The Westing Game

Mystery and thriller · Dark comedy

First published: 1978
Print length: 182 pagesSpeak, 2005

Newbery Medal, 1979

Description

Sixteen strangers move into Sunset Towers, a luxurious apartment building overlooking the mansion of reclusive millionaire Samuel W. Westing. After rumors of Westing’s death spread, thirteen-year-old Turtle Wexler and her neighbors are summoned to hear an extraordinary will: one of them may be his murderer, and all of them are possible heirs. Divided into pairs, they receive money, cryptic clues, and a chance to win Westing’s fortune. Competition quickly exposes grudges, hidden histories, family tensions, and misleading assumptions, even as unlikely partners begin to understand one another. Built around an energetic ensemble rather than a single detective, the mystery combines wordplay, dark comedy, and social observation in a game where solving the people matters as much as solving the clues.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Humorous · Playful · Suspenseful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Mystery · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

FamilyFriendshipIdentityKnowledge and truthWealth

About Ellen Raskin

Ellen Raskin was an American writer and illustrator whose career encompassed children’s novels, picture books, illustration, and book design. She wrote and illustrated twelve picture books, illustrated more than twenty books by other authors, and designed more than a thousand dust jackets, including the first-edition jacket for A Wrinkle in Time. Her fiction favors intricate construction, eccentric ensembles, brisk dialogue, and comedy threaded through mystery or fantasy. The Westing Game turns a contested inheritance into a puzzle involving sixteen residents of an apartment building, using cryptic clues and shifting partnerships to reveal character as well as motive. The linked cases of The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues similarly combine detection with theatrical play, while Figgs & Phantoms brings an experimental voice to an unconventional family shaped by show business. Raskin’s compact body of four novels earned lasting recognition: The Westing Game won the Newbery Medal, and Figgs & Phantoms was named a Newbery Honor Book.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Speak
Language: English
ISBN: 9780140386646, 9780758702241

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