here, but I am not sure how I feel about that- I think it would have felt more complete as a stand alone. That being said, I will probably read the next one, if only to get some closure and clarity.

I'm very interested in the story that this book is trying to tell, but I couldn't get past one major thing. The author kept trying to establish Paige as an outsider by emphasizing colloquial language (both British and American) and making a huge deal of the differences. It was super awkward and jarring and took me out of the story every time while I cringed from secondhand embarrassment. I think in a different world, it would make sense as a stylistic choice, but now with how connected our world is, I think the idea that someone could be so ignorant of the colloquial terms (especially the ones emphasized in the book because they weren't exactly obscure) is laughable. Now that that particular rant is over...the book has an interesting plot and I think the pacing was actually pretty phenomenal. Things were revealed and held back perfectly in order to keep the book moving. The reveal at the end did get a bit convoluted, but I didn't feel like it ruined the story by any means. This title will probably be popular with YA readers still!

"Signed, Sealed, Dead" is a YA thriller by Cynthia Murphy. Paige is a teenager whose family has just moved to the US, back to her American dad's hometown. Their house is historic and slightly creepy, but when Paige finds out that the prior family that the teenager that lived there years ago was murdered by a local serial killer, then even more weird things start happening. It's the anniversary of the murders and Paige starts getting creepy letters in her mailbox telling her to learn about the murders and to look in the walls (where she finds the diary from the teenage victim).
A creepy and twisting teen mystery, this is a recommended purchase for YA thriller collections.

Signed Sealed Dead was the first book I've read from the author Cynthia Murphy. I thought it was an okay book. It was a fast read and you kind of can figure out who the "killer bad guy" was. I don't think this was the strongest mystery serial killer story. There was a big emphasis on the teenaged main character being from the UK while her dad was American born and raised, but later moved to the UK with the woman he ended up falling in love and marrying. The whole entire story happens in an instance, there isn't a lot of build up or drawn out mystery. I can see how easy it would to miss out on "details" if you blink quickly. Telling a teenager to not do something or go somewhere is basically telling them they have permission to go to whatever it is you're telling them not to. In this case it had something to do with the basement of the new home they moved into. The author basically held your hand and dragged you along the story from start to finish. There wasn't enough time to develop the characters and show their growth throughout the story.

Paige has moved to a small town with her family after spending most of her life in England. However, her dad is from this small town and is returning home with a sense of anticipation and excitement. However, this town has a lot of secrets, one of which being the young women that were murdered there when her father was in college. When Paige begins to get strange letters in the mail, her to investigate these old murders, she realizes that things aren’t exactly what they seem. With her new friends, she begins to try to investigate and make sense of what is going on. They were definitely some major curveballs in this book, things that I never saw coming, and it made the pages flyby. It seems as though they are gearing up for some kind of book, but I wish that they would just leave this one as a standalone..

My recommendation to Ms. Murphy would be have an American editor read through her books before publishing in USA. BUT since her main character, Paige, is British, she feels it is fine for mistakes to be made. I guess the part I dislike the most is that Ms. Murphy suspends so many common elements of teen life to try to make this plot line work.

Paige not having a strong friend group
Parents that seem out of touch and conveniently always absent
Killer who manages to sneak into the house and watch Paige sleep
Not enough clues to lead us to who turns out the be the killer

The character in this book felt very one dimensional, and the plot was very basic and formulaic. It was entertaining, but also very surface level.