Book Review: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

This book was amazing.

If you like mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, and (I quote from the dedication) “puzzle-mysteries”, then you should read this book. It was first published in 1978, so it’s kind of old. And it’s wonderful. It makes me think of a huge game of Clue, except… different. Very different. And funnier.

I was taking notes during the story, trying to figure it out before the characters did, but, although I did on a little of it, I didn’t get all of it. There were so many amazing “Aha!” moments while I was reading. The characters are wonderful, and I really liked how we got to step into the minds of so many different characters. There weren’t so many characters that you got lost, but there were enough to keep things interesting.

And the funniness. Yes. There were so many things that were simply implied that just made you laugh. Here’s one of my favorite funny moments and quotes *NOT A SPOILER*:

“…the same male nurse who chased Otis Amer out of the hospital for sneaking up on a nurse’s aide carrying a speciment tray and shouting, ‘Boom!'”

Ah, yes. Just think about that for a while. You’ll get it.

All in all, I definitely recommend this book to everyone. It’s a great mystery, whether you like murder or not, and it’s really, really intriguing. I had a lot of trouble putting it down, and it took me less than a day to read. 😉 So read it, it’s awesome. If I could write mysteries like that… *sigh*

Read it!