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| Publisher's Hardcover ©2023 | -- |
| Paperback ©2025 | -- |
After 6-year-old Beatrice disappears from an All Hallows Eve party at the Amadeuses' mansion, Mort Amadeus is wrongfully imprisoned; now, it's time for a reckoning.Beatrice is only one of many children who've gone missing from the area, and Mort's loved ones know that he is not responsible. Thirteen years after the event, Maribelle, Mort's wife, and Wormwood, the Amadeuses' caretaker, invite several eccentric guests to the scene of the crime for another All Hallows Eve party. They've been hand-picked for their curious talents, and they can't leave the party until they've identified the real culprit among their number-and the statute of limitations for the crime will be up at midnight. The countdown is reflected in each chapter heading, heightening the tension. As the guests move from room to room, they decipher clues and conduct interviews. Their unusual techniques, enlivened by fantasy elements, include creating a specter hound, consulting folklore, resurrecting and talking with a deceased bird witness, and examining an odd scarecrow. It would be terrifying if it weren't so gloriously zany. Plus, the individual taking the lead on the case is Dewey O'Connor, an 11-year-old child who just needs to point the finger before it's too late. This atmospheric, magic-infused mystery with an unsettling ending is a party readers won't want to miss. Major characters read white.Devilishly clever. (Mystery. 9-13)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)After 6-year-old Beatrice disappears from an All Hallows Eve party at the Amadeuses' mansion, Mort Amadeus is wrongfully imprisoned; now, it's time for a reckoning.Beatrice is only one of many children who've gone missing from the area, and Mort's loved ones know that he is not responsible. Thirteen years after the event, Maribelle, Mort's wife, and Wormwood, the Amadeuses' caretaker, invite several eccentric guests to the scene of the crime for another All Hallows Eve party. They've been hand-picked for their curious talents, and they can't leave the party until they've identified the real culprit among their number-and the statute of limitations for the crime will be up at midnight. The countdown is reflected in each chapter heading, heightening the tension. As the guests move from room to room, they decipher clues and conduct interviews. Their unusual techniques, enlivened by fantasy elements, include creating a specter hound, consulting folklore, resurrecting and talking with a deceased bird witness, and examining an odd scarecrow. It would be terrifying if it weren't so gloriously zany. Plus, the individual taking the lead on the case is Dewey O'Connor, an 11-year-old child who just needs to point the finger before it's too late. This atmospheric, magic-infused mystery with an unsettling ending is a party readers won't want to miss. Major characters read white.Devilishly clever. (Mystery. 9-13)
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)In the remote European town of Nevermore, a child disappears each year around All Hallows’ Eve. Even so, 13 years ago, the Incident—the vanishing of the mayor’s six-year-old daughter from the Amadeus family’s annual All Hallows’ Eve party—rocked the community. In the aftermath, no satisfying explanation is found, but Mort Amadeus is arrested, and the Amadeuses cast a spell over their Inkwoods-situated home. Now, six unexpected invitations to the Amadeus mansion bid guests to return for an October 31 gathering. When the manor doors lock until midnight, the caper becomes a
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
The Amadeuses were always considered somewhat strange. Even before the incident.
When six-year-old Beatrice Willoughby vanished at the Amadeuses’ annual All Hallows Eve party, people in the tiny mountain town of Nevermore were quick to whisper: They were always odd. Their house is full of dark magic. And when Mort Amadeus was pegged for the crime, the Amadeuses, once the center of society, retreated. They closed their doors, disappeared from life. People almost forgot. Until thirteen years later, when six envelopes land at the doorstep of six households in town: We cordially invite you to a celebration on the 31st of October this Saturday evening at the Amadeus household.
So begins the mystery of who was really responsible for the missing girl thirteen years ago. Was it Duchess von Pelt, whose face no one has ever seen? Mrs. Raven, the keeper of the local inn? Wormwood, the Amadeuses’ mysterious caretaker? Dr. Foozle, the town pharmacist? Count Baines, who seems to know when unlucky things are about to happen? Judge Ophelius, who presided over Beatrice’s case originally? Mr. and Mrs. H, a couple who no one can ever quite remember? Or somehow, might precocious, eleven-year-old Dewey and his storytelling dad, Chaucer, be somehow mixed up in all this?
The guests must work together to identify the guilty party among them over the course of the evening—but beware the ticking clock, because at midnight, everything is going to change! Told from different perspectives, this is a sly, darkly funny mystery. Filled with strange characters and set in a mansion deep, deep in the woods. G. Z. Schmidt has crafted an unforgettable puzzle, perfect for reading on a dark autumn night.
Nominated for the Louisiana Reader's Choice Award