I was looking for some other book in the YA section of my local CPL branch and came across The Westing Game. I’d read the book back in middle school but couldn’t remember the plot at all, except that it was about some sort of mystery. So I thought I’d give it another crack.

The mystery is that millionaire Sam Westing has died and left his money to whichever of his heirs who can solve a puzzle. Those heirs, conveniently, already live in a 5 story apartment building just down the hill from his mansion. It’d be easy for this book to be very contrived, and sacrifice character to the plot. The contrary is true, I think—this is a book all about character and the puzzle is important, but only secondarily.

FuzzyCo grade: A