Diana Peterfreund

It's hard to rate the book because I didn't read book 1, so it took me a while to figure out the history of the characters. It's definitely a murder house. I would recommend reading book 1 first because book 2 gives everything away.

Based on the board game club, one of the characters murders someone in one of the rooms of the Tudor House (private school "dorm" for some of the girls) with a weapon. The "Murder Crew" are back and a body is found in the secret tunnels. Someone was with Rusty (the dead guy), but we don't know who. We assume one of the guys. Meanwhile, Orchid is being gaslighted and spends her time confused over Vaughn because his personality constantly changes. She doesn't know that he has an "evil" twin. Vaughn, the good twin, fights with the evil twin. Finn needs in the tunnels to get his invention while Mustard skirts around the edges knowing enough information to be wrong. Apparently, couples have changed from book one and one change is that two of the boys find themselves attracted to each other. Everyone has a secret; everyone confides in someone; and, everyone questions everyone. Who is the murderer? Which secrets matter/

It's an entertaining murder mystery with a very shocking ending.… (more)

And the story concludes. This is by far the weakest story of the trilogy, but it does wrap things up in a nice bow. The Murder Crew discover that Green was a twin, but the mystery of which twin really died, who is the bad guy and can we ever recover because the biggest question in the last murders of the series. Part of me wanted a Happily Ever After, or at least a funny end. But we got a Clue movie end. Meaning there were multiple ends, and one could choose an end, or just accept that the final end was the real end. This was the worst book of the group and felt like more of an afterthought. They did not have Tim Curry to hold everything together and get us laughing. I am glad I read the series, but I am even more glad it is over.… (more)

Fieldnotes:
Blackbrook Academy, Maine, Contemporary (p.2019)

1 Prestigious Science Academy
1 Winter Storm Surge, leaving
11 Students and Staff taking refuge in
1 Former Mansion Turned Reform School Turned Girls' Dorm

6 Characters inspired by the Original Clue (7 if you count Headmaster Boddy)
Several References to the Classic Clue Weapons
2 Secret Passages (with at least 1 very clever entrance)
Rotating PoV

1 Broken Stained Glass Window
1 Dead Bod(d)y
Terribly Done Mopping

2 Secret Identities
2 Potentially Career-Ending Secrets

The Short Version:
A fun middle-grade/YA mystery inspired by the board game (and the 1985 movie) with clever backstories tying characters to their game counterparts and some of the more outrageous names being tied to more believable last names. Colonel Mustard thus become Sam "Mustard" Maestor - a new arrival fresh from military school. Beth Picach is a tennis star who dyes the ends of her hair blue. Professor Plum becomes a research-obsessed science genius who barely looks beyond his test tubes. Mr. Green becomes townie and scholarship student Vaughn Green - who helps with maintenance and janitorial work in addition to classes. Mrs. White is the dorm proctor.

I liked this, and I enjoyed how all of the secrets flying around leaves plot for the sequels. It's fairly lightweight, but makes full use of the secret passages and familiar lay-out of the mansion. I will happily read the next.… (more)