Death at Devil's Bridge

Cynthia DeFelice

Apr 2011 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

About this ebook

In this adventurous sequel to Devil's Bridge, award-winning author Cynthia DeFelice's Death at Devil's Bridge tells the story of young teenager who must face up to his own weaknesses as he struggles to decide what to do about his troublemaking friend.

At thirteen, Ben Daggett, a Martha's Vineyard local, takes a summer job as first mate on a charter boat and plans to spend the July Fourth weekend helping to entertain tourists. On his first day out, Ben spots a strange object in the water—a red Porsche. Then he learns that the driver is missing! Donny, a cool sixteen-year-old, admits to having submerged the car—but nothing more. Also a native, Donny resents the rich tourists, and even steals from them. Despite Donny's transgressions, Ben would give anything to hang out with him.

Unfortunately, he gives too much, and ends up involved in drug dealing and maybe murder, and with full understanding of Donny's role in at least one of these crimes. Should he tell on Donny?

About the author

Cynthia DeFelice was the author of many bestselling titles for young readers, including the novels Wild Life, The Ghost of Cutler Creek, Signal, and The Missing Manatee, as well as the picture books, One Potato, Two Potato, and Casey in the Bath. Her books were nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children's Books and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, among numerous other honors. Cynthia was born in Philadelphia in 1951. As a child, she was always reading. Summer vacations began with a trip to the bookstore, where she and her sister and brothers were allowed to pick out books for their summer reading. “To me,” she said, “those trips to the bookstore were even better than the rare occasions when we were given a quarter and turned loose at the penny-candy store on the boardwalk.” Cynthia worked as a bookseller, a barn painter, a storyteller, and a school librarian. She and her husband lived in Geneva, New York. She died at age seventy-two in 2024.