In Four Tombstones, the first book in the Josie Jameson mystery series, four teenagers rub the headstones of four graves on Halloween night. Their leader, fourteen year-old Josie Jameson, wants to connect with her long-deceased mother—and she does so in atmospheric passages that made goosebumps erupt on this reader’s skin. Teenagers will recognize themselves and their friends in this novel’s characters. Older readers will remember the insecurity of adolescence and the importance of a few loyal friends. Mrs. Hotes clearly understands the self-doubt, need to belong, and drive for independence inherent in teenagers. Her four teens are believable, likable, and wonderfully flawed.

Four Tombstones delivers a spine-tingling and hair-raising narrative along with a story of the bumpy transition from childhood to adulthood, the dysfunction in every family, and the utter necessity of friends to get us through.