I'll make it clear from the start: I did not kill Hugh Henry Van Boren. I didn't even help?Well, not intentionally.

All Jess Choudhary wants is to keep her head down, do her work, and make it through high school without any problems. As a scholarship student?and one of only two students of Indian heritage?her future at the elite school depends on her ability to keep a low profile and spotless record. But when one of the most popular and richest kids in the school ends up dead in the exact same way as a character in a short story she wrote, Jess unintentionally finds herself at the center of the investigation.

And then Jess receives an anonymous text thanking her for the inspiration.

As rumors run rampant about who the murderer could be, Jess knows if she doesn't solve this mystery herself, she'll finally have something in common with Hugh: she'll be dead too.