This is my favorite hard-boiled teen fiction novel by virtue of it being the only hard-boiled teen fiction novel that I know of.  Beaudoin’s innovative whodunit introduces us to Dalton Rev, a high school student investigating the murder of classmate, Wesley Payne.  Gathering clues requires navigating the various cliques of Salt River High.  This is a humorous read that plays off many of the tropes of both YA and pulp fiction.  It’s highly disappointing, and almost inconceivable that this didn’t become a series, but in a way that’s also its most endearing quality.  You Killed Wesley Payne is the perfect, fun standalone to cleanse your palate before tackling that next big franchise.