trapped by the pta

Mavis Miller is a single mom. Her ex-husband is a musician out on tour, and while he adores their daughter Pearl and talks to her every night, he’s not around to help with the homework, the nightly dinners, and the school drop-offs. Mavis does her best, but sometimes she runs late. And sometimes she gets caught by the PTA president Trisha Holbrook and her intense pride in Knoll Elementary.

Trisha is looking for someone to head the new DEI committee for the PTA, and as Mavis is one of the few Black parents in the school, she knew that DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And when Trisha points out how Mavis had emailed her opinions about how the book fair hadn’t included many books that featured kids that looked like Pearl, or how the costumes at the Thanksgiving pageant were insensitive. Mavis feels like Trisha has called her bluff, and now she has no choice but to agree to head the committee. What she didn’t expect was how many of the other mothers weighed in with their ideas almost immediately, flooding Mavis’s phone with alerts.

Mavis has a day job at a small non-profit, where she wanted to make life better for teenagers, but mostly she got stuck doing the tasks no one else wanted to do and rarely getting a pay raise. But she’s up for a big promotion, which will help make her and Pearl’s life a little easier. For now, they’re living with her dad, a retired attorney, who can pick up Pearl after school and help with meals. Which is good, because Mavis has to add PTA meetings to her already busy schedule.

After the first meeting, where Trisha spoke about the school being turned into a magnet school for the gifted students, and the new principal informed her that it was not going to happen. Trisha was clearly surprised by the news, but she didn’t seem swayed. It wasn’t until much later, after the meeting was done and the school closed up, that Mavis has some doubts about Trisha. Mavis is out walking her puppy, trying to tire him out so he’ll sleep, and she found herself back near the school. That’s when she saw Trisha with some cleaning products and large garbage bags, her hands covered in plastic gloves.

It wasn’t until the next day that Mavis learned that principal Smith had been missing since the PTA meeting.

Trisha wouldn’t have killed the school principal just to get her gifted school, would she? Mavis wasn’t sure. But as the day go by, and the principal still didn’t show up, that she started to wonder. Mavis and her friends, including the very handsome school psychologist and a couple of the other school moms, dig into what’s really happening in the PTA, and Mavis shocks everyone with what she uncovers. But the more secrets she finds, the closer she gets to someone who may be a killer. Is she really ready to take on the PTA, or will she find herself trapped somewhere even more dangerous than those long meetings?

It’s Elementary is the first adult novel from Elise Bryant, who has won awards for her children’s and YA books. This novel is fun and smart, with layers of secrets and complex characters. Mavis is a very real mom, with problems and struggles and so much love for her family. She is doing her best in a difficult situation, and she’s doing her best to keep her head above water, to stay sane, and to get Pearl to school on time every once in a while.

I really loved It’s Elementary. I love a light-hearted mystery with a big heart, and Bryant brings it. Mavis is a great character, and I loved hanging out with her while she parented, investigated, and (finally) learned to put on her own mask before putting on anyone else’s. She is a strong, intelligent woman, and I couldn’t help but hope I’d get a chance to hang out with her again, especially since her dad started a true crime podcast, and to me that screams out as the perfect plotline for Mavis book two (hint, hint).

Egalleys for It’s Elementary were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.