The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

"The sun sets in the west (just about everyone knows that), but Sunset Towers faced east. Strange!
Sunset Towers faced east and had no towers. This glittery, glassy apartment house stood alone on the Lake Michigan shore five stories high. Five empty stories high.
Then one day (it happened to be the Fourth of July), a most uncommon-looking delivery boy rode around town slipping letters under the doors of the chosen tenants-to-be. The letters were signed 'Barney Northrup'
The delivery boy was sixty-two years old, and there was no such person as Barney Northrup...."


The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

The Westing Game is a favorite book of mine, if for nothing else because of the unique layout of the story and the way the plot progresses. Generally, in a mystery novel, there are a couple of main characters, a victim of some sort, and a trail of clues and plot twists that lead to the resolution of the mystery. While, of course, clues and plot twists are essential to a mystery story, in The Westing Game, there are several main characters and a rather unorthodox "victim." The main characters all have distinct personalities, and, well, perhaps the book itself can describe them better-

"Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake. Barney Northrup had rented one of the apartments to the wrong person."

While the book is a fairly easy read, the quality of the mystery is not. I, myself, have read the book three or four times. The first time I read it, I was held in suspense until the very end. The flow of the story was so beautifully complex that I was never able to guess the ending. It was immensely fun going back through the book again, looking for all the subtle hints and connecting elements. The unique layout of the story keeps you interested all the way through; it keeps the gears turning in your head as each character finds a new piece of evidence to further the "game" these tenants are in the midst of.

I quite enjoy this book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, light read and an intriguing mystery.

~Katie~