Queen of the Tiles

Written by Hanna Alkaf

Narrated by Catherine Ho

They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in this “stunning…unforgettable” (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.

CATALYST
13 points
noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It seems that even though Najwa is trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797146669

Hanna Alkaf

Hanna Alkaf is the author of several books for kids and teens, including The Girl and the Ghost, Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, and the upcoming Tales from Cabin 23: Night of the Living Head. Hanna lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family and can be visited at hannaalkaf.com.

Reviews for Queen of the Tiles

[Sun Montag · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting look into anxiety and how different people deal with death. Thought it was going to be more of a murder mystery.

[Megan Ryan Hughes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If I wasn’t so picky with mysteries, I would rate it as 4.5. It is such a good book! Great character development. Kept me guessing at some point but it was still quite predictable. The end seemed a little bit too fast paced seeing as the plot leading up to it was a bit slow. Very good book overall. It was really good to read a book set in Malaysia. Hanna is very talented.

[greta · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow! This was such a great book. So sharp and fun, nerdy yet so cool! I loved this so much. The MC was so well done, handles grief really well and her motivations are so strong and really push the story forward