Author | Ellen Raskin |
---|---|
Cover artist | Ellen Raskin |
Country | United States of America |
Genre | Mystery Fiction |
Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
Publication date | May 1, 1978 |
Pages | 216 pg |
ISBN | 0-525-47137-5 |
OCLC | 53292898 |
LC Class | PZ7.R1817 We 2003 |
The Westing Game is a mystery book written by Ellen Raskin and published by Dutton on May 1, 1978. [1] It won the Newbery Medal recognizing the year's most distinguished contribution to American children's literature. [2]
The Westing Game was ranked number nine all-time among children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal in 2012. [3] It has been adapted as the 1997 feature film Get a Clue (also distributed as The Westing Game). [4]
Wealthy businessman Sam Westing dies. At the reading of his will, it is revealed that his named heirs are all tenants at the adjacent Sunset Towers apartment building. The will states that one of his heirs took Westing's life. The will is structured like a puzzle, with the 16 heirs paired off and challenged to find the solution. The pair that solves the mystery of his death will inherit Westing's entire $200,000,000 fortune and control of his company.
In the end, Crow is incorrectly declared to be the murderer, and she herself announces her name as the solution to the puzzle. She is the former wife of Sam Westing and her pressuring led to the death of her and Westing's daughter, Violet, because she didn't want to marry the man she was betrothed to.
However, Turtle discovers that Sam Westing faked his own death and has been directing the game all along using several different identities. Turtle follows the final clue (the "fourth") and tracks Westing down to where he is now living "at the crossroads" under the alias "Julian Eastman". Eastman/Westing/McSouthers/Northrup declares Turtle to be the true winner of the Westing Game, but Turtle keeps this a secret. It is implied that Westing considered that his alter-ego Sandy McSouthers was the one who "took his life". Westing becomes Turtle Wexler's mentor and pays for her expensive education. Westing dies on the Fourth of July twenty years after the game is over.
The Westing Game, adapted to a stage play by Darian Lindle and directed by Terry Brino-Dean, was first produced at Prime Stage Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2009. The script is published by Dramatic Publishing. [5]
Get a Clue, adapted by Dylan Kelsey Hadley and directed by Terence H. Winkless, was produced for television in 1997. [4]
It was announced on September 9, 2020 that HBO Max had placed a script-to-series order based on the book. [6]
At the time of the book's publication, Kirkus Reviews called it "A supersharp mystery, more a puzzle than a novel, but endowed with a vivid and extensive cast... If Raskin's crazy ingenuity has threatened to run away with her on previous occasions, here the complicated game is always perfectly meshed with character and story. Confoundingly clever, and very funny." [7] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, literary critic Zena Sutherland wrote of The Westing Game, "Still a popular book with the group of readers who are mystery or puzzle fans, in retrospect this seems more entertaining than distinguished. Its choice as a Medal book underscores the problematic question: Can a distinguished book also be a popular book?" [8]
Author | Ellen Raskin |
---|---|
Cover artist | Ellen Raskin |
Country | United States of America |
Genre | Mystery Fiction |
Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
Publication date | May 1, 1978 |
Pages | 216 pg |
ISBN | 0-525-47137-5 |
OCLC | 53292898 |
LC Class | PZ7.R1817 We 2003 |
The Westing Game is a mystery book written by Ellen Raskin and published by Dutton on May 1, 1978. [1] It won the Newbery Medal recognizing the year's most distinguished contribution to American children's literature. [2]
The Westing Game was ranked number nine all-time among children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal in 2012. [3] It has been adapted as the 1997 feature film Get a Clue (also distributed as The Westing Game). [4]
Wealthy businessman Sam Westing dies. At the reading of his will, it is revealed that his named heirs are all tenants at the adjacent Sunset Towers apartment building. The will states that one of his heirs took Westing's life. The will is structured like a puzzle, with the 16 heirs paired off and challenged to find the solution. The pair that solves the mystery of his death will inherit Westing's entire $200,000,000 fortune and control of his company.
In the end, Crow is incorrectly declared to be the murderer, and she herself announces her name as the solution to the puzzle. She is the former wife of Sam Westing and her pressuring led to the death of her and Westing's daughter, Violet, because she didn't want to marry the man she was betrothed to.
However, Turtle discovers that Sam Westing faked his own death and has been directing the game all along using several different identities. Turtle follows the final clue (the "fourth") and tracks Westing down to where he is now living "at the crossroads" under the alias "Julian Eastman". Eastman/Westing/McSouthers/Northrup declares Turtle to be the true winner of the Westing Game, but Turtle keeps this a secret. It is implied that Westing considered that his alter-ego Sandy McSouthers was the one who "took his life". Westing becomes Turtle Wexler's mentor and pays for her expensive education. Westing dies on the Fourth of July twenty years after the game is over.
The Westing Game, adapted to a stage play by Darian Lindle and directed by Terry Brino-Dean, was first produced at Prime Stage Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2009. The script is published by Dramatic Publishing. [5]
Get a Clue, adapted by Dylan Kelsey Hadley and directed by Terence H. Winkless, was produced for television in 1997. [4]
It was announced on September 9, 2020 that HBO Max had placed a script-to-series order based on the book. [6]
At the time of the book's publication, Kirkus Reviews called it "A supersharp mystery, more a puzzle than a novel, but endowed with a vivid and extensive cast... If Raskin's crazy ingenuity has threatened to run away with her on previous occasions, here the complicated game is always perfectly meshed with character and story. Confoundingly clever, and very funny." [7] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, literary critic Zena Sutherland wrote of The Westing Game, "Still a popular book with the group of readers who are mystery or puzzle fans, in retrospect this seems more entertaining than distinguished. Its choice as a Medal book underscores the problematic question: Can a distinguished book also be a popular book?" [8]