The Secret of Markie Beach

The Secret of Markie Beach, the debut Teen novel by Canadian author Hannah Grieve, is a small-town, atmospheric story that centres around Alana Collins, a college student who returns home for the summer. She expects a dull summer working at her father's store and catching up with friends, but her curiosity gets the best of her, and she finds herself being pulled into the decade's old mystery of missing girls.

Alana is tenacious and her curiosity is initially sparked when she meets a visiting group of teen girls who all share the same sun tattoo. They've moved into a large home on the outskirts of town with a handsome young man who takes an interest in Alana and her group of friends. 

With increasing tension with a touch of sinister flair, this Teen read has small-town drama, secrets and feels like an edgy cozy mystery with a side of early adult romance and complicated friendships. 

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Hannah Grieve

Genre: Teen, Suspense

Type and Source: Trade paperback from public library

Publisher: Dragonfly House Press

First Published: July 12, 2022

Read: Jan 9-12, 2026

Book Description from GoodReads: Seven girls went missing one night in 1998.

That’s what eighteen-year-old Alana Collins learns. Although she’s lived in the small beach town of Markie for her entire life no one has ever mentioned the mysterious tragedy to her before. That is until she begins to see strange girls with matching tattoos on their collar bones everywhere she goes.

Summer was meant to be simple. Working at her father’s marina shop and hanging out with her two best friends Jamie and Ben. She never could have expected that instead she would become entangled in a decades old mystery or that she would meet Eric.

Eric Quill was unlike the boys that she was used to seeing around town. There was something odd about him, but he made her cheeks flush whenever he spoke to her. When it becomes clear that he and the strange girls she’s been seeing are connected in some way Alana knows that she needs to find out how. She dives headfirst into an investigation that leads to a hidden truth that changes everything.