Freddie Gellar (white) aspires to be a detective, so when a body is found in the nearby woods, she’s sure it’s murder — and she’s on the case. Unexplainable and eerie events around her small town seem tied to “The Executioners Three” poem, and perhaps to her own father. He had been the town’s sheriff until he died of a supposed heart attack when Freddie was a child, but no one, including her mother, will talk about the circumstances of his death. Her investigation becomes entwined with a long-standing rivalry involving an exchange of creative pranks between her high school and the local private academy. The current sheriff’s nephew, Theo, is a student at the academy and should be her sworn enemy, so why does Freddie find him so irresistibly attractive? Increasingly ominous attacks challenge Freddie’s deductive skills, but with the help of her best friend Divya (South Asian American) she perseveres despite personal risk. The engaging enemies-to-lovers storyline and sharply funny dialogue balance the darker aspects of the mystery, while Nokia phones and X-Files references firmly root the story in 1999.

An instant New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller!

From New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard comes The Executioners Three, a mystery filled with rivalry, romance, best friends, and a gruesome curse that dates back centuries.

Freddie Gellar didn't mean to get half the rival high school arrested. She’d simply heard shrieks coming from the woods, so she’d called the cops like any good human would do. How was she supposed to know it was just kids partying?

Except the next day, a body is found. And while the local sheriff might call it suicide, Freddie's instincts tell her otherwise. So, like the aspiring sleuth (and true X-Files aficionado) she is, Freddie sets out to prove there's a murderer at large.

But her investigation is quickly disrupted by the rivalry between her school and the school of the partying teens she got arrested. For over twenty years, the two student bodies have had an ongoing prank war, and Freddie's failed attempt at Good Samaritanism has upped the ante. Worse, the clever—and gorgeous—leader of the rival prank squad has set his sights on Freddie.

As more pranks unfurl, more bodies also start piling up in the forest. But it's the supernatural warning signs around town, each plucked straight from an old forgotten poem called "The Executioners Three," that worry Freddie the most. She knows the poem and its blood curse can’t be real, but she's quickly running out of time to prove it.

Because the murderer—or executioners?—knows she's onto them now, and their next target just might be Freddie.

"An irresistible blend of small-town murder mystery and spine-tingling supernatural elements."—Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying


Also by Susan Dennard

The Luminaries trilogy
The Luminaries
The Hunting Moon
The Whispering Night

The Witchlands series
Truthwitch
Windwitch
Sightwitch (novella)
Bloodwitch
Witchshadow
Witchlight

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.