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I Was Hooked: A Guest Post by Lindsay Currie

There’s something off about this funhouse — and these three best friends are on the case. A wicked fun adventure story with a tender core, get your sleuthing on and join the journey to uncover decades old secrets in Lindsay Currie’s latest. Read on for Currie’s exclusive guest post on the inspiration for our Monthly Pick, The Mystery of Locked Rooms.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms

Paperback $8.99

The Mystery of Locked Rooms

The Mystery of Locked Rooms

By Lindsay Currie

In Stock Online

Paperback $8.99

From the acclaimed author of Scritch Scratch and What Lives in the Woods comes an action-packed adventure novel about three friends who team up to find a hidden treasure in an abandoned 1950’s funhouse.

From the acclaimed author of Scritch Scratch and What Lives in the Woods comes an action-packed adventure novel about three friends who team up to find a hidden treasure in an abandoned 1950’s funhouse.

The first time I had an escape room experience, I was hooked. It was about six years ago, and I’d taken my three kids to a place in Chicago where we attempted a Wild West themed challenge. For sixty minutes straight, we put aside our usual roles to focus on the tasks at hand – finding keys, cracking codes, and in the end . . . unlocking the exit so we could proudly slap our reward – an “I Escaped” sticker – on our laptops. It was a blast.

We went on to do several more escape rooms as a family. Art heist themed, zombie themed, you name it, and we tried it. Why? Because it was fun! Escape rooms gave us the chance to showcase our strengths while also getting out of our comfort zones to try new things. Every new room was a team effort and whether or not we beat the buzzer, we celebrated our attempts, however comical or misguided they were.

Fast forward several years and one day, while reminiscing about those memories, I found myself thinking about writing something new – something epic and adventurous and fun. Up until that point, I’d written scary mysteries for my middle-grade audience and most of my books included paranormal elements. But what if I did exactly what I’d done in those escape rooms and got outside of my comfort zone to write a different kind of mystery? A mystery that traded ghosts and graveyards for riddles and secret passages?

And that’s how The Mystery of Locked Rooms originated. It began with sixty minutes trapped in a room with my kids and turned into an adventure of a lifetime. The characters took shape in my mind quickly. Sarah, West, and Hannah, like my own kids, have very different personalities but trust and respect one another, which makes them an incredible team (long live the Deltas!). The challenges in the book were fun to develop and gave me the opportunity to research escape rooms all over the world, as well as what technology would have been available to Hans, Stefan, and Karl Stein – AKA the triplets – when they designed their dream house. Lastly, I was able to sprinkle in vibes from other stories I love, like the 80’s classic The Goonies, and everyone’s favorite eccentric, Willy Wonka.

In the end, I keep coming back to something I tell aspiring authors all the time: trying new things is hard. It requires courage and bravery. But sometimes taking that leap into the unknown is exactly what we need to find out what we’re capable of. I’d been writing “spooky” stories for many years and while I didn’t know for certain that I’d be able to pull off a non-scary treasure hunt story with so many new elements, I was determined to try. Thank you for being a part of the Mystery of Locked Rooms’ success story. Like Sarah, West, and Hannah, I’m so grateful for this big, wonderful adventure!

Fortune favors the bold, friends.