Kisses and Lies (Kisses and Lies Series #2) by Lauren Henderson

From the Publisher

After discovering that someone saw what looked like Dan’s emergency EpiPen in A-lister Plum’s designer handbag, Scarlett and her tough American sidekick, Taylor, sneak into a posh London nightclub, where Plum has a private table. Scarlett is stunned to discover a piece of evidence that might implicate another girl in Plum’s exclusive circle, Lucy Raleigh. Which means Scarlett must cast a wider net in order to catch the right suspect.

Back at school, groundskeeper Jase is hoping to take Scarlett’s mind off her troubles with some heart-stopping kisses. Scarlett can’t help but feel guilty for indulging in romantic rendezvous when she should be hunting down Dan’s killer. However, once Scarlett finds out how Lucy is connected to Dan, she knows she must drop everything and travel to the McAndrew estate in Scotland to hunt for more clues. But when she arrives, Scarlett becomes the target of a dangerous hunt herself.

Children's Literature

This sequel to the exciting Kiss Me Kill Me is another page-turning blend of suspense and romance. Still plagued by the death of her first crush—inadvertently caused when she kissed him with a trace of peanut oil on her lips—Scarlett is not only convinced that Dan was murdered, she is determined to find his killer. With the help of her American friend (and aspiring sleuth) Taylor, Scarlett follows the trail of three identical pocketbooks, one of which contained the stolen Epi-pen that would have saved Dan's life. Along the way, she begins a forbidden romance with Jase, the gardener's son; after all, "…even teenage girls on vengeance missions should get out once in a while." Scarlett's detective work soon leads her to the majestic Scottish castle that Dan would have inherited. Now, however, the next in line is Callum, his identical twin. Although Callum shares his late sibling's good looks, he harbors a deep resentment towards Scarlett. Does he blame her for Dan's death? Does he, in fact, wish she were dead, too? When Scarlett finds herself in danger, Callum is her first suspect—but does he pose the real threat? Scarlett is a winning heroine: funny, resourceful, courageous and, best of all, real. Readers are sure to root for her as she dares a second romance, pursues Dan's killer, and uses her gymnastic skills in clever and inventive ways throughout the book. A worthy sequel and a fun, self-contained read as well. Reviewer: Naomi Milliner

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up

Henderson draws readers once again into the world of young British socialites in a book fraught with tension, romance, and adventure. Since the mysterious death of her crush, Dan, at her first posh party ever in Kiss Me Kill Me (Delacorte, 2008), Scarlett has switched to a different school and lives in perpetual fear that someone will figure out that she is "the Kiss of Death Girl." Teaming up with her new friend Taylor, a no-nonsense American, she decides to clear her name. Dan died of an allergic reaction and the two amateur sleuths learn that his EpiPen was stolen by one of two girls who own the same limited edition handbag. After clearing her archrival, Plum, of suspicion (unfortunately), Scarlett heads to Dan's home in Scotland to track down the other suspect. There she meets Callum, Dan's identical twin, whom she soon finds may also be in mortal danger. Beginning to fear for her own life, the teen longs for the safety she feels with Jase, a young groundskeeper she just met. Scarlett functions in an elite world of aristocrats and though this social setting may be unfamiliar to American youngsters, they will relate to her voice as she perseveres through teen angst and some extraordinary circumstances. With just the right balance of action and relationship drama, this book hits the target for libraries with strong chick-lit or mystery fans.-Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT

Kirkus Reviews

Not quite over the fatal kiss that killed the highly allergic Dan McAndrew, young Brit Scarlett Wakefield seeks to find closure in this zippy sequel to Kiss Me, Kill Me (2008). Determined to clear her name-and her conscience-Scarlett and her American sidekick, Taylor, set out to find the culprit responsible for lacing the crisps she snacked on with peanut oil. When Scarlett's search eventually leads to Dan's ancestral castle in Scotland, she is shocked to discover that Dan had a twin-and that the McAndrews' family secrets run deep. This precocious investigator learns she may just now be in over her head. Scarlett's voice, peppered with the usual teen angst and snark, may not be particularly novel, but it nonetheless skillfully sets the tone for this frothy whodunit. Readers willing to take generous plot leaps-for example, when Scarlett melodramatically learns that Dan had a never-before-mentioned twin brother-should be entertained. Filled with duplicitous debutantes, homicidal siblings, all-night parties and lots of designer name-dropping, this sugary mystery may find a similar readership to the Gossip Girl set. (Mystery. YA)

• Read an Excerpt

Read an Excerpt

one
setting up an ambush


"Show me something!" Dan says. He's laughing; his eyes are bright with excitement. I've never seen anything as handsome as him before. I could stare at him all day.
But instead, I kiss him. For a few seconds, it's perfect. His lips are so soft, I could melt into them, and his arms, briefly, briefly, are heavy around my shoulders. My first kiss. I've never been this close to a boy in my life. My head is swimming with all the different sensations, the taste of champagne on his mouth, the lemony smell of his soap, the musk of his skin. . . . I'm shivering from head to toe.

