Mystery in the Mansion (Case Closed #1) Lauren Magaziner. 2018. 390 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Rrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnngggg!!!! Rrriiinnngggggg! Mom's alarm clock goes off for the second time this morning. It rattles through my wall.
Premise/plot: Long story short: a CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE mystery novel for elementary/middle grades. Carlos Serrano, our protagonist, is teaming up with his best friend, Eliza, and Eliza's little brother, Frank, to solve mysteries for his mom's detective agency. The agency is having a bit of trouble. They need cases--successful cases. But when his mom is too sick to work, well, Carlos decides to play detective. A choice that will either be hugely successful or total failure. And part of that depends on you the reader....
The case YOU will be helping Carlos (and friends) solve involves a local millionaire receiving death threats. The first person Carlos [and the reader] will be meeting is the victim of these threats....from there the opportunities abound. There are dozens of places where the reader will decide what happens next...
My thoughts: I thought this was a FUN and DELIGHTFUL mystery. I liked this 'choose your own adventure' aspect to the mystery. It was well thought out. Unlike the choose your own adventure Oregon Trail series, Magaziner manages to still tell essentially one cohesive story. That is, that though the paths may vary, there is only ONE guilty party. And the clues that you find on *every* path could ultimately help you solve the case. Or almost every path. There are still a few paths that end within pages and don't really contribute to the overall story. But it isn't so much finding the one and only path that will lead you to success. I appreciated this. It felt logical to me. It doesn't matter if person X is interviewed first or third in the line of suspects, the information is going to stay constant. And you can take multiple paths and get a fully rounded set of clues.
The puzzles. For some readers the puzzles will be a HUGE bonus. For me personally, the puzzles were the least favorite aspect of this one. I didn't really want to actually have to do the puzzles, so I just randomly chose options. (Well, perhaps not completely random. My first time through this one, I just picked the first option for every choice. I then went back and visited other paths.)
I would recommend this one.
© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment