I have been trying to remember the name of a book I likely read in the early 1990s but could have been published much earlier than that. Every time I describe it to someone they guess it’s The Westing Game, but it is not.
A girl is invited to her aunt’s house for a visit. The aunt is married to a prominent and rich man (possibly a journalist? He is someone the girl is aware of and admires) who is throwing a party at his estate for a large number of famous friends. Once the guests are assembled it’s revealed via clues that the man has knowledge of something unsavory from each of their pasts (including his wife’s) and is blackmailing them.
That night the man is murdered and the book becomes an Agatha Christie style whodunit, knowing that the murderer must be one of the people in the house. The girl is able to learn about all of the guests and eventually solves the murder – the killer is a loyal housekeeper who doesn’t want the aunt’s secret to get out.
My son is now approaching the age I was when I read the book (probably 10 or 11?) and I’d love to find it for him since he enjoys mysteries but I cannot for the life of me remember the title, nor track it down with any kind of “books similar to the Westing Game” style searches.
Category Archives: Mystery
374N: Popular girl goes missing
This is a novel that takes place in the small-town south, this is narrated by an adolescent (possibly pre-adolescent — think Scout Finch with more swear words) about a girl (older than the narrator — teens, maybe 20s) disappears. The missing girl was quite beautiful and alluring, and had talk-of-the-town charisma.
I am almost 100% sure the missing girl’s name is in the title, but I can’t remember that name.
More rando detail: someone’s house that the narrator goes to (and, I believe, the missing girl worked at) is messy, like the person who lives there is a hoarder of sorts.
Also, it’s speculated that the missing girl has just left (no foul play) because her aspirations expanded outside the confines of this backwater town where the novel is set.
374M: The Rose of Death (Solved!)
Seeking a murder mystery about drowned boy who was bullied probably published around 2000-2003, maybe up to 2005 this book was for high schooler and young adults and I think the cover was blue with a rose. The main story line of the book was an investigator was trying to find the cause of death of a teenage boy who was found in the river who they initially thought was a drowning but then found stool in his lungs that was his cause of asphyxiation. The river had once had a sewage issue, but that was investigated and found that the problem was fixed. He was accidentally killed by other students who gave him a swirly (dunked head into a toilet) that had stool in it that caused him to suffocate. The reason that he was given the swirly was he had a crush on a girl and had given her a rose he had changed the color of from red to (possibly) blue as a magic trick, the book did describe the chemical trick used to perform this. I do not remember the color of the rose, apologies. The girl’s bf or some other significant male figure.
374F: 2 in 1 Tween murder mysteries
The most prominent feature was this was a series of very short kids books where you had to flip the book upside down and backwards to read the answer to the mystery. Only like 5 pages per mystery I think. I think it was also two mysteries per book. One of the stories involved an investigator that had to investigate a death and the butler let him in to the study. The guy was dead at his desk with a bottle of cyanide firmly clasped in his hand. It was determined to be a murder because cyanide causes muscles to relax and the bottle could not be clutched tightly in his hand. It was staged to look like a suicide.
371E: African American Orphan Stands Up For Herself (Solved!)
I am looking for a book that I cannot remember the title of, that I read in sixth grade, 1979/80 school year, in Macon, Georgia. I would like to purchase a copy.
Subject: Middle Grades or YA- African American Female – Fiction – Coming of Age – African American Female empowerment- Mystery
Published: 1970-1980, but I believe closer to 1979
Synopsis:In the 1970s, an African American girl of about ten years old, from a close knit, education supporting, financially struggling family, is left an orphan, along with her teen brother, after their parents die when their Northern city apartment complex burns. I believe that she is burned. She is uprooted from a Northern progressive city when she goes to live with a wealthy middle class aunt and uncle who live in the deep south, in the country, in a house that is disappointing on the outside, but fantastically remodeled on the inside. For the first time she has her own room, beautiful clothes, amusements, books and plenty of delicious food. She is painfully shy and has PTSD from the death of her parents and the fire. She attends a school that is racist and newly desegregated, yet segregated in the classroom by putting all African American students in a low learning group. She has to learn to be assertive to her very racist and patronizing vapid young teacher in order to be placed in a gifted learning group. The aunt is very wise, loving and encourages her niece to grow in confidence, independence, love and learning. The uncle is sullen, intimidating, quiet and grieving over his own private matter. There is a mystery about a pregnant teen girl runaway, who is hiding out in an abandoned church in the woods, somehow related to the uncle, whom she finds when playing in the woods.
