The Pet Shop Nightmare
Spring 2026 BookFest® Award Winner
First Place: Juvenile — Mysteries
First Place: Juvenile — Action & Adventure
When Ollie gets a panicked call from his cousin Claire, he knows something is wrong. McKenna—Claire’s best friend—has vanished without a trace. She has not been seen for days, and all attempts to contact her have failed. Claire knows something isn’t right.
Determined to help, Ollie brings in his friends Mellie and Scotty, and the three quickly realize this is no ordinary missing persons case. Claire starts receiving threatening notes. Shadows seem to follow her. And all clues point to the local pet shop—a place with locked doors, strange noises after dark, and a growing list of missing animals.
As the group investigates, they stumble into a web of secrets darker than they could have imagined. Something unnatural is happening behind the pet shop’s cheerful facade—something that doesn’t want to be discovered. The deeper they go, the more danger they face. And just when all hope seems lost, help arrives from the last place they expect.
In The Pet Shop Nightmare, Ollie, Mellie, and Scotty race against time to uncover the truth. Will they survive long enough to find McKenna and unravel the mystery of the shop before they become the next ones to disappear?
