The Case of the Missing Deed

This is a cute little mystery for younger readers. I, like other readers, had a little trouble keeping track of all the characters, but as the story coalesced, it became more obvious which ones were actually "main." Even the cousins relegated to a secondary role had distinct characteristics by the end, and I loved getting to know them by their favorite foods! And speaking of food, I loved the recipes scattered throughout. I have yet to try any of them, but they look delicious (and doable by readers with a little help from a grown-up). The mystery itself is very tame/not scary, even though the stakes are very high for the cousins and their grandmother. The way it plays out, with mysteries in recipes and ciphers in letters, makes this book a good fit for puzzle-solvers and well as budding mystery lovers.

What started as a nice, yearly vacation trip, turns into one of concern and mystery. Grandma may lose her house on the island, and she seems so down. Why? She can't find the deed. As the family sets out to help find it, they are reminded that their grandfather liked to hide things and use riddles for others to find them. It seems that the deed may be tied to a recipe for Pesto, but why? Grandpa wasn't around to ask anymore. How many other clues are there in the recipes? Will they find the deed before the mining company takes over the island and claims Grandma's house? Come along and help solve this mystery. See if you can solve it before the cousins in the book do. This is a really fun mystery for young people. I found myself pulled into the story, rooting for them to find the deed. Each clue lead to another and it was fun to figure them out. This is a great book to introduce children to the mystery genre, and will likely have them looking for more. I also think this would be a fun book for family reading time with everyone working on the solution. I received a review copy to read on my Nook from Net Galley and thank them very much!

Review:Case of the Missing Deed by Ellen Schwartz 5 STARS It was amazing how all the peices of the puzzle fit together. It was exciting to see who the bad guys were. If the kids would find all the clues and put them together. Case of Missing Deed was a book I did not want to put down. I enjoyed how the grandkids worried about their grandma and tried to make a difference. Tantalus mining company wanted to put a mine an ore found on their island. They wanted to buy their Grandparents home. They also said," If you don't sell and have proof of the deed their land goes back to goverment. Grandpa did not trust saftey boxes in banks and loved puzzles. He was fighting cancer so he hid clues to where something was. The two families came each summer and spent time with their Grandparents but this year was different Grandpa had died and Grandma was so afraid she would loose their home she taken to her bed and was really skinny. Grandma always loved to cook so the children thought if they asked her to cook somthing that would get her out of bed. That plan did not work so the next plan was to cook her favorite dish. While they looked for her reciepes they found Pesto was Grandma's but their was a sentence written in Grandpa handwriting that made no sense. Well she would not eat any of it. But kids did not give in they kept trying to interest Grandma in food and kept finding clues Grandpa had left all over the island. I would read more stories by Ellen Schwartz I was entertained reading Case of the Missing Deed. I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review.