The best Karen M. McManus books are those which don’t go too far in their twists. One Of Us Is Next, which was a fundamentally unnecessary sequel, took one wild leap beyond reason. The two since have reined that in.

You’ll Be the Death of Me sees three former friends skipping school coincidentally on the day that one of their peers is murdered, making them either prime suspects or, at the very least, accomplices. Told in three alternating perspectives across the course of a single day, You’ll Be the Death of Me is a zippy mystery with a solution that’s always just within grasp.

You’ll Be the Death of Me is a cleverly constructed YA mystery about people acting out of character and paying the price for it. McManus dots her novel with actual clues, red herrings and blind alleys, with the confidence of someone who’s done this approximately four times already but only repeated herself once. The three characters don’t exactly have distinctive voices — in a McManus book you often find yourself having to turn back a page or two to remember who you’re reading —but they do their jobs enough.

You’ll Be the Death of Me tackles such dramatic social issues as health insurance, the opioid crisis, and … Instagram videos (if McManus had finalised it a little bit later, you can be sure that would be TikTok). Written with her traditional sensitivity towards her characters, none of this seems crammed in, until one of the book’s most egregious red herrings almost derails the entire affair; McManus lacks the courage to follow through on something without making the retraction into a proper twist.

Despite that major stumble, You’ll Be the Death of Me dovetails nicely and hides most of its scaffolding. It doesn’t have a transcendent moment or provide the neat satisfaction of some of McManus’ earlier work, but she’s still putting out a solid YA thriller.