I feel like I'm about to faint, and as my legs begin to wobble, suddenly he's gone.
I stumble.

I fall and I keep falling. I know how to fall, from gymnastics, but this is different, because I'm completely out of control, my limbs flailing. I fall for miles, down a deep, deep well, like Alice in Wonderland. Cold stone around me, cold breeze blowing, an utter sense of loss that a moment ago I was pressed against Dan's warm body, and now I'm all alone. I land with a thud that knocks the breath out of me, on a soft squish of body, and it's such a shock that I scream.

And then I realize what I've landed on, and I scream even louder.

It's Dan. He's lying under me, and he's colder than the stone.

He's dead.

My kiss killed him.

And the police are banging down the door to arrest me.


"Scarlett! Scarlett!"

I wake up screaming, but I don't know what words I'm yelling.

"Scarlett!"

My aunt Gwen's pounding on the door.

"You're screaming again! Wake up!"

AuntGwen tries the door. It isn't locked, which is a mistake on my part. She storms into my room. I hear her before I see her, because I'm still really disoriented and my eyes are crusty with sleep. I rub them to clear them out. Even that's hard, as I'm still trippy from my dream.

When I manage to open my eyes, I keep blinking. Aunt Gwen's a scary sight by day. By night, she's like a monster from a children's book. The hair sticking up like a deranged puffball, the warty forehead, the watery eyes . . . Ugh, I just emerged from a nightmare and dropped bang-slap into another one.

"Scarlett!" she yells, though there's no need because she's standing right over the bed. "You were screaming in your sleep!"

"I was having a nightmare, Aunt Gwen," I say, flinching. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"I have a very busy day tomorrow! I have geography tests to invigilate for the lower fourth!"

Only Aunt Gwen would use a word like invigilate at--I squint at the clock--4:30 in the morning.

"I said I was sorry," I repeat. "I can't help having a nightmare."

She huffs loudly in disbelief. It's a famous Aunt Gwen noise; I've heard students imitating it in the corridors.

I can't help getting cross now.

"I can't help it," I protest. "I really can't."

Aunt Gwen knows what happened to me this summer: she knows a boy I was kissing dropped dead at my feet. How can she expect me just to push that aside as if it never happened?

Aunt Gwen huffs again, even louder. She doesn't care about what happened to me. She just wants to get her sleep. And she hates me.

But that's okay, because I hate her, too.

"This has got to stop," Aunt Gwen grumbles loudly. "I've had enough, d'you hear?"
She turns and stomps out of the room. I hear her slippers slapping back along the corridor, and the sound of her bedroom door slamming shut.

This does have to stop. That's the single thing Aunt Gwen and I agree on. I just don't know how.


"It's so weird that you started having these dreams now," Taylor says, pushing open the heavy glass door of the coffee shop with the effortless ease of a girl who does fifty push-ups before breakfast. I walk in and she follows me, holding the door till the person behind her, a man in a suit, can catch up to take it from her. He doesn't say
thank you. Taylor promptly lets the door go, and he staggers back under its weight.

"You're welcome," she says to him.

He goes bright red, still off-balance and struggling with the door, and to complete his humiliation, we both snicker as we walk toward the counter.

"I think I'm dreaming about Dan now because I can," I say. "Does that make sense?"

"Uh-uh." She shakes her head.

"What I mean is, before, I thought I killed him, right? But now I know it wasn't my fault he died, maybe I feel free-er to dream about him," I try to explain.

Taylor, who usually doesn't go for any kind of deep psychological exploration--she's an action girl through and through--actually looks as if she's thinking this theory over. Her heavy dark brows draw together over her green eyes in a frown of concentration, and she shakes her head, making her short dark hair look even shaggier, a gesture she does unconsciously when she's thinking hard.

"It was a huge deal," she concedes. "I mean, a guy dropping dead at your feet. I guess the weird thing is that you never dreamed about it before."

"Exactly! But now I can."

In the mirrored glass behind the counter of the coffee shop I see the man in the suit, standing behind us in the queue. He looks appalled, and he's actually backing away from us a bit.

I can't blame him. It's not exactly the kind of conversation you expect to hear in Latte-Licious from two sixteen-year-olds, is it? Death and nightmares and blame and guilt? Especially when one of those sixteen-year-olds has just shown how much stronger she is than you. Taylor's got a swimmer's build, with naturally wide shoulders, but all the upper-body work she does means that she looks pretty intimidating, and her fleece emphasizes that, making her look even fitter and sportier. Me, I did gymnastics for years, so I'm pretty fit too, but unfortunately, for purposes of intimidating people, I'm naturally curvy, with a layer of fat that Taylor doesn't seem to have. You'd expect Taylor to be able to chin her own weight; you'd be amazed to see me do it, though I can, easily. So we make a pretty good team, I suppose. Taylor's the obvious muscle, while I can look all girly and fool people into thinking I'd cry if I chipped a nail.