Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret by Amy Doak

Title: Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret

Author: Amy Doak

Genre: Crime

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2^nd July 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: Eleanor Jones stirs up more mystery and danger in this fast-paced YA mystery.

Things have settled down in Cooinda and Eleanor Jones is getting used to her new normal – spending time with her friends, going to school, and working on a project at the local old age home. But just as things start to feel calm, a series of events once again rock Eleanor’s world: Troy’s ex-girlfriend is back in town and, during a visit to the old age home, Eleanor’s buddy Nance admits to witnessing a murder, swearing Eleanor to secrecy.

In an effort to definitely not be concerned about Troy’s ex, Eleanor throws herself into solving the mystery of the murder Nance spoke about. Enlisting the help of new friend and genealogy expert Jem to research Nance’s past, Eleanor soon realises that digging into old secrets can sometimes be incredibly dangerous indeed.

~*~

The second in Amy Doak’s Eleanor Jones series opens with Eleanor and her friends volunteering at the local aged care home in Cooinda, and things are settling down since Angus was attacked in the first book. Eleanor has found a new normal – spending time with friends and going to school and her current project at the local old age home. But things don’t stay calm for very long. First, Troy’s ex-girlfriend has moved back, and Eleanor is sure she’ll want him back. There are also the farm robberies taking place, and Eleanor is just waiting for her mother to move them along again. But the biggest shock is something Eleanor’s friend at the old age home, Nance, tells her. She admits to witnessing a murder, and makes Eleanor promise she won’t tell anyone.

But Eleanor is determined to solve the mystery and distract herself from Ruby’s presence. She heads to the library, and meets Jem, a genealogy expert, to help her look into Nance’s past – but Eleanor finds out more than she wants to, and soon, things get very complicated.

The second book in the Eleanor Jones series picks up soon after the first book, and has a few references to what happened in that book. But this is its own story, its own crime and its own mystery, and is still part of a series connected by characters. This story takes us back into the history of Cooinda and examines an historical crime alongside the farm robberies that everyone is worried about. Both these plots create an intriguing novel set in a small town, where a crime can involve or interest everyone. It’s a novel filled with intrigue, one that brings everything we might think we know about small towns into question. Even in a place where everyone knows everyone, there are secrets and mysteries that can go back decades.

What this novel shows is that all mysteries and crimes deserve to be solved and investigated, and the dangers or consequences of living with secrets and how this can change people. It also highlights that everyone responds differently to a tragedy, people leaving and working to protect the reputation of family, especially in a small town like Cooinda. Along the way, we meet a range of people who could be involved or know more, proving that you never really know who you can trust in some cases. It’s a book about learning who to trust, figuring out where you fit in, and navigating the messiness of life as a teenager in a small town with your friends and family. Everything in this was used carefully to create an interesting mystery where teenagers are solving it, amidst the frenetic lives they lead at school and with their families.

This is a great crime novel for readers of young adult fiction and young adult readers. It isn’t overly violent but brings that tense threshold up a tiny bit as a nice entrée to the crime genre, and builds on the gentler stories from the middle grade crime stories. I am looking forward to the next book.