Title: Who Knew the Ridpath Girl
Author: Stacy Johns
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Published: April 14, 2026
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Source: E-ARC (NetGalley)
Length: 448 Pages
Goodreads Synopsis:
A gripping mystery perfect for fans of Amy Tintera following one man’s investigation into the death of his sister years earlier, forcing him to confront old faces, a strong-willed detective, and a string of new murders in his remote small town.
Welcome to Meander, where truths are best left buried.
Gracen Ridpath has a secret. As the host of a successful YouTube channel for stay-at-home-dads, Gracen is known for his handy tips and trademark self-deprecating humor. But off camera, he struggles with the aftereffects of a tragedy that shaped him and everyone else in his hometown of the death of his eleven-year-old sister, Douggy.
When Gracen mentions his sister’s long-ago death for the first time on his channel, he taps a vein of interest he hadn’t known existed. Soon enough, he finds himself discussing a theory he’s kept quiet for that Douggy chose to die. And he’s finally figured out why . . . and who is to blame.
At first, Gracen is grateful for the jump in views, until his shift in content brings Quinn, Douggy’s childhood best friend, back to Meander looking for answers. And when people start dying around them and detectives start asking questions, Gracen and Quinn find themselves at the center of an investigation that will prove to have consequences deadlier than they ever could’ve imagined.
My Rating: 3
First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher Poisened Pen Press for the E-ARC.
This book is marketed as a mystery, and it certainly has mystery elements to it. Melissa “Douggy” Ridpath dies at 11, the official story an accident, but her older brother Gracen suspects it may have been suicide. Gracen, many years later, starts a podcast called “Who Knew the Ridpath Girl” which brings up a world of emotions, questions surrounding her death, and who, if anyone drove her toward the act of ending her life, if it was in fact, suicide. He gives vague descriptions of who the people involved might be that could have driven his sister to suicide after a dog bit her as an even younger child, which we find out in the prologue chapter.
The story is told from three POVs: Gracen, the brother; Quinn, the best friend; and Kirsten, one detective assigned to the case of a murder victim who might be connected to everything.
The first perspective we are met with is Quinn’s . This character was my first encounter with a non-binary identifying character, so to say the least, I was incredibly confused when I kept reading they/them pronouns. I kept thinking, who are they? Why does this character keep referring to multiple people? I caught on eventually, but it takes about two entire chapters from this character’s perspective to even mention that they are non-binary identifying.
Quinn’s POV seems to take up most of the book, and 90% of what is going on in their chapters doesn’t seem to be relevant at all to what the story is supposed to be about. Which is in itself incredibly confusing because this story is supposed to be about Gracen and determining whether his sister’s death was an accident or suicide.
A lot of what happens seems to center on Quinn, but the blurb talks about Quinn coming back to meander looking for answers about Douggy’s death, and somehow Gracen doesn’t like that? This is not the primary reason Quinn has come back to Meander. Sure, they listen to the podcast, and it makes them doubt their own involvement in what happened, wondering if it was their fault, and so they go looking for closure on that. This is only a secondary reason until the podcast they had wanted to remain mostly anonymous, get what they need from their mother and go back to the life they left behind.
I skimmed a lot, especially toward the end, because I just wanted to see if we got our big reveal of who committed the recent murders. It took a long time to get there. The story got incredibly boring for me, so much fluff and not enough to keep my attention. I read a lot of mysteries, and this did not feel like one at all. There was no tension, no build-up, very few breadcrumbs to tease us with and make us feel high stakes tension that I usually find in mystery stories.
Kirsten’s character development seems to lack, it’s like the author had to throw every cop trope in there, where they had a case that went bad in the past, and allegedly is neglecting herself, her family, everything around them, and not seeking help, to a husband who is fed up with her putting her job before them, while she is working on an active case, and so of course the only solution is divorce. Honestly, a lot of this was out of left field for me. We don’t get to see what this character is like outside of an active case. We are literally introduced to her when the first recent murder happens, as she is the lead investigator in that case. So all we see is a detective trying to do her job and an unsupportive husband, with no evidence whatsoever for these things to cumulate immediately after a second person has been murdered and is probably connected to the first murder so yeah, her attention is going to be on the case, we have a potential serial killer here.
The ending of the book feels rushed, like we spent 90% of the book getting to this point, and honestly, the reveal of what really happened to Douggy was a letdown. But wait, we still haven’t found out who is responsible for the murders. Who that ends up being makes no sense to me, also feeling like out of left field.
We get our reveal, everything seems to resolve, but then the story keeps going to a point that makes no sense for an ending.
I wanted to like this one, the prologue chapter had me interested, but the execution of this story was not where it ought to have been, for what was supposed to be a mystery book it felt more like a contemporary fiction with mystery elements, because it was more a journey of self-healing than it was solving a mystery.
Have you read this book?
What were your thoughts on it?
Are there any books you would recommend for me to read based on this book review?
Leave a comment below and let me know.
Happy Reading!
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