[YA/Middle-Grade Graphic Novel] [2018-2023] Summer cabin mystery with a girl writer, "Beverly Hills" house, and a box of bones found during bingo night
Type of Book: Graphic novel / fully drawn (not realistic art, modern style).
Year Read: Between 2020 and 2023. It felt like a recently published book at the time.
Target Audience: Middle-grade or Young Adult mystery/slice-of-life.
The Family Dynamic:
The main character is a young girl who wears a baseball cap and is writing her own book. Her family consists of her mom, her dad, an older sister, and a brother. The mom is health-conscious (tells the brother "no sugary cereal"). At one point, the siblings find a stray pregnant cat near their cabin. The main conflict for the family is that the parents want to sell the beloved summer house, which makes the kids really upset.
Specific Plot Points & Scenes:
- The Opening Road Trip: The family is playing games in their van/summer car. They stop at a roadside market that has a giant wooden statue of a guy with a hatchet (like Paul Bunyan).
- The Setting: They arrive at their summer cabin where they stay only during the summer. Nearby, there is an empty, luxurious house that the kids nickname "Beverly Hills."
- The Neighbor & The Break-In: An old man lives next door to them. The family invites him over for a backyard BBQ. Later, the main character and the other kids wait for the old man to leave the house for "Bingo Night" so they can break into his home. Inside, they find a box filled with bones.
- The Neighborhood "Bad Kids": A new family moves in nearby. The kids are kind of rough—they play with firecrackers and sticks. At one point, they are playing charades when these "bad kids" ask to hang out. The main character doesn't want to but does anyway. They take the main character to a gate or restricted area.
- The Ending Twist: The kids think they have uncovered a murder because of the bones, but it turns out to be a total misunderstanding.
Does anyone recognize this graphic novel? Thank you so much for the help!