Better Left Buried

by Mary E. Roach

Lucy Preston just wants to go on vacation. The beach-swimsuit-sleeping-in kind. Not the impromptu stop in a creepy small town at the edge of the forest kind.

But being the daughter of a famous private detective means that sometimes, your beach vacay goes off the rails a bit. Because what's the first thing Lucy’s mom does? Takes her to the abandoned amusement park for a clandestine meeting—except instead of a meeting, they find a body.

Because of course they do.

As Lucy’s mom is swept into top-secret private-detective stuff, Lucy sets out on her own to investigate her mom’s mysterious connection with this town. Lucy’s snooping sets her on a collision course with Audrey Nelson, the mysterious girl on the motorcycle who Lucy could swear she saw near the amusement park the night the body was found.

If Lucy and Audrey can’t work together to uncover secrets that go back generations, there will likely be another body found at the base of the old vine-covered roller coaster outside of town. And this time it might just be Lucy’s.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Lesbian, Queer, LGBT, Horror, Thriller

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2024

About the author

Mary E. Roach is a former teacher who now writes across genres and age categories, most recently thrillers for the young adult audience and romances for the adult audience.

When she is not writing stories for and about powerful women, Mary enjoys running, teaching martial arts, and disappearing into the wilderness. Mary lives in St. Paul with her wife and their very disagreeable cat.

She can be found on Instagram at @maryeroachauthor, or online at maryeroach.com.

She also writes fantasy for all ages as Máire Roche.

Reviews

[Brend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's go lesbians on bikes, let's GO!!!

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was odd and messy and I didn't like it.

Firstly, let's just get the whole concept out of the way. Small town secrets, the towering legacy or the town's most prolific family and mysterious death. That did sound fun. It was not. It was just kind of bad. The small town mystery doesn't really work in this case because it literally only gives us two directions to look - Langley or the Anselms - and based on the way Lucy just knew in the deepest part of her heart that it couldn't be the mother of the random girl who she fell in love with in less than three day of course it had to be the sketchy rich people. There wasn't even really any choice in the narrative because it appeared that the only people in this town were the Anselms, Audrey and her mother, two cops and a librarian. I wasn't spoiled for choice.

In regards to character motivations, I understood Audrey's rage to a certain degree because she was so close to the trauma, but Lucy literally was just this go lucky teenager who happened to come into this town and get enraged at the death of her grandparents seemingly out of nowhere. She kept talking about finally being able to find herself and her sense of self and such and I was just like what on Earth are you on about.

It doesn't help that not one person felt consistent in their character. I also would like to add that I hated the romance, like absolutely not. You met two days ago you do not have this magical mystical soulmate bond. You are trauma bonded.

[Karis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just boring and kinda annoying.

The first thing I must address is the fact that Audrey doesn't wear a helmet when she operates her motorcycle. There are several scenes of the girls making jokes about how unsafe it is, but that does not negate the fact Audrey actively chooses not to wear one. This severely peeved me so badly, because riding a motorcycle without something that will protect the most vital organ in your body - your brain - is so damn stupid. I'm convinced Roach left Audrey helmetless because she thought it was "hotter," but promoting unsafe driving habits to impressionable teens is not, and never will be, attractive. I dunno if this counts as spoilers, but I'll put it under the spoiler tag, anyway: There's a chase scene between the girls and the evil rich people, a motorcycle vs a Cadillac. While Audrey miraculously was able to evade them unscathed, the villains crashed. One of them, the main killer, wasn't wearing a seatbelt and died, the other wore one and lived, and the last one got away mysteriously. The fact that the killer was killed because he didn't wear a seatbelt but Audrey wasn't just befuddles me. I just hate it so much.

Outside the complaints I had about the motorcycle, there genuinely wasn't much else I enjoyed about this book. The mystery was frustratingly slow despite the story's >300 pg length, the main characters didn't have much depth beyond a one-dimensional space, their romance less so, and the writing was very stale and repetitive. I just don't have much to say other than to rant about motorcycle safety.

All in all, this was such a miss for me. I wish there was more than what what shown, and motorcycle safety should really be taken much more seriously.

