Maggie Thrash Books In Order

Publication Order of Strange Truth Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Graphic Novels

Maggie Thrash is an American author and illustrator. She grew up in the south and currently lives in Delaware. Maggie Thrash is the author of two young adult books in the Strange Lies series, We Know It Was You and Strange Lies. She is also the author of Honor Girl, a graphic memoir published by Candlewick Press in 2017. She is also the author of some non-fiction articles and short stories that can be found on Rookie.

Her books Strange Truth and Strange Lies were both influenced by her time growing up and attending an exclusive private school in Atlanta that had plenty of gossip and plenty of secrets going on. A lot of the inspiration for the setting and the themes and characters of the book is derived from her real life.

We Know It Was You is the first book in the Strange Lies series and was published in 2016. The main character of the book is the curious and mystery-obsessed high school student Benny Flax, called Scooby for his penchant for solving mysteries. He doesn’t really love this nickname, but he puts up with it. It’s not like his little hobby is going anywhere anytime soon.

He is in a strange way kind of friends with his best acquaintance Virginia, another member of his mystery club. Everything is going right along and the mystery club is chugging along when a mysterious death occurs. Sounds like a matter for who other than the members of the mystery club– even if there aren’t very many of them. In fact, it is kind of just Benny Flax and Virginia, and his sarcastic kind-of friend is barely down for being in the club anyway.

It’s the big Friday night football game at the school, and halfway through it, a beautiful cheerleader throws herself off a bridge into the Chattahoochee River of Atlanta. Done without any seeming explanation and while wearing the giant Winship Wildcat mascot costume (of all things), Brittany Montague won’t be doing any halftime cheers again anytime soon.

Those pom-poms are officially hung up and retired. Brittany has left the building and she is not ever coming back to their high school to take classes at the academy and have fun and go out with friends or laugh or graduate ever again, and everyone is aware of it. This book is kind of similar to Twin Peaks in the way that it is focused around the sudden death of a young girl who goes to the local school in a small area and everyone is affected by it.

She’s gone just like that, but was this bridge jump intentional or was it a setup? It’s not uncommon for students to be under a lot of pressure, but Brittany was pretty and outgoing; she was a cheerleader, after all. Was Brittany really murdered or was she going through something that no one knew about and never even thought about picking up on? And if she was the victim of a vicious murderer, who had the motive to kill such a young girl with all of her life ahead of her? They must really be a sick person to do this– or was it Brittany who was secretly struggling?

This is definitely a case for the mystery club. After this, they may even have to change the name to the murder mystery club. Benny and Virginia are on the case and they must track down who did this among a sea of doubt. While everyone else seems to have a criticism ready, Benny is devoted to the case, and he and Virginia are going to find out what happened once and for all.

Strange Lies is the second book in the Strange Lies series, published in 2017. Maggie Thrash brings us to Winship Academy, possibly the only place that a science exposition set in the evening could transform into a fiasco of criminal proportions. For one thing, there is the boy no one seems to know officially who is giving out drugs to anyone who has the secret password ready. So it’s not exactly a low-key night with nothing going on.

That’s not the only awkward and potentially horrific event going on at Winship Academy that night. Everyone is aghast when the student body president in not killed but maimed in a horrible accident. At least, everyone thinks it was an accident. But whether it really was or not still remains to be seen, and what are the odds of the successful and well-liked student body president just happening to maim themselves horribly for life on their own? Maybe it’s jealousy on the part of another at play.

With so much going on and so many people upset about the incidents that played out at the science expo, Benny Flax and Virginia Leeds must be tackled the case if they want to see it get anywhere. After all, they do go to the academy and they are the classmates of the murdered young student– who better to try and get to the bottom of it?

Just like before, Benny and Virginia choose to be front and center for all of the action. But this time they are not alone in their interest in the case. There is also Calvin Harker poking around. He is the headmaster’s son and is an eccentric poet who has also an active interest in Virginia. Benny is not about Calvin’s crush on his partner in crime and doesn’t trust the intentions behind it. In fact, Benny Flax would even go so far as to say that Calvin’s interest in Virginia is setting off alarm bells all over the place.

This riveting murder mystery story has twists and turns as well as darkness and humor. Not only that, but you can pick up on the tension between the history of Atlanta and the state. Read along and see how Benny and Virginia navigate their most complex and challenging case yet among a horde of people who really don’t want them to have anything to do with it. Billy and Virginia must put their heads together and figure out what went wrong once and for all, even if the only people who want to see them succeed are themselves.