I’m Alexa. I’m eight. My sister Colbie says I’m not supposed to talk while her friends are staying over tonight or she’ll pinch me and lock me in the closet, but she won’t know if I write down what I want to say over here. I hope she won’t mind. Colbie pinches hard. She works on her grip, for softball.

What I want to say is that Colbie and her friends shouldn’t be swearing and they shouldn’t be talking about. . . that stuff and they shouldn’t be drinking all the sodas this late at night and they shouldn’t be so loud or Mom will come in and they really shouldn’t be on the phone and talking to strangers. We’re all going to get in trouble. And then I’ll get pinched.

Colbie is OK. She’s twelve. When her friends aren’t around, she can be nice to me. When they’re here, though—Jane is mean. Patricia is weird. Nori is strange.

They called that guy on the phone by accident and now they’re all acting different and not grown up, like they think. Scared and nervous and like they’re trying to get away with something. I guess they are.

What I want to say is that Colbie thinks she knows so much but I think she’s just pretending to know half of what her friends talk about. What I want to say is that Colbie should stop pretending. What if you had to pretend all the time? What if you never got to stop pretending? What I want to say is that it seems like girls have to pretend a lot, pretend that they know everything and that everything that happens is just fine. No need to tell anyone. No need to say a word to Mom, who’s right down the hall. But the truth is probably a lot of work, too. I don’t know. I’m already tired and I’m only eight. It’s way past my bedtime. But I can’t say a word. If I did, I might start screaming, and I would never stop.

You can read more about Alexa and Colbie in ”Our Lips Are Sealed” by Lori Rader-Day, in Murder-a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s edited by Holly West, coming March 25, 2019.

The Go-Go’s made music on their own terms and gave voice to a generation caught between the bra-burning irreverence of the seventies and the me-first decadence of the eighties. Anthems like “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” and “Vacation” are an indelible part of our collective soundtrack, but more than that, they speak to the power and possibility of youth. Inspired by punk but not yoked to it, the Go-Go’s broke important musical ground by combining cheeky lyrics, clever hooks, and catchy melodies, perfectly capturing what it feels like to be young and female in the process.

But beyond the Go-Go’s effervescent sound and cheerful pop stylings, a darkness underlies many of their lyrics and melodies, hinting at the heartache and frustration inherent in growing up. In other words, plenty to inspire murder and mayhem.

With a foreword by Go-Go’s co-founder Jane Wiedlin and original stories by 25 kick-ass authors, editor Holly West has put together an all-star crime fiction anthology inspired by one of the most iconic bands of the eighties and beyond.

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About the author
Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She co-chairs the mystery conference Murder and Mayhem in Chicago and serves as the national vice-president of Sisters in Crime.

All comments are welcomed.