[Raaven💖 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why does it mention so much that Lucy has red hair and she’s blonde on the cover? I really really wanted to love this book and just couldn’t. The writing was not my cup of tea. This really felt like a Disney book in the worst way. Every parent here SUCKED. Why did they say don’t get involved and just leave their kids to do whatever with no supervision? If you don’t want them to be involved maybe you should watch them? Also why couldn’t Lucy’s mom just talk to her?! It was so frustrating how much she tiptoed around everything. You drag your daughter to a trip on spring break and explain NOTHING and then just never talk to her about anything? I do not understand. She’s gone for most of the book investigating and then when she’s around she’s acting dodgy and weird instead of just explaining things so her daughter didn’t want to figure it out herself and then she’s mad and surprised? I also think that the author wasn’t sure how to make Lucy. She’s supposed to be afraid of everything and squeamish but she stands up to everyone and runs at intruders? The whole scardey cat thing lasted like a day. She was there for less than a week. Completely wild. Honestly the twist at the end was pretty good at least.

[Melissa Rae (raenydayreads)]

"Pitched as Knives Out meets Two Can Keep A Secret, this contemporary YA mystery follows two teen girls in a small Appalachian town who must solve the murder of a local amusement park millionaire. As the town's secrets come to light, the girls must face their own pasts–along with their growing feelings for each other–or risk becoming the next victim."

[Alesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this as a giveaway on goodreads as an advance copy and it was phenomenal. I couldn't put it down!

This book had me hooked from the start! I loved the character development and the entire time reading this book I kept thinking how this could be made into a lifetime movie or hallmark movies and mysteries.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better Left Buried by Mary E. Roach has an interesting premise and I've heard it compared to both Knives Out and Karen M. McManus, but it just wasn't. The story isn't tight enough and it was way too long for me at only 288 pages. The main complaint for me though was the characters. They sound pretty similar to each other and are fairly flat. Plus, the not wearing a helmet on the motorcycle thing bugged me.

[Jessica Gleason · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Better Left Buried" is an adrenaline rush of a story, one you need to block out a nice chunk of time to just power through. I picked it up last night and read much much later than intended.

I am a sucker for a non-traditional narrative. This is written bouncing between the perspectives of the two main characters, Lucy and Audrey as they meet, uncover murderers while putting themselves in harm's way over and over again, and nurse a budding romance. There's a little bit of everything in this book. It's tense, scary, sentimental, traumatic, and action-packed.

I think YA readers will fall in love with Lucy and Audrey.

[Jenna Voris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revising this review to say that I got read an early version of this book back in 2020, but I finally read the updated ARC and I simply LOVE THEM, YOUR HONOR. Mary has such a gift for writing tough, prickly main characters with secret hearts of gold and this story is the perfect vehicle for Lucy and Audrey to shine. I will read everything Mary writes until the end of time and I hope everyone knows that this book is the first step to their world domination.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good YA LGBTQ+ Mystery/Thriller story.

[Anne Twiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous first novel! Is there anywhere spookier than an abandoned amusement park at the end of a dark, winding forest road? Expect more exciting books to come from Mary E Roach!

[Patty (IheartYA311) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read. The first person POV and alternating POV made it a little hard to follow. The writing was simplistic, but I really liked the characters. The mystery aspect was fun and engaging. Overall, it was average, so 3 stars from me.

[Megan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

put another notch in my Queer YA Horror bedpost that I love so much this was wonderful and mysterious and let’s GO lesbians

im also realizing a lot of these have strong themes of parental trauma or grief and that’s not something im exploring further

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucy is all set to spend Spring Break with her dad. Her mom just needs to make one stop to help an old friend before she goes. But when they get there, they find him dead. Oh, and that friend? He was actually her mom's stand-in father after her parents died. Ask Lucy if she knew about any of this. (She, in fact, did not.). But Lucy's mom is an investigator and now she's bound to help discover what happened. Luckily, Lucy finds a friend in Audrey, and they both have their reasons for wanting to get some answers. This fast-paced young adult mystery will delight fans of Knives Out and Karen McManus!

