Puzzles. Riddles. Puzzles within puzzles. If you enjoy figuring out word puzzles, this one is definitely for you. There's even a murder to figure out. Two, in fact.
I'm loath to give away even teasers for this one as part of the fun is trying to figure out the various clues as they pop up. Clues to what? Good question. Elderly millionaire Clarence has died but rather than leave a simple will, he's left his family a series of clues for a treasure hunt. To win they must solve a complicated series of difficult clues, clues leading to more puzzles and clues.
Although there originally as caterer, Fran discovers that Clarence's caretaker, who was in charge of setting up the dinner, is an old friend, Olivia, who to her surpise is also eligible to win the inheritance. As a result,Fran is drawn into the game to help Olivia against the obviously angry, surly, money hungry children. Realizing game oriented puzzles aren't her strong point, Fran ultimately pulls her brilliant but quirky young friend Adam into the game.
An avid gamer, who knows and loved Clarence's work, he's in his element and, in fact, rather quickly figures out the first clue. It's been a delight to see the growth of Adam as this series has progressed. From the shy, uncertain young man that Fran first encountered hiding in a closet to avoid company, he's made huge strides. That said, it made me smile to imagine the look on his face as he got to visit what he probably viewed as a shrine of sorts to Clarence's work. He's quick to focus on the task, however, and proves his worth. As he points out to Fran, words are important in clues. Then, oh, my, Fran discovers a body.
No more hints. I'm not going to ruin the fun of you trying to sort out the puzzles on your own. As I write this, one of the hottest shows on tv is "Only Murders In the Building", which has lately been showcasing jig-saw puzzle pieces in the show. This book made me flash to that idea, that it's all there but your just have to put it together in the right order to see the whole picture. That is true of this book, too. Who do you trust?
Read this one. You won't be sorry. You'll like not just main characters Fran and Adam but enjoy watching Adam's brain spinning as he thinks. Fun and relatively quick read that works nicely as a stand-alone.
Thanks #NetGalley and #Bookouture for inviting me to spend some more quality time with Adam and Fran/Eve. I'm not the best at puzzles so it's a good thing Adam was around, even if Fran wasn't a slouch, either. Nice to see the new relationships about them, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment