07/07/2013
Marcia Hoehne (hrmhwd on QT) has signed with agent Peter Knapp of Park & Fine Literary and Media.
Dear Agent:
Twelve-year-old Candy’s summer should be filled with friends and fun—not chores, problems …and murder! But when the messiest boy in her grade, Rory Twichell, starts babbling about a murder that happened two years ago in the woods near her home, Candy’s school break takes a turn for the strange. She’s not scared, though. After all, the murder was solved, and two people are in prison. No, Candy is more worried about the awkward man her mom is dating, her mom’s health, papers that describe how to take over real estate through adverse possession—and the realization that her mom never bought their large country home at all: she stole it.
Seeing her chance to move back to town where her friends are, Candy joins forces with her ultra-smart friend Eleanor to find the home’s previous owner, Caleb Walker. At least, she can make sure this fatherly, fun-loving man gets his property back. At best, if her suspicion that he and her mom loved each other is correct, maybe he’ll return and get the wimpy guy out of the picture. What Candy doesn’t see is that Eleanor may not be a friend, has her own reasons for wanting Caleb Walker found, and that Caleb’s sudden departure two years ago might have everything to do with that supposedly-solved murder.
Before Candy knows it, mysterious diggings in the woods, a suspicious fire, a break-in, and the appearance of cryptic clues have her, Rory, and Eleanor scrambling to find a third killer. Only when Caleb Walker arrives at her door does Candy face that he is her prime suspect, and that not only home, but safety, may be at stake.
Told in three POVs, interspersed with occasional short chapters of omniscient viewpoint, WHAT HAPPENED IN WALKER’S WOODS is a MG contemporary mystery complete at 59,000 words. PERSONALIZATION HERE.
I have previously published eight MG novels in the commercial CBA markets. I’m also the author of a YA biography of the poet Anne Bradstreet, published by an educational press. I’m a PAL member of SCBWI, an instructor for The Institute of Children’s Literature, and a moderator for Verla Kay’s Blueboards.
Per your guidelines, SAMPLE MATERIAL is/are pasted below. The manuscript has not been submitted to publishers. This is a simultaneous query. Thank you for your consideration.