I'm going to give you a mystery. It'll be fun, sort of -- but not quite -- like those party games people used to play. They'd gather and have dinner while figuring out, Agatha Christie-style, who among them was Colonel Mustard in the library with a noose.

Look at MySpace.

Look at my MySpace -- that is. It's very new, and, as I'm not 21 years old and accomplished at this, a bit raw.

In the gallery of my very unfinished page is a photo of a young woman dressed in black.

Next week, look at You Tube (another of the ubiquitous "get to know ME" sites on the 'Web that it seems every -- and yes, indeed, his brother) -- visits every day.

Sometime next week, you're going to meet this girl on You Tube. Her name is Hope Shay.. or is it? Did I create her? After all, the young woman in my upcoming book for young adults (and, I hope, their parents, who might read with them) is called Hope Shay. At least, that's her stage name. Her real name.. but you don't need to know that now.

Is she a real person? She's undeniably a real person. But what's her purpose? Is she the girl in the book? Is she pretending to be the girl in the book?

You figure it out.

As you watch her tell her story, write and tell me what you think.

mysteriously yours,

Jacquelyn Mitchard