The May Queen Murders

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 15, 2017

Review

With a title like May Queen Murders, you know that it doesn't look good for one of the main characters after she is crowned May Queen. This is a dark story with twists and dark turns. Jude sets her book in a backwoods, forgotten-land type of town called Rowan's Glen. In this area, superstition and granny-women stories dominate and dictate the rhythm of life. Ivy loves her home, this carved-out area within a larger town, but she recognizes the derision and suspicion the "townies" have toward the small circle of families making up the Glen. When animals start disappearing and then turning up mutilated, the most famous and feared legend, that of Birch Markle, is rekindled. The last time Markle struck the town was 20 years prior when Terra MacAvoy was found murdered and mutilated days after being crowned May Queen. Now the council elders have decided to celebrate May Day again and Ivy's cousin Heather has been selected the new queen. When Heather goes missing, Ivy's worst fears are ignited. As secrets are unearthed, Ivy's perception of all that she has known is blown open. Sometimes secrets should stay buried and sometimes they need to come into the light so that all of their jagged edges can be exposed and the darkness of the past can finally be illuminated. A thoughtful, sometimes gory, YA novel about the danger of presumptions, the power of stories and secrets, and the lengths in which people will go to protect their name and conceal the truth.

Overall Book Score: good