This booked moved me and was written in a way that allowed me to grow with the character. It was bold in its description of racism and sexism and the need for individual female power through self confidence and self acceptance and assertiveness. It was a book that sought to enlighten and build a bridge between the racial and gender divides of the 70s post desegregated South.
This book was recommended by my middle school librarian, who was very progressive and excellent at ordering and promoting to every student multicultural African American books. She placed it in a book grouping display, so it may have been a book award nominee or showcased as African American fiction. I believe that the author was an African American female.
Let me know if I need to amend or refine this description. I’ve exhausted Google and the library librarian.
370Z: Boy solves small-town summer mystery
In 1975 I read a young adult novel about a city boy sent to stay the summer at his grandmother’s house in a small town. He doesn’t want to be there and expects to have a boring time, but stumbles across a mystery that he decides to solve. None of the adults in town believe him, but he eventually solves the mystery with the help of an older, wisecracking boy from the town. I don’t remember any details other than that the town was very small and along a small river or large creek and his grandmother’s house was at the edge of town near the river. I think the story was set in the generic “midwest” or “northeast”. The book was probably written in the mid- to late 1960s or early 1970s. I don’t think it was part of a series.
370G: No Safety For Man Who Hears Other’s Thoughts
I’m looking for a book about a man who hears other people’s thoughts. He can’t control it and he fears for his sanity. He tries to move away from crowded areas, ends up at ranch where the female owner turns out to be a serial killer. Probably read it in the late 1980s or 1990s.
370F: Kids exploring cave during the depression era (Solved!)
I’ve been searching for this book for years. I cannot remember all the details but the basics:
Farm kids during the great depression, I think a boy and a girl. They go exploring a cave nearby and pretend its their mansion. So they don’t get lost they use breadcrumbs but birds eat it. They decide to use string instead. A mystery of some sort is solved. I seem to recall mention of the Hobos that would come around looking for work, and their family took one in and fed him a meal. At the end of the book he left markings on their fence that was code for “friendly family” or something like that. Other details: I THINK they took a canary into the cave, there was something to do with the underground railroad, and ration books were mentioned.
I read this book when I was in 6th grade, possibly 1977/78. It was an old book at the time, hardbound with the old fabric book covering. I think it had illustrations but can’t quite remember–I read a LOT in those days. This book belonged to my mom who was born in 38–sadly its been long lost.
369Q: Bloody paintings and maybe an orphan
So about 10 to 12 years ago there was a book that was very popular in charity shops in the UK that I want to reread again. A summary of what I remember:
– This guy found(?) a load of art that was quite cryptic and had lots of pieces all with a number on (maybe in an old house/ attic)
– All the artwork fit together into one massive piece and this was a key discovery in the book (I think there were thousands of pieces and they all were numbered)
– It involved a children’s home/ orphanage; I think the painter was found to be painting out his childhood trauma
– Some of it was painted in blood (you found this out later)
– A policewoman was involved as the love interest and they slept together after her mum/ dad’s funeral
– I think it jumped between the present day and the past quite a lot with it all tying together in the end; i think the main character was the painter/ murderer’s sibling(?)
– The cover design was a lot like ‘the interpretation of murder’ (not sure if I can link here but the yellow-ish cover on google images)
– It may be quite a shit book as that is what I enjoyed reading at the time
369D: The Secret Passage, Straight to the Bakery (Solved!)
I’m not even sure why this particular picture book continues to stick with me. Was it the thrill of exploring a secret passage that sparked my love of exploration? Was it my first surprise ending? Was it my love of bakeries? I’m really not sure, but I’d love to find a copy. I borrowed this book from the children’s section of the Elmhurst branch of the Queens (NY) Public Library many times from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. There were either one or two children–boys I think–who were exploring a secret passageway they had found in an old mansion or castle. I think he or they had just moved there but my memory is unclear. One of the illustrations I remember best showed an interior view slice of the whole house, including the secret passageway winding its way through the multi-leveled dwelling, with the two boys visible with their flashlight somewhere on a lower level. The boys follow the passageway a long way underground to a door. The door opens out into a bakery in the town or village. There’s another illustration of a surprised baker at his oven as the small door opens out from mid-wall and the equally surprised boys tumble into his bakery. For some reason I think the baker is French, but again details remain elusive. At the end the baker serves them cream puffs or eclairs. Another post I saw (on another book search site) seemed to be a query about this same book and mentions the boys perhaps finding some old casks of wine (?) that had been missing for some time. I also think the town was celebrating some kind of anniversary and the townspeople hoped to celebrate with the casks of wine. It’s also possible I am confusing two books. If anyone can help, I’d really appreciate it!