The Secret of Moonrise Manor

Bearce, Stephanie. The Secret of Moonrise Manor

February 4, 2025 by Shadow Mountain

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Raven Gallows lives in Sassafras Springs, Missouri with her Grams, Aunt Lenore, and older sister Annabelle. Her mother, an art historian, was found murdered six years ago, and her father is away in Chile on an archaeological dig. Grams and Aunt Lenore run the Gallows Garden Funeral Home, and Raven herself is torn between her interest in mortuary science and detective work. She's allowed to help out with the business, but is always reminded to be respectful. Her best friend, Cosmina, also has an interesting family; her mother runs a small guest house and her grandmother gives spiritual readings as Madame Zaza. Cosmina wants to be able to talk to ghosts at Moonrise Manor, billed as the most haunted hotel in the US, while Raven is interested in debunking the stories about myths by using her scientific equipment. When the two are visiting the manor, they meet Miles, and end up in a skirmish that involves Raven damaging a wall... and uncovering a mummified body! The police are alerted, but Raven takes it up on herself to get the body out of the while and check for clues... which include a locket that belonged to her mother in one of the pockets. The corpse is handed over to her grandmother, the county coroner, for preliminary investigation. Miles also has a more scientific interest in ghosts, and wants to help the girls investigate. When it turns out that the body belonged to the elderly owner, Zachariah Zimmer, of the hotel who supposedly died six years ago far away from home, Raven starts to worry that her mom might have had something to do with his death. When Eric, who is good with computers and whose family runs a local Happy Wok restaurant, discovers that a goblet that was found with the body is, in fact, one that was stolen from the Gardner Museum in 1990, things get interesting, especially since Raven's mom investigated thefts. Zimmerman's daughter, Octavia Ames, shows up in town to give out college scholarships, but when Annabel expresses interest in meeting her, both Aunt Lenore and Grams vehemently forbid it. When trying to record ghosts in the Manor, Raven overhears some suspicious talk, which ends up putting her and her friends in real danger. She's forgiven Cosmina after her friend hinted that her mother might still be alive, but what if it's true? What is her family's relationship with the mysterious Dupin society? There are lots of mysteries to be solved, and Raven shows that she has the skills to do so. 

N.B. There are no actual communications with ghosts, so I would categorize this as realistic fiction. 

Strengths: One of the things that my students ask for most is MURDER mysteries, and this certainly fits the bill. The fact that the murders occurred six years ago softens the impact a bit, and while there are lots of descriptions of dead bodies, they are more scientific than gory, making this perfect for middle grade. The different approaches that Raven and Cosmina have to events are fun to watch, and Cosmina is just SURE that she can talk to spirits just like her grandmother, even though we don't really see this. Miles and Eric are good additions to the Truth Trackers. I love that there are some real threats to the safety of the kids, but they aren't too intense, and it's also great that they foil the evil adults in true Scooby-Doo fashion. The ending is a bit of a twist, and leaves space for another book in the series. 
Weaknesses: The cover does this book no favors. The book itself gets really dark, which my readers will love, but the kids on the cover look about eight, which will make this excellent tale harder to sell. 
What I really think: The setting, characters, and level of middle school appropriate crime details reminded me strongly of Souder's The Radcliffe Riddle or Coop Knows the Scoop, and is a great choice for readers who liked those titles, or other titles like Bunce's Myrtle Hardcastle or Steven's Wells and Wong mysteries.