The Girl in the Park by Mariah Fredericks

Summary:
When Rain's once best friend Wendy is discovered dead in Central Park, she is shocked and upset. Though not liked by everyone at their prep school, Wendy was still full of life and fun to be around. But now the newspapers are accusing Wendy of only being a party girl, whose actions caused her demise. Rain decides she wants to clear Wendy's name and set the record straight - and the best way she can think of doing that is by exposing her murderer.

Review:
I really enjoyed The Girl in the Park. It was short and an extremely quick read, especially for a mystery. However, the book read just like an episode of Law and Order (which I liked very much). I was instantly drawn into the murder and having a great narrator like Rain made the novel that much better. Even though the book is short, the author hits a lot of points and we get backstory on Wendy as well as an array of suspects. Rain realistically looks for clues and questions suspects like Nancy Drew, but it doesn't seem corny or campy. The whole time I was unsure of the culprit but the ending is very satisfying. All the clues added up and I was pleased with how everything was resolved. For such a short book, I thought that the author wrote an exciting mystery that everyone can enjoy.

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: received from Flamingnet Book Reviews

2012/Schwartz & Wade Books/217 pages.