The Westing Game

The Westing Game begins when a mysterious new apartment building, Sunset Towers is opened and the tenants are specially selected for reasons unknown. Sunset Towers is owned by by the Westing Estate. As the mystery plays out Westing Senior dies. As the tenants are gathered to hear the reading of the will it is revealed that Westing was murdered, and not only murdered, but murdered by one of the people in the room. Each of the people in the room is assigned to a two person team to attempt to solve the mystery. The team that wins will become the heir of the Westing Estate. Each pair is given a clue and $10,000. The groups must decide if it is better to work together and share clues, or keep their clues secret and figure it out on their own. 
Each group must work through their personal struggles, and learn how to work together.  They work through a series of bombs, hard feelings, and being snowed in to find the murderer.
A good way to use this book for a library program would be to have a scavenger hunt event. The participants would be asked to read the Westing Game before coming to the program. Then at the program the participants would be given clues to find certain objects hidden around the library and the library grounds. The first person to finish the scavenger hunt would be awarded a copy of the Westing Game for themselves. 

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW FROM THE HORN BOOK
"A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfuge -- a demanding but rewarding book." 


Raskin, E. (1992). The Westing Game . New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Puffin Books.