In the Hall with the Knife

August 1, 2019
Stranded at Maine's exclusive Blackbrook Academy by a violent winter storm, a handful of students and staff realize one of their number is a killer in this trilogy opener based on the board game CLUE. Without electricity or access to the mainland, those left behind assemble in Tudor House, a decaying mansion, former girls' reform school, and now girls' dorm. Elderly Mrs. White looks after Tudor and its students, now down to Orchid McKee and Scarlet Mistry. Soon they're joined by six more students, including Beth "Peacock" Picach, Finn Plum, Samuel "Mustard" Maestor, and day pupil Vaughn Green. Custodian Rusty Nayler and Headmaster Boddy round out the strandees. The storm rages nightlong, shattering a historic window and flooding the hall. The morning reveals more damage: Mr. Boddy's lifeless corpse, knife protruding from his chest. Of the six unreliable narrators, the students with CLUE-sourced names, each has something to hide or protect, from ruthlessly competitive, self-described "platonic power couple" Scarlet and Finn to fearful, mousy-by-design Orchid. Why is Vaughn so guarded? Was athletic Mustard expelled from military school? Did Peacock really throw a candlestick at Mr. Boddy? Fans of CLUE and murder-mystery aficionados are equally well served. If a few secrets are revealed, plenty remain to keep readers guessing until the sequel. Scarlet is Indian American; Mustard is tan-skinned; other characters are presumed white. Ingeniously plotted and vastly entertaining. (Mystery. 14-18)

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August 19, 2019
In Rocky Point, Maine, mystery and murder descend on elite Blackbrook Academy along with a raging winter storm. Peterfreund (the Omega City series) opens a smart new series, introducing readers to the boarding school’s inhabitants and their secrets, beginning with fanatically private Orchid McKee, local scholarship student Vaughn Green, athletic Beth “Peacock” Picach, military-minded Samuel “Mustard” Maestor, and the school’s power couple, Scarlet Mistry and Finn Plum. When nasty weather cuts the school off from the outside world and forces those remaining to gather in old, majestic Tudor House, the varied personalities are forced to coexist in some measure of peace. But after Mr. Boddy, their headmaster and one of the two chaperones, mysteriously turns up dead, the students need to maximize their diverse skill sets in order to stay alive. Told alternatingly from the students’ viewpoints, the plot capitalizes on the popularity of the game upon which it’s based, incorporating clever wordplay with tantalizingly distributed tidbits of information. The many remaining questions will help ramp up anticipation for the next installment. Ages 12–up.