Overall, I liked this one, but it needs a continuity editor. Early on, Audrey talks about getting mud on her new trainers, her mom cleaning them, and then Audrey puts them on the next day. Slightly later that day, she's wearing boots. Later on, she leaves her phone behind, but then when she gets somewhere, she takes a picture with it. There were more of these, but those are just the two that come to mind. It's not anything that really affects the story too much, but it did take me out of it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Roach is an artist. This book was scary and mysterious and I was worried for the main character's life several times but at the same time I was laughing and falling in love. I don't know how she manages to balance the high emotions of being a teenager in a spooky town where more people are being found dead. I really appreciated the mom character's humanity, it was really refreshing to see an earnest sibling-parent relationship. Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for an early read in exchange for my honest review.

[megs_bookrack]

ARC received!! Thank you, Disney Hyperion!!!



This sounds freaking incredible. I can't wait to start!

[katie corridan · Rating 2 out of 5]

i thought the plot was good, but the dialogue was repetitive to the point of being annoying. the main characters didn’t do very much investigating and the romance seemed a little forced

[C.C. Bruno · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get past Roach's writing style. I wanted to like this one so much, but I just can't handle it.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too much redundant drama and a little not enough abandoned theme park.

[♡ A ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, chaotic lesbian mystery reminiscent of Knives Out and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Better Left Buried is a dual POV that follows Lucy, daughter of a private detective who goes to the town her mom grew up in, and Audrey, motorcycle enthusiast who lives in said town. Both girls are tangled up in a mystery as a murder takes place at the abandoned amusement park. And to make matters worse, Lucy’s mom is investigating Audrey’s mom for the murder. The town is full of secrets all tangled around a wealthy family that goes back generations and Lucy and Audrey have to figure out who is murdering people or risk being next.

I really enjoyed this book and the two main characters as they tried to figure out who was killing people and what happened around the town when their parents were their age. It did take me a bit to get fully into the story and I’d recommend really paying a lot of attention at the beginning because a lot of characters are introduced. I was also expecting more scenes at the amusement park but the ones that did take place there were good. I would’ve just preferred more there and less at the house.

Lucy and Audrey were really adorable together and I loved the growth of their relationship – I need more sapphic mysteries where they play detective. I loved their tension and sneaking around scenes. And Audrey’s history with the amusement park was so heartbreaking. They had really great chemistry and seeing them run around and try to solve the murder was really fun and had me on the edge of my seat. The wealthy family in this was really reminiscent of the Knives Out family and really delivered on that. I was definitely unsure who actually ended up being the killer and liked the overall twist at the end.

It's a really fun, suspenseful read with chaotic characters and eerie vibes around this small, forested town. Would definitely recommend if you loved Knives Out or any YA mysteries!

[Karen Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this before publication. Better Left Buried takes two sparky characters and plunges them headlong into a murder mystery that has its roots in the past.
Starting off on her way to stay with her dad for spring break, our main character is fed up when her mum announces a detour to a town she’s never heard of to help an old friend that’s never been mentioned. Unfortunately, when they arrive at the scheduled meeting place they discover the body of the man they’ve come to meet. Lucy sees someone in the woods and is convinced they know more than they’re letting on.
It takes a bit of time to establish who’s who - mainly because Lucy has to be introduced to them all and told about them - but it’s clear that her mum has been hiding things about their past. Audrey, the young girl seen in the woods, has her own reasons for being there.
As Lucy and Audrey team up we follow the ongoing murder investigation, but they also unearth family secrets and root out those guilty of crimes long passed. Perhaps an unlikely ending, but guilt does strange things to people!

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

katy and langley’s story when

[Clarisse Guevarra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, queer YA mystery that could’ve been better written. Lucy is caught up in the midst of a small-town investigation where her mother apparently grew up, but she knows nothing of her mother’s past or anything about the town. There, she meets Audrey, another girl intertwined with the town’s dark history, and together they try to uncover the truth. Except nobody will talk about ANYTHING.

