Short-listed for the 2003 Red Maple Award and Arthur Ellis Award for best Juvenile Book, commended for the 2003 Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection Shelby Belgarden isn't exactly thrilled when people start thinking Greg is her boyfriend. After all, she's more interested in the athletic Nick Jarvis. But one day Greg suddenly becomes more interesting to Shelby - though for all the wrong reasons: Shelby begins to suspect that Greg is responsible for the series of arsons that have occurred in her small New Brunswick town in recent weeks. After finding out that Greg and his father had moved to this town after their old home burnt down - with Greg's mother inside - Shelby finds Greg's gasoline-soaked mitten near the scene of the latest arson. Shelby launches her own investigation into the crimes. As she does, she becomes aware that whoever is responsible may have been a victim of sexual abuse.

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book is part of a book series called Out Of the Ashes .

This book has been graded for interest at 12 years.

There are 218 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2017 by ReadHowYouWant .

Valerie Sherrard has written more than a dozen novels for young people, including the Shelby Belgarden Mysteries, Watcher, Sarah's Legacy, Speechless , and her first historical novel, Three Million Acres of Flame . Her work has been shortlisted for numerous Canadian awards, including the Ann Connor Brimer, Red Maple, and Snow Willow Awards. She lives in Miramichi, New Brunswick.