Sneak Peek — Lethal Lit: "Murder of Crows" Audiobook

Scholastic & EEP are proud to present Lethal Lit: Murder of Crows, a new novel by K. Ancrum based on the hit podcast Lethal Lit! This original story takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of the podcast, and features a brand-new, never-before-told mystery as Tig Torres and her friends dig into Abuela's secret past. Listen to an exclusive excerpt from the book here, and reserve your copy at https://tinyurl.com/496y9bk7

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
It was the summer of nine seventy two. Local librarian
Jet Cassidy hurried across the street and up the church
steps under the cover of darkness. It was nearly two
o'clock in the morning, and the streets had long since
cleared of potential witnesses. Tucked under his coat, he had gloves,

(00:25):
a flashlight, a pistol, and a small piece of paper
that was going to change his entire life. The church
doors were always open to the public, no matter the
visitor's intentions. Jet slipped inside and strode quickly across the room.

(00:45):
The girls he had overheard in the library had been
specific tucked in the corner where they thought no one
was listening. They said the secret that would grant its
seeker untold riches would be located somewhere up high, and
there was nothing higher and older than the chandelier. Taking

(01:08):
a moment to listen to make sure the church was
truly empty, Jet went up past the altar, farther than
he'd ever gone as a member of the congregation. He
followed a short hallway to the stairs that led to
the double balconies, one for more congregation seating space for
funerals and weddings, and the last a prayer sanctuary frequented

(01:33):
only by the pastor himself. The third floor was a
small space, the slanted roof tilting in so sharply he
was almost too tall to stand. Across from him at
face height was the chandelier. Jet had never seen the
fixture this close before. It was dark this high up.

(01:57):
The wide stained glass windows on the first or provided
very little moonlight to see by. Jet took out his
flashlight and shined it at the chandelier, his eyes picking
over the intricate brass fixture, one filigree at a time. There,

(02:17):
near the center, wrapped around the stem of a decorative leaf,
was a small, tightly curled piece of paper tied to
the twig with wire. The paper seemed to be wrapped
around something, something shiny. Jet looked down at the pews
forty ft below him, then back at the chandelier. Hanging

(02:40):
eight feet away from the edge of the balcony. Leaning
against the wall was the candle snuffer the church staff
used to put out the candles. All he needed was
to pull the light fixture closer to the balcony edge
and the treasure would be his. The next morning, the

(03:01):
steward opened the church doors to find Jet Cassidy's broken
body smashed across the tops of the pews. His blood
was sprayed across three floors in a pinwheeling arc that
dashed the balconies, entrance and altar in biohazard. The chandelier

(03:22):
was shattered on the ground around him, The candle snuffer
still hooked on its base after Jet's fatal grab. It
took them three days to scrub the gore from the stone.
What no one realized was that the secret that had
cost Jet Cassidy his life was already gone. Mere minutes

(03:47):
after the librarian had fallen to his death, the clever
girls he had tried to steal from crept into the church.
Together they had managed to pluck the paper and the
object wrapped inside from the chandelier, exiting again with no
one The wiser m