If you have an issue with the trope where the plot’s driving force is an extreme lack of communication, this book is not for you. It’s full of “I’ll tell you later” and “I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to know” and “the less you know, the better.” To be fair, teenagers truly aren’t supposed to be informants in an official investigation. But there are several points where people just refuse to talk to each other. Some reviews claim that the teenagers talk authentically like teenagers, but for some reason, to me it felt forced. It’s written in alternating perspectives between Audrey and Lucy, and their voices don’t distinguish much from each other.

Audrey’s rage at least made sense to me. I think she may have been the best-written character. Lucy’s rage felt a little superficial. I don’t think we got enough context about her relationship with her mother other than a few mentions of Katy not talking about her past before Lucy starts feeling an immense grief over their history. She says things like “I finally know what I’ve been grieving” and talks about “this tragedy that’s been clinging to my skin my whole life,” but there’s not much mention of her feeling this way prior to the start of the book.

I read an ARC so I’m hoping some things were adjusted by its official release. Some lines were just straight up redundant: “I remember that flash of pain in Mom’s face [...] the feeling that all those secrets she kept from me were just painful.” Some things also don’t add up, like Lucy first declaring that nobody has ever claimed she looks like her mother (her point being that Blake was a liar for claiming so), but then the librarian mistakes Lucy for her mother when she first walks through the door. There’s also a line where Veronica blatantly mentions that Curtis broke into their motel, and then the next line is Lucy asking, “And which one of you broke into the motel?”

Overall, the story itself was fun, and queer representation is always great, but I was too frustrated with much of the messy writing to cozy up with this mystery.

[McKenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were certain scenes where the actions from one paragraph to the next did not match up? Like they'd be in one position one second and then the next a completely different position with no explanation of when or how they moved. It wasn't BAD writing necessarily but messy? Like no one proof read it? A key point toward the climax is Audrey loosing her phone, then the next chapter she takes a picture of Cliff. With what?? Her mind??? Langley's eyes changing colors within 17 pages 🤨 not an ounce of proofreading ohmygod The sundress nickname instantly got old and felt forced. We GET IT Lucy is a klutz, but oh my god I don't need to be reminded of it every chapter. You're telling me a girl who has never driven a motorcycle can do it in the dark, go into a ditch, and get back on the road without falling off? Sus. And I'm expected to believe Langley, a nurse(?) is letting her daughter drive around without a helmet when motorcyclists who don't wear them are literally called organ donors because they DIE when they crash? Okay.... I know wlw relationships stereotypically move quickly, but this again felt forced, there wasn't even enough forced proximity to make it believable. Lucy talking about how proud she is that they "solved" the case, when she stole her MOM's notes, and eavesdropped on her MOM's interview? You hit record on your phone and took some pictures -_-

[M.K. Pagano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love a thriller/romance hybrid so of course I was super into this book. Lucy thinks she and her mom are going on vacation, but instead they’re called to her mom’s hometown to investigate a murder. Lucy knows very little about her mom’s past and her mom is trying to keep it that way. But now that Lucy is here, she’s finally finding things out—like that her mom was raised by the wealthy family in town, who have some dark secrets of their own. In her investigating, Lucy’s path crosses with Audrey’s, a local teen whose connections to the mystery also bear looking into. Soon they’ve teamed up as they try and figure out what their moms aren’t telling them, and who’s killing people in this creepy little town.

There was some great scene-setting here and a mystery you want to know more about right away. The mother-daughter dynamics for both MCs were great, and of course I loved the love story. Such a solid thriller debut!

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

When will I learn my lesson? If a book says that it is A Good Girl's Guide to Murder meets Knives Out it is not going to be as good as either of those things. It might not even really bear a resemblance. There is a pretty good chance that this book will not have any of the things that made those stories good, like well-developed characters. Or a plot that isn't centered around a lot of people willfully withholding details because it's too dangerous for you to know! And let's not forget to mention that the big evil was the literal roller coaster tycoon.
A big question mark for me, and a pretty disappointing thriller.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is pretty predictable up until you find out who killed Grandpa Anselm, which was a complete plot twist in the worst possible way. It was so completely off character for Gus and even when we got the explanation it felt confusing and pretty random.

Also maybe I’m just bad at reading but it felt like there was a lot of continuity errors too.

