LESSER BIRDS
In the spring of 2000, a senior clique known as The Rookery buried a time capsule to mark the new millennium and the end of their senior year. By summer’s end, the group lay in ruins—friendships shattered, trust broken, and one of their own, Mae Abernathy, dead, believed to be the victim of a serial killer stalking their corner of East Texas.
Twenty-five years later, the man behind the area killings is finally caught but denies ever killing Mae.
Robin Campbell, a struggling true-crime podcaster whose career is collapsing under plagiarism allegations, leads the reunion to dig up the capsule. Desperate for a career-saving story, Robin hopes Mae’s poetry notebook—which she remembers Mae tucking into the capsule—will hold clues to who really killed their friend.
Instead, they find Mae’s secret diary. Page after page reveals not just Mae’s private thoughts, but their own darkest secrets—confessions no one ever meant to see.
As old rivalries flare and suspicions mount, the friends realize the past isn’t finished with them. Some secrets should have stayed buried—and Mae’s may be the most dangerous of all.
Lesser Birds is a gripping story of friendship, betrayal, and secrets long kept. It asks the most unsettling question of all: how well do you really know the people you love—and what they’re capable of?
Shanessa Gluhm 