Review: The Parker Inheritance = A Mystery You Will Want To Solve

Note from Elena Reads: It is my blog anniversary! I am so happy to have accomplished one year of Elena Reads! This has been such a great year filled with tons of reviews, interviews and experiences. Thanks for always supporting me and cheering me on! To celebrate,  I am giving away three of these books on Friday. *Look at the bottom of the review for how to enter! Here is the review:

Are you looking for a good mystery novel? Well, you’re looking in the right place! This book, The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson is a mix between a shocking mystery and historical fiction to make one perfect book.

In The Parker Inheritance, Candice Miller is having the worst summer of her life. She’s living with her mom in Lambert, South Carolina, in a cramped, no Wi-Fi home with no friends, except a grouchy boy across the street. But soon, she learns a secret about her deceased grandma that would change her life forever.

And when she finds a letter hidden in a puzzle book in her attic, it seems like her summer is about to get better. The letter talks about a girl named Siobhan Washington and the letter writer who seems to love her. A hidden fortune – an inheritance – awaits the person who can solve the puzzle. Candice’s grandmother tried and failed. But Candice thinks she can solve it. So, she sets off with the boy across the street, named Brandon, to solve the mystery. And they find something even more than treasure. They find friendship.

I enjoyed this book because not only was it a mystery, but it covered topics like racism, sports and mathematics, too. I like books that cover more than one topic. The racism in this book showed how mean people were to black people. For example, Siobhan found a doll painted black with red lipstick with terrible words scratched into it, and a noose around its neck. Also, when Candice and Brandon were visiting Wallace High School to look for more clues to solve the puzzle, an assistant principal questions them, thinking they are thieves, probably because they were black.

I recommend this book to ages 10 and up, because there are some scenes and concepts that younger kids may need an adult to explain, such as passing for white and being gay. People who like The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin will definitely enjoy this book, there are bits and pieces of information from the Westing Game you need to know if you want to solve the puzzle before Candice and Brandon.

This book was AMAZING! I rate it 4 out of 4 roses!

*To enter to win this book, along with my ElenaReads bookmark and others from authors I have interviewed Melissa Roske and Supriya Kelkar, check my social media posts from Friday on Instagram, Facebook and pinned tweet on Twitter.