I hadn't read anything by this author before, but I'm always up for new mysteries. It was pretty good. Not so good that I plan to add any of his other books to my already too-long list, but good enough that if another of his books were to cross my path, I'd read it. The only thing that really bothered me were the unnecessary "teen angst" scenes. I got a little tired of Essie's friends complaining about how awful their parents were. And for a while I forgot just how young Essie really was. ( )