“Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters”

Here’s a review written by COHS student Jade:

“Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters” by Gail Giles gets five stars from me! If you’re in the mood for confusing but riveting mystery, this is a good book for you!

Sunny Reynolds’ older sister Jazz dies in a fire. Her mom is devastated–can’t eat or sleep, and has to be put on sleeping pills. Her father goes back to being a drunk. Sunny comes home one day to find a letter on the counter, and it said “from Jasmine.” It said she wasn’t dead, and she’ll be coming home on Sunday. Sunny tells her parents, and when Sunday arrives, jazz walks in the door. But this girl….didn’t look like Jazz, and Sunny knows it’s not her sister… But if it’s not Jazz, then who is it?

Read it to find out!

About Victoria Waddle

Victoria Waddle is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and has been included in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest. Her books include a collection of feminist short fiction, Acts of Contrition, and a chapbook on grief, The Mortality of Dogs and Humans. Her YA novel about a polygamist cult, Keep Sweet, launches in June 2025. Formerly the managing editor of the journal Inlandia: A Literary Journey and a teacher librarian, she contributes to the Southern California News Group column Literary Journeys. She discusses both writing and library book censorship on her Substack, “Be a Cactus.” Join her there for thoughts on defiant readers and writers as well as for weekly library censorship news.

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