Welcome new client, Merrill Wyatt!

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce my newest client, Merrill Wyatt. Merrill is the author of ERNESTINE, CATASTROPHE QUEEN, out with JIMMY Patterson Publishing. She’s also a middle school teacher and a dollphobic cat-hoarder-in-training.

With less than two weeks from query to signing, it’s safe to say I fell in love with her latest middle grade mystery, THE SERENDIPITY PROJECT. Here’s the pitch:

Seventh graders Sloane Osongco and Amelia Poe can’t stand each other. Amelia thinks Sloane is boring because she’s into ordinary things like sports; Sloane thinks Amelia is bizarre because she wears bridesmaid dresses to school and talks like she’s in an old black-and-white movie. Worse, Amelia asks insensitive questions about Sloane’s dead mother – while Sloane accidentally caused the rest of the seventh grade to nickname Amelia ‘The Yeti’.

When their teacher forces them to work together on a research project to find out what happened to a set of one-hundred-and-thirty year old missing jewels, both Sloane and Amelia are convinced that it’ll be impossible – until Sloane decides to make up for the yeti nickname by helping Amelia break into the local historical museum. Before they know it, they’re ransacking the local day spa too and finding clues that no one else has uncovered in almost one-hundred-years. More shockingly still, it turns out that Amelia and Sloane are maybe – just possibly – becoming friends.

As they get tangled up with a biker librarian, a shyster auctioneer, some bingo-czar grannies, and a woman who specializes in stylish clothing for concrete lawn ornaments, they realize that someone other than their teacher set this whole project in motion. Someone is using the brain power of their seventh grade class to dig up information on what happened to those long-missing jewels – and that someone is now watching them.

It’s THE WESTING GAME meets REAL FRIENDS – a book about finding treasure, finding friends, and finding your voice. What’s not to love, right? Welcome to the KT Literary family, Merrill! I’m so happy to be working with you.

Connect with her on Twitter and Instagram, or visit her website!