Deadly Cool & Social Suicide ~ Gemma Halliday

Are you looking for a hilariously awesome Nancy Drew-ish book where the girl detective blunders through investigations and somehow comes out on top? If so, you have got to get your hands on these books by Gemma Halliday.

Book the 1st

In the first installment, Deadly Cool, Hartley was just going about her normal school life when she A) found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her with the school's chastity queen and B) discovered the chastity queen's dead body in her boyfriend's closet. And now he wants her to clear his name and find the real murderer. Seriously?

Now Hartley is on the case, with her best friend Sam, and the school newspaper guy, Chase. But every time Hartley gets a lead, the lead goes nowhere or the person ends up dead. Poor Hartley-she keeps finding dead bodies. But, will she be in time to prevent more deaths, possibly including her own?

"You! Stay away from me! You're the angel of death!"
"Relax, X. I'm not armed."
"That's not funny. Because of you, two of my best friends are dead."
"I didn't kill them!"
"Everytime you go near someone, they die. You're cursed."
"Seriously?"
"I'm not dead," Sam pointed out. "And I hang out with Hartley all the time."
X bit her lip, digesting the logic of this statement. "You must be immune or something."


"Killer beware, because Herbert Hoover High has its very own Nancy Drew on the case."
Great. Just what I wanted to be known as.

And one of my other favorites: "Saving the environment is so gross." After Hartley and Sam go grease diving for fuel for Sam's brother's energy efficient car.




Following closely to the same format of Deadly Cool, Social Suicide once again finds Hartley investigating the death of a classmate. This time she is trying to prove she was murdered and not Twittercided. (Yes you read that read that right. As Sam says she was killed while Tweeting. It was twittercide. Totally makes sense!)

Book the 2nd

So now, in addition to proving murder, oh excuse me, Twittercide, Hart also has to expose the cheating scandal ring that is taken over HHH. Will this Nancy Drew be able to expose it all before ending up as the next victim?

And lastly, Chase. Where is their friendship going exactly? After numerous meetings that sound a lot like a date Hart is confused and mad. But being a guy, Chase doesn't see that she is totally crushing on him. Or does he? O.o hmmmm....


And the awesome dialogue and inner dialogue keeps up the awesomeness. 

"The first thing I did was run. Okay, actually the FIRST thing I did was scream, lose my balance, flail my arms in the air like some kind of uncoordinated bird, then slide down the side of the tree and land on my butt. Then I ran."






So yes, you have got to get your hands on both of these books. If you like them, check out Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris. If book cross-overs could happen, we would so need one with Hartley and Kate!