This novel took place in modern-day time, in a place called Sunset Towers. Directly across from Sunset Towers supposedly lived a man named Mr. Westing who was founder of the town that the heirs were living in. He was a millionaire and was not heard from for awhile.  Rumors were that he was dead, or was he? At first everyone thought he was dead, but they would not know the truth until.. 

     One day a family, the Wexlers, were offered an apartment at a place called Sunset Towers. They were drawn to this home by a man named Barney Northrup. They were impressed very much by the design, at least Grace, the mother,  was. Her husband, Jake, was hesitant at first, but when they heard the deal, they could not resist. The children really had no interest, except for when Turtle found out that her room was as small as a closet. Of course, the family could not turn down such an offer, so the apartment was theirs. There is one bad side to this though, they were so engrossed in the offer that they did not see that their names were already on the mailboxes.  

     The next suspicious thing was that the families in the apartments all believed that Mr. Westing was dead, but were in shock when they saw some smoke coming from the chimney of the Westing Mansion. Many people said it was just someone, like a maid of some sort, that had put the chimney on, but others, such as Turtle and the delivery man, Otis Amber, thought that Mr. Westing was lying dead on a carpet in the mansion, and someone was in there.  They just did not know who. 

     It was a very different setting because there was everything you could ask for the only thing was it did not cost a lot of money. They probably wondered why it was such a reasonable price, but little did they know that they were going to be involved in a game called the Westing game. The people in the building were all related in some way, and Mr. Westing knew it, and he knew why, too. They were all related to him somehow, but they were not sure how they each had some relation to him, and it did not have to be genetically either. What way were they set up and why?

     Some of the characters in this mystery were not really who they said they were, but who and why were the questions. 
 

*HOO
James Shin Hoo. 
Born: James Hoo in Chicago
Age: 50 
Description: Added Shin to his name when he started 
the restaurant business because it sounded more Chinese. First 
wife died of cancer 5 years ago. Married again last year. 
Has one son: Doug 

     This is only one description of one of the characters. There are many more, and one is either a fraud or even a killer.  Chris is disabled, and  he is in a wheelchair. His occupation is bird watching, and his brother is Theo.  Then, there is a judge that is always very cautious with all of the moves that she makes in the game; her name is Josie- Jo Judge. She has never married and has never had any kids.  Her life is surrounded by her job, and she is very devoted to what she does. It shows in the novel. These characteristics are very important, and if you miss one thing, it could lead you to a whole different perspective.

     This novel is very suspenseful when it comes to even little findings. For example, who is the bomber, and why did he or she do such a thing? No one is quite sure in the beginning. The hardest problem to find out is who killed Mr. Westing, and what was their motive? There are so many clues that just do not go together. That is one of the hardest and most mind playing game that they have in the novel. The whole novel is based on this, but yet there are so many little scares that happen in one building. For example, the bombing is one part of the little rising actions, the second one is who is the killer and why did they want to kill Mr. Westing?  Some of the struggle is trusting your character and trying to find the murderer without anyone becoming hurt. This is a critical thinking book, and it is fun to figure out.

     I think that this book was a very well written book, and there was very little that it was not accurate about. The only thing that the author should do is make sure they make things more obvious and not as confusing, because it is kind of hard to follow. The author had a very good suspense level and had a very interesting way of putting all the clues together. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes mysteries and for an age level from 4th grade and up. I would give this book  because it was a well written mystery book. What do you think happened to Mr. Westing? Find out when you read The Westing Game.