In the wickedly funny tradition of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl, this fast-paced, illustrated middle grade trilogy introduces Cole and Willow—daring twins racing to find their missing parents while fleeing all kinds of unpleasant, mostly awful grownups on their trail.

MOSTLY AWFUL GROWNUPS
written by River Clegg
illustrated by Lúthien Leerghast
Stonefruit Studio, September 2027
(via Writers House)

Twin siblings Cole and Willow are smart, kind, and brave. But they are not safe.

When they return home to a door left ajar, the house ransacked, and their parents missing, the twins are suddenly pulled into a fast-moving mystery involving a shadowy organization called the Keepers.

Cole and Willow must face uncountable obstacles in their journey—a woefully incompetent newspaper, adults who cannot identify alpacas, a malicious (and hungry) piranha named Reginald, and worst of all, the chilling question: did they ever really know their parents?

No one is who they say they are. No one is to be trusted. The two will need their wits, their courage, and perhaps a few unlikely allies. After all, every good mystery needs someone clever enough to solve it. Might that someone be you?

River Clegg has written for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Opposition with Jordan Klepper. He writes humor for outlets including The New Yorker, The Onion, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He has won a Peabody and a Writers Guild of America Award and been nominated for three Emmys. MOSTLY AWFUL GROWN-UPS is his first novel. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.