Pitch Wars ALT: DM-8: THE DRAMA QUEEN WHO CRIED WOLF

MENTOR: Fiona McLaren
ALTERNATE: Jocelyn Rish
TITLE: The Drama Queen Who Cried Wolf
CATEGORY/GENRE: YA Mystery
WORD COUNT: 76,000

PITCH: Sixteen-year-old Breanna loves horror movies and mysteries, but, unfortunately, her overactive imagination turns every situation into a big-screen thriller starring Brea. Since no one believes her when she discovers a body that disappears, it’s up to her to suit up CSI-style in yellow kitchen gloves and solve the murder herself.

EXCERPT: The woman screamed as she raced through the dark woods wearing nothing but a white towel. I shook my head. Seriously? That was a terrible outfit for trying to outrun a homicidal maniac.

She tripped and crashed to the ground, but instead of jumping back up, she cowered in the leaves.

“At least grab a tree branch to defend yourself,” I muttered, but the woman only whimpered and shook her head like that would change the killer’s mind.

He stood over her and adjusted his grip on his machete. She shrieked when he raised his arm.

As he swung the blade, something cold and wet touched my hand.

I screeched before my brain remembered the psycho couldn’t crawl through the TV screen to attack me. I glared at Maximus, my seventy-pound Frankenstein mutt taking up more than his fair share of the black leather couch beside me. “Dang, Max, you trying to give me a heart attack?”

He chuffed in a way that sounded suspiciously like a yes and then nosed my hand again.

“Really? You have to go out just when the movie’s finally getting exciting?”

Max blinked like he’d never do something so obnoxious. Then he barked at me.

I sighed super loud to make sure he knew he was inconveniencing me, but Max didn’t care because he was too busy swiveling the giant ears he’d inherited from a distant German Shepherd relative toward the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.