Shadowmaker

By Joan Lowery Nixon

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Shadowmaker from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon.
 
        When Katie Gillian and her mother move from Houston to a small Texas town, they never imagine that violence and intrigue will interrupt their six-month stay. Could the two bodies found have anything to do with the newspaper articles Katie’s reporter mother is writing—or with the shadowy figures Katie has noticed lurking outside her house at night?
 
“Strong female characters[,]…affecting and fast-paced, this mystery delivers.” –Publishers Weekly
 
“Nixon deftly weaves the ordinary difficulties of a new kid in school into a suspenseful mystery…[and her] characters are interestingly complicated.” –Booklist
 
“[A] smoothly knit novel.” –Kirkus Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9780307823502

Joan Lowery Nixon

Joan Lowery Nixon (1927–2003) was a renowned author of children’s literature, best known for series like the Orphan Train Adventures and Casebusters. Born in Los Angeles, she began dictating poems to her mother before she could read. At the University of Southern California, Nixon majored in journalism, but took a job teaching the first grade upon graduating. In 1949, she and her husband moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and in 1964 she published her first novel, The Mystery of Hurricane Castle. Nixon became a fan of mystery fiction when she was a child, and many of her most popular series incorporate elements of sleuthing. She won four Edgar Awards for best young adult mysteries, including prizes for her novels The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore (1979) and The Name of the Game Was Murder (1993). In addition to writing more than 140 young adult novels, Nixon also co-wrote several geology texts with her scientist husband.      

Reviews for Shadowmaker

[caro488 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nixon, Joan Lowery, Shadowmaker, Katie Gillian an dher mother move to small-town Texas so that her journalist mother can write a book. But the town is sure that she's there to expose the local toxic-waste disposal plant. Her friend disappears, after leaving her journal with Katie.

[mysteena · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm trying to read more genres of YA to broaden my spectrum. I picked this one for a dollar, it was a past winner of Florida's Sunshine Reader award. I can't say that I loved it, but it was ok for a thriller/mystery (which isn't my usual cup of tea.) A girl and her mother move to a small coastal town so her mom can work on a novel. Her mom, an investigative reporter, begins to receive threats because people assume she is there to research the local waste disposal company. Throw into the mix a secret society in the high school, and all sorts of intrigue develops.