10-year-old Caroline Mitchell is dead, and the main character in Talking to Strangers, 15-year-old Maggie Kennedy, was one of the last people to see her. In their summer holidays Maggie teams up with friends, John and Amy Cullen, to help find the murderer. Their first suspect is Maggie’s new next-door neighbour, who has just come out of a mental hospital. Maggie discovers a wall in his house full of photos of another dead girl, and then she sees him burying something in his garden at night! John invites Maggie home and she gets excited by his kisses – though not by his next moves. Something unpleasant happened to Maggie in the past that she would rather not remember. There was this creepy shop owner called “the Material Man”… The surprises keep coming – including the very last one! Who is that person being led away in handcuffs by the police?