Never judge a crook by her cover…
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Trust Me, I’m Lying (Trust Me #1)
Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money, Julep runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average. She's a fixer, and she's good at it. But it's not what she wants. And soon, she'll hang up her grifter skills for good.
But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father missing, Julep’s carefully laid plans for going straight start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care.
With her literal life at stake, Julep will need to use every grift in the book to find and save her dad before his mark finds--and eliminates--her. Fans of Ally Carter's Heist Society novels will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.
Editorial Reviews for Trust Me, I’m Lying
"Summer creates a standout character in Julep. She lies and cheats with so much confidence and skill that readers will cheer her on, but she also adheres to her own strict moral code. . . . A memorable debut; here's hoping for a lot more from Summer."—Kirkus Reviews
“Entertaining.”—Publishers Weekly
“Well-paced, well-plotted.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“This book has it all: homework and hit men, prom drama and silencers.” —April Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Body in the Woods
Also Available!
Down to the Liar (Trust Me #2)
Two novellas, two POVs, two impossible cons—one intertwined story
Julep Dupree is a lot of things–fixer, grifter, master of disguise. But one thing she isn't is okay. Dealing with the emotional aftermath of the death of someone close to her is proving difficult, especially for someone who isn't supposed to care.
Then a friend of a friend hires Julep's team to stop a cadre of cyber bullies, forcing Julep to run an impossible con. Nothing Julep has been through could possibly have prepared her for the truth behind the bullying, or for the demons she'll have to face to save her friends.
Meanwhile…
Sam Seward is a hacker, not a con artist. And after the events that landed him in a military school, he’s more than happy to leave the grifting to the expert he left back in Chicago. But when a classmate begs him to help her retrieve something one of the school teachers stole from her, Sam’s staunch belief in justice won’t let him turn her down.
He forms a new crew and plots a heist of his own, but he’s not Julep, and something about this case just smells wrong. Will he be able to pull off a con that even Julep would never attempt? Find out in this companion novella to Down to the Liar.
Trust Me, I’m Trouble (Trust Me #4)
Julep thought surviving the mob was hard…
...but surviving her guilt is another thing entirely. Running her investigation agency is Julep's only distraction from her losses over the last few months. With a few new minions on Julep's payroll, she's been taking on various investigation jobs, including one for Mrs. Antolini--the wife of a computer engineer arrested for embezzling a whole lot of money from his company. She's convinced he did it at the behest of the New World Initiative, a leadership cult that just so happens to be run by a grifter who supposedly went straight. Julep's not so sure she wants the case--going up against any grifter, even an ex-grifter, is no joke--but Mrs. Antolini's story links to a mysterious blue fairy, and potentially to Julep's own missing mother.
To complicate matters, someone's put a contract on Julep's head, so even if she manages to take down the con artist at the top of the New World Initiative, she may not live to tell the tale. With a war on multiple fronts, and her enigmatic shadow, Dani Ivanov, as her only protection, Julep must face the ghosts of her past to even have a chance at surviving the present.
Will Julep escape the clutches of everyone who wants her dead? Worse, will she escape the burgeoning feelings she's been catching for her mob-enforcer bodyguard?
Editorial Reviews for Trust Me, I’m Trouble
"The action moves as quickly and crisply as the dialogue... A clever romp that keeps readers guessing." —Kirkus Reviews
"I would trust Julep Dupree with my life, Dani Ivanov with my heart--and Mary Elizabeth Summer with my every late-night can't-stop-reading session. An intelligent, fierce heroine of strength and loyal heart who refuses to suffer fools lightly? Yes, please." —Jennifer Longo, award-winning author of What I Carry
“An irresistible mix of intrigue, high stakes, and self-discovery." —Lee Kelly, author of City of Savages and The Antiquity Affair
"An engaging, fast-paced read." —VOYA Magazine
Line of Fire (Trust Me #5)
Two novellas, two broken hearts,
What was lost must stay that way...
Dani left Julep behind to secure Julep’s safety, but that doesn’t mean Dani’s work is done. In the spirit of keeping one’s enemies closer, she’s making sure Petrov doesn’t go anywhere near Julep or her friends, especially when Petrov’s mysterious plans bring his crew—and Dani—back to Chicago.
She isn’t in town long before her ex-girlfriend Han cashes in the favor Dani owes her, sending her off on a supposedly simple delivery errand, only the package is three small children. The mission goes sideways, turning an easy handoff into a frantic escape from an unknown enemy, and forcing Dani to decide how much she is willing to risk. Because saving the children from the dismal fate that awaits them puts Dani squarely in the line of fire.
One month later…
Grifters' hearts don't bleed...or do they?
It's now been three months since Dani left, and Julep's driving herself to an early grave with all the dangerous schemes she's undertaking to try and find her. She can't sleep, she can't focus, and she sure as hell can't grift. Then one night she gets a call from an unexpected young client, who believes his dad is being catfished by someone with ties to a murder. Unfortunately, no one he's gone to for help will take him seriously. Will Julep be able to put her heart on hold long enough to help him? And if she does, will she be able to solve the case before she becomes the murderer's next target?
Coming Soon…
Julep may have recovered some of her grifter mojo, but it’s two months on now, and her search for Dani has gone exactly nowhere. She’s still looking, but as the days wear on, she’s beginning to think Dani doesn’t want to be found.
Then she gets a call from a mysterious source, who tells her that the information she desperately needs to both locate Dani and unlock the blue-fairy flash drive can be found at the Chinese consulate. What the caller fails to mention is that the same information will drop Julep and her crew into a conspiracy that threatens the entire city of Chicago.
Will Julep be able to outsmart old enemies, stay out of the crosshairs of new ones, and still find Dani? Or is she in way over her head? Find out in the next installment of the Trust Me series…
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A U T H O R
MARY ELIZABETH SUMMER (she/her 🏳️🌈) likes to poke at dark places until the light spills out, which is why her characters are constantly glaring at her and applying adhesive bandages. She is currently contributing to the delinquency of minors by writing books about a teen con artist solving mysteries by doing crime.
She lives in Portland, Oregon with her daughter and their small menagerie of pets.
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Claim your freedom,
one quarter-mile at a time.
The Fast & The Furious meets Nancy Drew
When undocumented teen mechanic and street racer Leta Velasquez loses her friend in a car explosion, she won't rest until she catches the murderer.
upper YA; second-chance romance; amateur sleuth; LGBTQ+ side-character romance; Alice in Wonderland references; gangs but no violence (except for the murderer); Robin Hood vibes; morally gray but still relatable characters; police are useless except when they're not; Underground Railroad for the modern era; the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys
Get in touch.
Got questions? Comments? Nefarious schemes you want to run past Julep? Toss ‘em my way through the contact form! I love to hear from readers, other writers, and (of course) unscrupulous ne’er-do-wells with an unfortunate soft spot or two.
And if you also happen to be a professional sort of book person, I should tell you that I’m always game for book signings, conventions, virtual workshops, and school visits. Hit me up via the contact form!
14925 SW Barrows Rd., Ste 109 #134
Beaverton, OR 97007
United States