Daniel Ehrenhaft

Daniel Ehrenhaft writes fiction for teen readers that mixes social comedy, mystery, and characters trying to outgrow the roles assigned to them. Dirty Laundry is set at the Winchester School of the Arts, a boarding school known for accepting students dismissed elsewhere. Fun, a graffiti artist facing expulsion, agrees to assist Carli, a television actress attending undercover to research a role. When student Darcy Novak disappears, their uneasy arrangement becomes an improvised investigation conducted through alternating viewpoints. HarperTeen issued the book in 2008, with a 2009 release listed by major reviews. Ehrenhaft had already written books including 10 Things to Do Before I Die and Drawing a Blank, and his editorial career has also kept him closely involved with books for younger readers. Dirty Laundry uses the school’s reputation and performance culture to question how readily people confuse image with identity. Its mystery matters, but the changing partnership between Fun and Carli provides the narrative’s strongest line of development.