For a book that is 40 years old (I can’t believe I just typed 40 YEARS OLD!), Friends for Life by Ellen Emerson White holds up fairly well. Friends for Life was Ellen Emerson White’s debut in 1983. I don’t think I read the book the year it was released, but likely a year or so later, probably picking my copy up from our local Waldenbooks.

This YA mystery focuses on Susan who has moved back to her old Boston neighborhood for her senior year of high school after having been gone since the eighth grade. Her old boyfriend is still there as is Colleen, her best friend since childhood. The day after she moves back, her best friend turns up dead by an overdose. Susan is devastated but doesn’t believe it was an overdose or suicide. Because of something Colleen had said, Susan is convinced it’s murder and sets about trying to find the killer.

Friends for Life is a fast read, shorter than a lot of YA books of today, but it’s got a decent mystery that will keep a reader turning pages. I can’t remember when I last read it, but it was one that I had reread multiple times as a teen and it was fun to come back to it. I still like it. For an 80s mystery, it’s a good one and I’d recommend it.