Signed, Detective CDB

Book One: Some Secrets Are Deadly

By Edward Daniel

Seven years ago, a teenage girl was murdered. Someone got away with it. Now a fifteen-year-old girl is about to uncover the secrets everyone thought were buried.

Hestia Bell is fifteen, frighteningly observant, hopelessly sarcastic, and just curious enough to get herself killed.

Her mother is a lead detective in Foxbridge, which means Hestia has grown up knowing two things: criminals lie, and her mother can spot a lie faster than most people can tell one.

Unfortunately, Hestia is about to become very good at keeping secrets herself.

When a school history project draws her attention to the unsolved murder of seventeen-year-old Tara Wilson, Hestia discovers that the past isn't nearly as settled as everyone wants to believe.

Seven years have passed since Tara's death. A young woman's future was stolen, a family was shattered, and suspicion followed people whose lives would never be the same. The investigation left behind unanswered questions, damaged reputations, and secrets that someone has worked very hard to keep hidden.

And Hestia has started asking exactly the wrong questions.

What begins as an innocent school assignment quickly becomes an obsession. Old photographs, forgotten records, conflicting accounts, and seemingly insignificant details begin forming a picture that doesn't match the story everyone has accepted.

The more Hestia discovers, the more convinced she becomes that the answers have been hiding in plain sight.

But someone knows more than they're admitting.

Someone has a reason to fear the truth.

And someone is beginning to notice Hestia's interest in a murder that should have stayed buried.

With her mother's warnings echoing in her head, Hestia makes a decision that could destroy the trust between them. She'll investigate the case herself, secretly pass along her discoveries, and make certain nobody ever learns who's behind the information.

Every anonymous message will carry the same signature.

Detective CDB.

It's clever. It's reckless. And it might actually work.

Until Hestia realizes that investigating a murder isn't like solving a puzzle in a classroom. The people involved are real. Their pain is real. And the person responsible has already proven capable of taking a life.

As her investigation draws her closer to the truth, Hestia must juggle school, friendships, family, and a dangerous secret identity while trying to stay one step ahead of someone who would rather see the past remain buried.

One wrong accusation could destroy an innocent person's life. One careless mistake could expose everything she's been hiding from her mother.

And one discovery could put Hestia directly in the path of a killer.

Her mother is trained to catch murderers. Hestia is secretly helping her catch one. But what happens when the killer realizes a teenage girl is getting too close?

Signed, Detective CDB: Some Secrets Are Deadly is the gripping first installment in a young adult mystery series filled with murder, buried secrets, clever detective work, teenage humor, emotional family relationships, and unexpected twists.

Seven years. One unsolved murder. A truth someone desperately wants hidden.

She was only supposed to research the past.

She never expected the past to come looking for her.

Signed, Detective CDB.