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About the Author
Dianne K. Salerni lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania with her husband, Bob and cat, Merlin. She graduated from St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington, Delaware and attended the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania before taking a job teaching in the Avon Grove School District. She taught fourth and fifth grade there for 25 years.
Now retired from teaching, Dianne spends her free time hanging around creepy cemeteries and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of research. She loves visiting the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, especially to ski. Dianne also volunteers at her local rescue animal center.
Dianne’s first novel, We Hear the Dead, is a YA historical based on the real story of 19th century teenage spirit mediums Maggie and Kate Fox. We Hear the Dead was the inspiration for the Canadian-produced short film, The Spirit Game, which premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Her second novel, another YA historical, The Caged Graves, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and was inspired by two real caged graves in an abandoned Pennsylvania cemetery. Her next book, The Tontine Caper, is set to be released in April 2025.
About the Book
The Addams Family meets The Westing Game in this exhilarating mystery about a modern magical dynasty trapped in the ruins of their once-grand, now-crumbling ancestral home.
Twelve-year-old Garnet regrets that she doesn’t know her family. Her mother has done her best to keep it that way, living far from the rest of the magical Carrefour clan and their dark, dangerous mansion known as Crossroad House.
But when Garnet finally gets summoned to the estate, it isn’t quite what she hoped for. Her relatives are strange and quarrelsome, each room in Crossroad House is more dilapidated than the last, and she can’t keep straight which dusty hallways and cobwebbed corners are forbidden.
Then Garnet learns the family secret: their dying patriarch fights to retain his life by stealing power from others. Every accident that isn’t an accident, every unexpected illness and unexplained disappearance grants Jasper Carrefour a little more time. While the Carrefours squabble over who will inherit his role when (if) he dies, Garnet encounters evidence of an even deeper curse. Was she brought to Crossroad House as part of the curse . . . or is she meant to break it?
Reviews & Honors
“Spooky, dark, and enthralling. I didn’t want to leave.” ~ Cassie Beasley, New York Times bestselling author of Circus Mirandus
“Salerni’s gothic charmer is deliciously creepy and atmospheric … An enchanting and evocative tale.” ~ Kirkus, starred review
“Salerni enlivens classic horror tropes and gothic ambience, complete with a sentient manor house, blending wry humor with atmospheric descriptions to create Garnet’s compulsively readable first-person voice.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
“Inspired by the TV show Dark Shadows, The Carrefour Curse is an inventive take on the supernatural that skillfully blends drama, humor, magic and mystery. The puzzle, spook factor and complex family dynamics make this a perfect book for upper middle-grade readers and fans of The Addams Family.” ~ Shelf Awareness, starred review
“A fun page-turner that touches on the deeper issues of family, identity, and what it means to pay for the sins of the past. [Readers] will appreciate the emphasis on spooky mysteries and family secrets tinged with magic.” ~ Booklist
“Suspenseful dialogue and pauses allow characters and readers to speculate on clues dating back from the 1700’s, and cliffhangers build tension to creepily escalate the plot and conflicts.” ~ Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection 2023
Kirkus Reviews’ Best Middle Grade Book of the Year 2023
An Evanston Public Library Great Book for Kids 2023
Maine Student Book Award List 2024 – 2025
Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award Nominee 2025 – 2026
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