Shady Grove inherited a lot of things from her father, who died in an accident years ago: her fiddle-playing skills, her love for traditional bluegrass music, and her ability to see the ghosts who linger just out of sight of the living. With his fiddle, Shady's father could actually summon the spirits of the dead. Everyone says that fiddle was lost when Shady's father crashed his truck into a lake and died, but she hears it calling to her from the Florida woods where she lives, and she believes she can find it. When her stepfather is murdered and her brother is arrested, only the ghosts of the past and present have answers. But to make the dead speak, Shady must delve into the darkest parts of herself. Waters' debut features a bisexual lead with both male and female love interests, an atmospheric southern gothic setting, and, for the musically inclined, lots of folk and bluegrass references. For teens with a penchant for eerie ghost stories, this lyrical tale will hit the spot.

A fiddler with a magical instrument and a haunted family history unleashes her music to solve a mystery and free her brother from jail. Sixteen-year-old Shady Grove grieves for the sound of her dead father's fiddle, a family heirloom with the power to raise ghosts. She yearns to play bluegrass with the same darkness and emotion. However, Sarah, Shady's best friend, crush, and band mate, only wants to play new music, folk-rock songs that Shady doesn't feel a connection to. When Shady's stepdad gets murdered and her brother is arrested for the crime, she digs up her father's old instrument and uncovers the secrets of her family's past. Debut author Waters weaves an intense and spectral atmosphere with vivid prose. A love triangle complicates bisexual Shady's feelings as mutual attraction and interests draw her to mandolin-playing cowboy Cedar. The romantic conflict heightens the suspense while also exploring relationship compatibility. The high stakes of an impending trial and a looming supernatural threat drive a sense of urgency into the narrative. The resolution of this stand-alone thriller ties up loose ends in both Shady's past and present, offering healing for her family and ending on a positive, hopeful note. Apart from Shady's friend and band mate Orlando, a Cuban American boy who loves guajira music and is a budding entomologist, the cast is predominantly white. Haunting and alluring. (Paranormal mystery. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.