Do you have a favorite crime?
"Stronger Together."
— The Saint Ambrose school motto
Four years ago, three middle school students went into the woods and found their teacher's body. The murder was never solved.
Now Brynn Talbot has returned to Saint Ambrose School with an agenda. She now interns for true crime show Motive, and she plans to investigate the murder for the show.
But Mr Larkins' murder wasn't as simple as she thinks, and it's not the only secret in town.
Released in 2022, Nothing More To Tell is the sixth novel by Karen M. McManus, the author of One of Us is Lying.
NOTE: As the subject of this page is a newly-released mystery novel, this page has been heavily spoilered.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: Dexter Robbins is a violent, misogynist religious fundamentalist who refused to get his asthmatic son medical care and locked his wife in the house. Still, she managed to slip away with their three-year-old son and start a new life in Sturgis. The son is Brynn's friend Mason.
- The Alcoholic: Tripp deals with the stress of finding Mr Larkin's body by having "bad nights" where he drinks way too much. Thinking your father is a murderer whose crime you covered up will do that. It gets worse after he and Brynn find Mr Solomon's body, as the added trauma makes him go through a truly startling amount of Jim Beam while taking time off school and work with a "fever." This seems to taper off after he finds out his father was innocent.
- The Alibi: Tripp, Shane and Charlotte found Mr Larkin's body in the woods behind the school. As they all state that they were together the whole time, meaning none of them could be the killer. In fact Tripp came across the other two with the body after being on his own. Thinking his father was the killer, Tripp told them to stick to their story and the other two followed his lead. In fact, the killer was Charlotte, who snuck up on Larkin before Shane arrived, and the story Tripp came up with played right into her hands.
- All for Nothing: Two days before the murder, Tripp Talbot deliberately torpedoed his friendship with Brynn by calling her a stalker in front of everyone. He did this to cover his father's theft of some field trip money, which Tripp found in their house and which Tripp thought Brynn had seen. Later, it becomes even more imperative to keep her off the trail as Tripp thinks his father killed Mr. Larkin to cover for the theft. Turns out Brynn hadn't even noticed the envelope, so he drove her away for nothing. It Gets Worse: if Brynn and Tripp had been speaking, she could have told him his father was talking to her and her father for the whole murder window and couldn't have possibly done it. Tripp's cover-up caused him four years of distress, thinking his father was a killer.Tripp: Cool. Glad I alienated you for no reason whatsoever.
- Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon: Shane Delgado's fingerprints were on the rock used to kill Mr Larkin, because he picked it up before realising what it was. Or so he, Tripp and Charlotte claim. As it turns out, it's perfectly true.
- Car Fu: Uncle Nick saves Ellie from Dexter Robbins by running him down with his car. As he was already injured from a previous crash where he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, this ends with Nick in a coma. He Gets Better, and as Robbins was threatening Ellie with a shotgun it's ruled as a defensive killing.
- The Chain of Harm: Brynn's decision to track down the pawn shop where Dexter Robbins works was a disaster. Not only does he prove to be the toxic-level psycho she's been warned, he sees his son's medallion on her keyring and chases her. She escapes, but he sees the license plate on her car, tacks her down and abducts her sister Ellie by mistake. In the process of saving her, the girls' Uncle Nick ends up in a coma after killing Dexter with his car.Brynn: I got my sister kidnapped. For a story.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Shane Delgado's famously relaxed attitude, and his habit of napping in coatrooms. This led to his leaving a classroom at just the right moment to be mistaken for the recipient of a certain piece of news that someone kills Mr Larkin to keep secret.
- Mr Solomon's habit of keeping his money in a fishing tackle box. Tripp's mother broke into Mr Solomon's house to steal it and ended up killing him.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Tripp claims to have been in love with Brynn since early middle school. They get together.
- Continuity Nod: For the first time, all Karen M. McManus' novels are confirmed to share a continuity.
- Before Brynn's interview with Motive, a fellow interviewee gushes about a previous episode examining the Story case.
- Someone at Motive is pitching the Echo Ridge case for an episode. When Brynn is at a low ebb, Ellie shows her an interview with Ellery for inspiration. Brynn thinks she sounds all over the place, but admires her passion.
- Brynn's Uncle Nick suggests she pitch the Carlton incident to Motive instead of the Larkin case.
- Towards the end, as well as being back at Motive Brynn is being wooed by Mikhail Powers Investigates.
- Miss Exposition: The audience learns the basics of the Larkin case from Brynn's episode pitch at her Motive interview.
- Heroic BSoD: After her actions lead to her sister's abduction and her Uncle Nick being in a medical coma, Brynn is bedridden with depression for days. It takes time, tears, a You Are Better Than You Think You Are talk from Tripp and her uncle's recovery to bring her out of it.
- Ironic Echo: Tripp finds a video his mother made for a true crime show implying he's a psychopath who could well be the killer, with a comment from the show's presenter; "Love it. Can we try it with tears?" Walking away as his mother screams excuses at him, Tripp only says, "Try it with tears."
