in another life i'd like to be a teen detective.

this particular use of that trope has the same half-historic past and half-mysterious present as maureen johnson's other books, and the same ragtag group of kids in a boarding situation, and the same crime from one hundred years ago and similar present crime unfolding, and the same creepy old estate from yore setting, but there are a few key differences.

1) our protagonist does not set out to do any sort of mystery-solving. this means at the halfway mark, we have no intention of detective work, we have no clues, we have no case. we only even have one creepy happenstance.

2) this is not a series, so both mysteries are solved at about the same time (and, slight spoiler, neither take much actual detective work, if any at all). that is less fun as well.

3) we spend altogether less time with our quirky cast of kids and more time on tragic backstory. 

so while i had a good-adjacent time occasionally, this was definitely not my favorite maureen johnson book.

bottom line: there were the good tropes, there were the bad tropes.

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)