Betrayal by the Book — Michael D. Beil

A writer's conference brings twelve-year-old Lark's favorite writer -- and a suspicious death -- to Swallowtail Island, in the second book in this middle grade mystery series by an Edgar Award-nominated author.

Swallowtail Island is hosting the Swallowtales Writer's Conference. Lark's ecstatic to be chosen as a “page” for her favorite author, Ann E. Keyhart.
 
But they say you should never meet your idols. When Keyhart arrives with her personal assistant in tow, she is nothing but a terror. And within a few hours, the assistant is dead! But the explanation isn't sitting well. Not when lots of people had reasons to want to be rid of Keyhart, and especially not after it's revealed the assistant recently completed a hot new novel and the file's vanished from her computer.
 
Then Lark finds out the assistant had a bird -- the match to the one she found hidden in her mom's book -- and she needs answers. It looks like Swallowtail Island still has secrets to reveal, and Lark's going to uncover them.
 
A gripping new chapter in the Swallowtail Legacy series, Mike D. Beil spins another clever clue hunt that seamlessly slips in alongside the best classics of middle grade mystery.