WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE

Miranda and her friends return to investigate when mysterious goings-on at her overly trusting grandmother's inn, including the disappearance of authentic love letters by Mark Twain, prompt Miranda to solve the riddle.

Grade 4-7-While her parents are off on yet another biology field trip, Miranda is living at her grandmother's bed-and-breakfast inn. There she soon finds herself involved in a mystery. First the housekeeper is hit in the head with a bust of Mark Twain, and then some treasured letters, written by Twain to the girl's great-great-grandmother, are stolen. Since the villain behaves so obnoxiously, there is never much doubt as to who dunnit. As the plot builds to a climax, Miranda and one of the boarders are bound and gagged in the root cellar behind the inn. There the mean-spirited criminal reveals all about his past and his plans before abandoning them, presumably to die. All ends well, of course, with Miranda saving the day. The story is peppered with riddles and word play, and the literary connections to Twain provide a nice touch. There is never any real sense that serious harm will come to anyone. A lightweight but fun addition where mysteries are in great demand.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A jim-dandy of a mystery. Miranda B. Caldwell, 11, barely has time to miss her gallivanting parents, scientists studying algae in Antarctica: at her grandmother's Jumping Frog Inn in Ashville, Oregon (where rooms are named for Mark Twain characters), mystery is afoot. Miranda is curious to know who hit the neighbor-housekeeper on the head and what is going on in the fruit shed out back; but her fun-loving grandmother isn't concerned--at least not till her collection of apparently authentic letters from Mark Twain to her great-grandmother are stolen. Since GrandAnn is too trusting to suspect her boarders, it's up to plucky Miranda to solve the case. She's helped by some new friends (the affable crew who solved a mystery in A Little Magic, 1991), but she's alone when she finds the culprit and unravels the mystery--which has more to do with Ashville's Gold Rush history than with Mark Twain. Miranda's discovery puts her in real danger, but only briefly. Readers will enjoy the riddles throughout; they may also find themselves suddenly interested in reading Mark Twain. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 4-6. Eleven-year-old Miranda lives with her grandmother, GrandAnn, at GrandAnn's bed-and-breakfast with a Mark Twain motif. When strange things begin happening (the housekeeper is hit on the head, someone is stealing things from the fruit shed, and a packet of letters written by Twain to Miranda's great-great-grandmother mysteriously disappears), Miranda feels the culprit must be one of the inn's boarders, and indeed several seem to be likely suspects. When she investigates, Miranda is trapped by the villain inside an abandoned underground gold mine (adjacent to the fruit shed), and she must use all her resources to escape. The mystery moves along steadily to a satisfying conclusion, and Heisel's integration of riddles and puns into the plot enhances the story line and will pique readers' interest. Kids who liked the author's A Little Magic (1991) will enjoy the reappearance of Jessica, Tiffany, and Georgette, though the stories are otherwise unconnected. Kay Weisman