The Curious Vanishing of Beatrice Willoughby

Schmidt, G.Z. The Curious Vanishing of Beatrice Willoughby

September 5, 2023 by Holiday House

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

It has been thirteen years since six-year-old Beatrice Willoughny vanished from a house party at the home of Mort and Maribelle Amadeus. Her father was the mayor of the town, and Mort was quickly arrested and jailed, but Beatrice was never found. As fall rolls around again, the townspeople have been getting invitations to another house party, hosted by Maribelle and Edie. These invitations create quite a stir. Rumors fly, and odd behavior ramps up. Mrs. Raven overhears the Amadeus' caretaker Wormwood talking to Dr. Foozle the pharmacist about poison. There has been a steady stream of young children disappearing from the local inn. Judge Ophelius gets a threatening invitation. Count Baines, who can foretell bad luck, has a bad feeling about the houseparty. Ms. H, the local school teacher, and her husband don't really want to attend, but feel they might as well. School aged Dewey and his father Chaucer are headed to the party when they meet Mrs. Raven, who tells them it would be treacherous for a young person to attend. Chaucer, who travels about collecting stories, wasn't invited, but Mrs. Raven convinces Wormwood to let him in, along with Duchess von Pelt. When the party finally starts, the announcement is made that one of the guests in attendance was responsible for the death of Beatrice Willoughly, and that the guests will serve as a jury and decide before midnight who the real culprit was, thereby exonerating Mort, who is still in jail. As the countdown toward midnight continues, secrets are probed, and all of the attendees contribute a little bit of information to help solve the mystery. In the end, the culprits are revealed, and efforts are made to bring Beatrice back to life. 
Strengths: This was written with a sense of urgency, and the gathering of the potential culprits gave this a classic feel, like Agatha Christie's mysteries. The characters are all well developed and easy to tell apart. Dewey (shown on the cover) is the youngest character, and a driving force of the investigation, despite most of the characters being adults.  
Weaknesses:While my students like murder mysteries, they like them to be more realistic. This is definitely fantasy, since it includes enchantments and a little bit of necromancy. I'm not enjoying this trend towards the dark and disturbing raising of the dead in middle grade literature. 
What I really think: This would be a good choice for readers who liked Lemony Snickets All the Wrong Questions series or Taylor's Malamander books. 

I'm in the minority here, but didn't care for this one. I've certainly bought a lot of books with a similar quirky, offbeat feel to them even though they are  not my personal favorite, but this style is one that my students have been avoiding for the last five years or so. This year, no one has even checked out any of the Lemony Snicket books. This was well written and engaging, but it's just not the sort of thing that I need to purchase for my library right now. If this type of mystery is something your students read, definitely take a look!