14 must-read new YA releases to beat the August heat
By Lacy Baugher
August 2021 release: The Perfect Place to Die – Bryce Moore
Touted as Stalking Jack the Ripper meets Devil in the White City, Bryce Moore’s A Perfect Place to Die is an intriguing bit of YA fiction built on the bones of a real-life horror story.
The story follows Zuretta, a young girl who heads to Chicago to search for her missing younger sister Ruby, who disappeared during her trip to see the World’s Fair in 1893. What follows is a journey into a literal house of horrors, as Zuretta takes a job at the last place her sister was employed, a mysterious hotel known only as The Castle, owned by a man named H.H. Holmes.
Holmes, for those of you who don’t know, was one of America’s first – and most notorious – serial killers, and the monstrosities waiting in his custom-built deathtrap are nothing that Zuretta (or readers) could have ever expected.
The official synopsis offers more detail about the story.
"Zuretta never thought she’d encounter a monster—one of the world’s most notorious serial killers. She had resigned herself to a quiet life in Utah. But when her younger sister, Ruby, travels to Chicago during the World’s Fair, and disappears, Zuretta leaves home to find her. But 1890s Chicago is more dangerous and chaotic than she imagined. She doesn’t know where to start until she learns of her sister’s last place of employment…a mysterious hotel known as The Castle. Zuretta takes a job there hoping to learn more. And before long she realizes the hotel isn’t what it seems. Women disappear at an alarming rate, she hears crying from the walls, and terrifying whispers follow her at night. In the end, she finds herself up against one of the most infamous mass murderers in American history—and his custom-built death trap."
The Perfect Place to Die is available on August 3.