[rachel x]

Tropes

Pitched as Knives Out meets Two Can Keep a Secret
Small Appalachian town
Murder of a local amusement park millionaire
Sapphic romance

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Better Left Buried is a queer YA mystery/thriller about two girls and the mommy issues small-town murder that brings them together. Lucy follows her famous private detective mother to the town she grew up in to investigate the murder of the town's richest family's patriarch, who raised Lucy's mom after her own parents died. The family also owns a creepy abandoned amusement park where other protagonist Audrey's dad died horribly when the roller coaster malfunctioned, so after a mild meet-ugly the two girls decide to team up to investigate the recent murder, along with the cold case deaths of Audrey's father and Lucy's grandparents.

The best word I have for this book is...cute. Not cute (derogatory) or cute (complimentary), but cute (neutral). The dynamic between the two protagonists is sweet, and their fluffy whirlwind romance is a nice balance to all the grim murder stuff. Even with all the murder stuff, it reads very young (there's a lot of repetition and over-explaining the significance of various plot points while conspicuously ignoring others.) Aside from a few awkward fumbles, the teens talked like actual teens, which I appreciated.

The ending was capital-C Convenient and everything wrapped up in a neat bow. One of the comp titles is Knives Out, but tonally, I would say BLB is much closer to "Mike Flanagan does Scooby Doo" (which is 50% not a compliment coming from me, but if you like Mike Flanagan's work then you might like the vibes here!) There was a lot of overreacting, and frequent panic attacks. It all had me scratching my head going "am I...deeply ableist or something, that I don't like this?" but I think I'm just used to reading more mature protagonists. On the plus side, if you've ever wanted to read a story where parents act responsibly and therapists exist, this one has all that 😂

In shallower observations, I love the cover and the interstitial/chapter title pages with the tire track art! Very fun; I hope those make it into the final version.

[Emily Van Hook vanhooked.on.reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley & Disney Hyperion for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lucy was traveling with her mom to meet her dad, who would be taking her on the summer vacation of her dreams when her mom stopped them to quickly check in on a friend in rural Tennessee who sent her a text asking for help. Once they get there, it's quickly obvious that Lucy's private investigator mom will not be continuing their road trip soon, as her mom's friend is dead in the amusement park where he asked for them to meet. It quickly becomes apparent that there's more to this town and her mother than Lucy could have imagined. As she begins investigating on her own, Lucy finds Audrey, a local girl with her own reasons for wanting to solve the murder and a knack for being in suspicious places. Together they embark on a mission to uncover some of the small town's secrets together.

This set up seems so perfect, and the cover absolutely draws you in. In that case, why didn't it live up to all the mental hype I had for it? Part of my issue comes from the communication in this book, or the lack thereof. So much of what happens is driven by the fact that the main characters just would not talk about things clearly. Instead, Lucy's mom sends her on her own missions to discover information that she already knew, just to save the pain of talking about it. Lucy won't ask questions because she doesn't really want to know the answers. While this helps the story and could feel real for some people, stories driven by lack of communication frustrate me. It's a personal issue.

I also found the romance to be unnecessary. Because this was an ARC, I went into it not knowing this plotline was there. I am sure some readers will love the book because of the addition of the romance into the mystery, but I just wanted to solve the mystery, so I found myself trying to rush through the teen romance to get back to my favorite parts.

My final issue that kept it from feeling perfect was the use of the setting. People are dying in a mysterious amusement park. This park is the center of the mystery, but we kept leaving it to go other places. I wanted more of the creepy park. Granted, most of the other places were enjoyable settings in their own right.

Overall, this was a fun mystery. I definitely see the comparisons to Knives Out and A Good Girls Guide to Murder. I enjoyed trying to figure out the mysteries of Lucy's family, the murder, and the town. The pacing was fantastic, and the pages flew by. If you are someone who isn't put off by a lack of communication and go into it knowing the town is as much a focus of the book as the amusement park, and that there is a romance plotline, I think this book could be perfect for you. I just needed that information going in, and I didn't have it, which distracted me from an unputdownable mystery storyline.