
The Corpse Queen
Penguin Young Readers Group · Paperback · May 13, 2025
In this twisty feminist historical thriller set in the 1850s, a teenage grave robber quickly becomes entangled in a murderer's plans.
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- Who it’s for
- A darkly engaging blend of feminist historical suspense, forbidden knowledge, and graveyard unease.
- Genres
- 19th-Century US YA, YA Horror, YA Mysteries
- Published
- Penguin Young Readers Group, May 13, 2025
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In this twisty feminist historical thriller set in the 1850s, a teenage grave robber quickly becomes entangled in a murderer's plans. Now in paperback! “Deliciously macabre and utterly decadent.” —Kerri Maniscalco, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Stalking Jack the Ripper Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies near their orphanage, seventeen-year- old Molly Green is sent away to live with her estranged aunt.
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Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is holding more than one secret. She's built her incredible wealth by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need the bodies to practice surgical procedures. Now, Aunt Ava wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt's trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on the property. Enigmatic Doctor LaValle's lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in Philadelphia, the pursuit of power and opportunity soon becomes a deadly dance.
Dark Knowledge
A darkly engaging blend of feminist historical suspense, forbidden knowledge, and graveyard unease.
Come here for
- A grave-robbing trade and anatomy lessons with a macabre edge
- A young woman reaching for knowledge in a world that bars her
Expect
- A teenage grave robber drawn into her aunt’s dangerous business
- Murder, secrets, and a sharp tension between opportunity and its cost
Where it sits
| YA Mysteries | 49% |
|---|---|
| YA Horror | 43% |
| 19th-Century US YA | 31% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 19th-Century US YA
- Death & Grief for Teens
- Thrillers & Suspense
- Authors
- Heather M. Herrman
- Publisher
- Penguin Young Readers Group
- Published
- May 13, 2025
- Format
- Paperback
- Reading lane
- 19th-Century US YA