7 Books Like One of Us Is Lying

Hand-picked recommendations for readers who loved One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus.

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One of Us Is Lying

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One of Us Is Lying

by Karen M. McManus

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We found 7 books with similar themes, writing style, and atmosphere. Each one hand-picked for readers who couldn't put down One of Us Is Lying.

❧ Similar Reads ❧
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
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A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Holly Jackson

editions

Pip reopens a schoolgirl's murder as a project, only to discover that people have reasons to keep the accepted answer intact. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder gives a teen investigator the same distrust of easy labels that drives the Bayview mystery. McManus rotates among students who are suspects; Jackson follows one determined researcher through interviews and records. The case becomes increasingly dangerous and grows darker across its series. Start here if assembling clues mattered more to you than the detention-room group dynamic.

Truly Devious
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Truly Devious

Maureen Johnson

editions

Stevie attends Ellingham Academy partly because she wants to solve an old kidnapping. A present-day death makes the puzzle urgent again. Truly Devious has a closed school setting and a young sleuth reading the past against what everyone says now, but its mystery unfolds across a trilogy rather than tying itself to one detention period and four exposed secrets. Choose it for long-form clue work across two timelines, eccentric classmates, and the way an institution's history can shape a new crime.

Two Can Keep a Secret
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Two Can Keep a Secret

Karen M. McManus

editions

Ellery moves to a small town with a history of vanished girls, where a new threat suggests the pattern is not over. McManus again uses teen relationships and withheld local history to keep motives shifting. Two Can Keep a Secret is a separate story, not another Bayview case, and it places more weight on the town's older crimes than on a group of students all under immediate suspicion. Read it if you want the author's pace and twist-making with a fresh cast and setting.

The Cousins
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The Cousins

Karen M. McManus

editions

Three cousins barely know one another when their estranged grandmother invites them to work at her island resort. They arrive to find a family puzzle with consequences none of their parents explained. The Cousins shares One of Us Is Lying's alternating young perspectives and the suspicion that every person is protecting a different version of events. Its mystery is inheritance and family history rather than a classmate's death. Choose it for McManus's ensemble structure with more generational secrets and less school-life pressure.

The Cheerleaders
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The Cheerleaders

Kara Thomas

editions

Five years after a high-school cheerleading squad suffered a series of deaths, Monica begins finding reasons to doubt the story everyone accepted. The Cheerleaders offers the small community, teenage investigator, and buried secrets that Bayview readers may want again. Kara Thomas leans harder into grief and danger, and her protagonist examines an older pattern rather than defending herself as a current suspect. Pick it when the aftermath of a crime and the damage to a school matter more than a clever detention-room setup.

We Were Liars
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We Were Liars

E. Lockhart

editions

Cadence's return to her family's private island brings back only fragments of the summer she needs to understand. We Were Liars gives One of Us Is Lying readers another tight teen group whose closeness hides a serious event. Its narration depends on damaged memory and a final revelation rather than an investigation with multiple suspects presenting evidence. The mood is more lyrical and tragic. Choose it if you are willing to trade the Bayview quartet's banter for a darker, more inward mystery.

The Inheritance Games
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The Inheritance Games

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

editions

Avery inherits a fortune from a man she never met and must live among his suspicious family while solving the clues he left. The Inheritance Games shares McManus's fast YA pacing, secrets, and shifting trust within a small group. Its central crime is not a student death, and its puzzles are intentionally designed by a billionaire rather than uncovered by accident. Pick it if the appeal was guessing what each character knows, with a lavish estate and a stronger romance thread added.

End of recommendations

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers about books like One of Us Is Lying

What should I read after One of Us Is Lying? +

If you enjoyed One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, try A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Truly Devious, Two Can Keep a Secret, The Cousins, and The Cheerleaders. Each one was hand-picked for similar themes, writing style, and atmosphere.

How many books are similar to One of Us Is Lying? +

We've curated 7 books with a similar feel to One of Us Is Lying. Four students leave detention after a classmate dies in One of Us Is Lying. Explore Karen M. McManus's YA mystery and similar reads.

Are there books like One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus? +

Yes — readers who loved One of Us Is Lying often pick up A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Truly Devious, and Two Can Keep a Secret. They share the qualities that made Karen M. McManus's book hard to put down.

What makes a book similar to One of Us Is Lying? +

Pip reopens a schoolgirl's murder as a project, only to discover that people have reasons to keep the accepted answer intact. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder gives a teen investigator the same distrust of easy labels that drives the Bayview mystery. McManus rotates among students who are suspects; Jackson follows one determined researcher through interviews and records. The case becomes increasingly dangerous and grows darker across its series. Start here if assembling clues mattered more to you than the detention-room group dynamic. Stevie attends Ellingham Academy partly because she wants to solve an old kidnapping. A present-day death makes the puzzle urgent again. Truly Devious has a closed school setting and a young sleuth reading the past against what everyone says now, but its mystery unfolds across a trilogy rather than tying itself to one detention period and four exposed secrets. Choose it for long-form clue work across two timelines, eccentric classmates, and the way an institution's history can shape a new crime.

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