- Karma Houdini: Charlotte Holbrook, the real killer. After everything, the only evidence that she did anything wrong is a handwriting match with the letter accusing Mr Larkin of theft. Given that Asshole Victim is in play, Brynn seriously considers letting it go, but then reasons that never facing consequences results in people like Lisa Marie, and resolves to see at least some justice done.
- Missing Mom: Lisa Marie Talbot, Tripp's mother, left for Las Vegas when he was nine and only turns up every so often when she wants something. She arrives early in the novel and starts pestering him, because she's been offered money to get him involved in Don't Do The Crime, a sensationalist crime show that's doing a piece on the Larkin case. When he refuses, she makes a video at the presenter's suggestion indicating that Tripp himself may be the killer. Tripp finds the video on her phone, plus a burner phone she used to send him, Shane and Charlotte texts accusing them of murder. She also stole the field trip money that featured in Mr Larkin's murder investigation, and killed Mr Solomon while trying to rob his house.Lisa Marie: [On video] I think I knew, from an early age, that Noah wasn't like other kids. I was so afraid of his temper. It's why I left. When I heard about his teacher, all I could think was-is this it? Did what I've been afraid of for so long finally happen?
- Never My Fault: After Tripp finds her video for Don't Do The Crime, his mother just says that she wouldn't "have to" if he'd gone along with her plan to throw his friends under the bus for money.Lisa Marie: We were building a story line, Trey. You'd have come out of it smelling like a rose if you'd just listened to me.
- Poor Communication Kills: The reason Mr Larkin died. Charlotte heard him tell a fellow student that they were half brothers and he was going to reunite them with their dangerously abusive father. Mr Larkin then left the room, followed by Shane, leading Charlotte to the obvious conclusion. Charlotte tried to get Mr Larkin fired with an anonymous theft accusation, then killed him to protect Shane, but she was mistaken; Mr Larkin was speaking to Mason, Shane was asleep in the coatroom and walked out past his shellshocked classmate without noticing anything.
- Red Herring:
- Shane Delgado. Finding out that William Larkin a.k.a. Robbins came to Sturgis looking for his missing brother, a boy about their age, Brynn and Tripp wonder if it's Shane; Shane was adopted from foster care (which could be a cover story), and Larkin could have been killed during a confrontation. In fact, the missing Robbins boy is Brynn's friend Mason, who was out of town for the murder.
- Mr Solomon, former school caretaker is murdered in his house shortly after telling Brynn and Tripp that Mr Larkin deserved to die. They assume his death must be connected to Mr Larkin's, but in fact, Tripp's deadbeat mother killed Mr Solomon after he caught her robbing his house.
- Refuge in Audacity: After being fired from her old high school newspaper after being framed for posting dick pics, Brynn decides to lean into the notoriety by using that and nothing else for her Motive application. This got Carly's attention and made her laugh, getting Brynn the interview, where she doubled down by pitching an episode based on the Larkin murder.
- The Reveal: In the final chapter, Brynn finally confronts the person she's realised is the killer: Charlotte Holbrook, who thought Shane Delgado was William Larkin's missing brother who he was determined to reunite with a dangerous, abusive father. She killed Mr Larkin to protect him.
- Shame If Something Happened: When Tripp refuses to be involved in Don't Do The Crime's piece on the Larkin murder, his mother implies he'll become the subject instead. Sure enough, later he funds a video on her phone implying he's a psychopath who might have committed the murder.Lisa Marie: If you don't tell your side of the story, [Gunnar Fox]'ll tell it for you.
Tripp: Is that a threat?
Lisa Marie: Of course not. But don't you want to control your own narrative? - Show Within a Show: Motive, the true crime show Brynn interns for. Another, sleazier show, Don't Do The Crime, comes up several times as it searches for sensationalist angles.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Brynn Gallagher. Her sister Ellie is the same, but with brown eyes, and from a distance they're easily mistaken for each other. This leads to Dexter Robbins kidnapping Ellie by mistake.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Despite her Alpha Bitch tendencies, Charlotte Holbrook makes a decent case, telling Brynn she started getting sexual comments aged eleven because of her looks.
- Stalker with a Crush:
- Before the murder, Tripp made Brynn out to be one of these in front of everyone in Gym class to drive her away from him. He did it to keep her from realising his father stole the field trip money... which in fact he didn't. Tripp is not happy to realise he drove his friend away for nothing.
- There's a strong case that Charlotte is one of these to Shane Delgado. Charlotte tells Brynn she wanted him because he didn't pursue her, which should perhaps be a clue that he's much less interested in their relationship than she is. The fact that she would always try to be close to him is a plot point many times.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Implied to be William Larkina.k.a. William Robbins''s motive. He took the job at Saint Ambrose to find his missing half-brother, planning to force a reconciliation to please his father. He didn't seem to consider or care how his brother might feel about any of this or how it might affect him, only that William's father finally be proud of him.
"It's dangerous, and if you keep going, you might learn something you'd rather not know."
— Charlotte Holbrook
