Closed for the Season

I listened to the book through audio option on a book app. I fell in love with this book. It was suspenseful. I had to go back and read it again while I was home later. The characters were written very well. The plot was organized and just when you though it wouldn't get better it did. I will have to say I would have a few words with that realtor if I were Logan's parents. My house would need to be blessed before I felt comfortable in it anymore. I do not have to repeat the plot like everyone else but it's an amazing read. Plus, if you love animals Bear is amazing.

I couldn't help but to think I was reading a Scooby Doo script when I first started this book: abandoned amusement park, a mysterty to be solved. But Hahn's characters are believable and interesting enough to make this a fun read.

Logan Forbes has just moved into the most run down house he has ever seen. To make matters worse Arthur, the know-it-all kid next door makes himself at home in their new house. Logan’s mother doesn’t like Arthur and decides he is not to be believed. Especially when he tells them that the old lady who lived there before them was murdered. Arthur proves to Logan that the story is true. The two boys set out to prove who murdered the old lady.

This was a quick and easy read. I liked the characters. They were well developed. All of us have met the kid that no one likes. He is the one who is different. Maybe it is because he is the smartest kid in class. In Arthur’s case he is the smartest, but also different because he lives with his show more grandmother and doesn’t have a lot of special clothes like his classmates do. He doesn’t really care either. Unfortunately, Logan fits right in with Arthur. The main difference is he has never broken the law until he moved next door to Arthur. I also loved the contrast between Logan's mother and father. His mother is a very uptight person who wants to be part of the social crowd. His father is the laid back art teacher at the high school. Logan takes after his father, and his mother is determined to change him. There were some twists and turns that I had not expected that made it a refreshing book. Another reason for me to keep reading this author’s books. show less

Twelve-year-old Logan Forbes moves from Richmond, Virginia, to the small-town suburb of Bealesville the summer before seventh grade. A bookish boy, he’s looking forward to a fresh start and hopes of, for once, connecting with the in-crowd. No such luck! His next-door neighbor is Arthur Jenkins, a socially inept, slovenly misfit who’s the most unpopular kid in town. In addition, thanks to a slick real-estate agent, the Forbes have moved into the notorious “murder house,” where Myrtle Donaldson was murdered three years earlier.

Mrs. Donaldson had been the ticket taker at the now closed Magic Forest Amusement Park. When a huge sum turned up missing, Mrs. Donaldson was presumed to have stolen it; however, Arthur and his grandmother show more don’t think so. Everyone presumes that Mrs. Donaldson was killed by someone looking for the stolen loot. But soon Logan and Arthur investigate Mrs. Donaldson’s murder. Will what they find bring justice for Mrs. Donaldson? Or put the boys into danger themselves?

Mary Downing Hahn has a special talent for weaving scary and suspenseful stories for the middle-school set. You won’t be surprised to discover that Close for the Season won the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. But books like Closed for the Season, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, The Old Willis Place, and All the Lovely Bad Ones are well crafted enough to keep adults on their edge of their seats. Highly recommended. show less

Thirteen year-old Logan has just moved from Richmond to small, rural Bealesville. As soon as his family begins moving into their new house, the kid next door comes over and explains that the house has been sitting empty because the last owner was murdered there and found at the bottom of the cellar stairs. The boy, Arthur, is known as the weirdo of the neighborhood, but it turns out that everything he says is true, and soon Arthur enlists Logan in investigating the murder.

The cover looks dark and scary, but this is a straight-up mystery, and is a winner of the Edgar Award for best Juvenile Mystery. Just as much of the story involves the friendship between Arthur and Logan, and what part labels and peer pressure plays in their friendship.

This book was hard to put down once I started reading. Although it may be a little scary for some younger kids, it's a great book for middle school age range. It is hands down a great mystery story. When two unlikely friends meet, they begin the adventure of their lifetimes and try to solve a murder case. They get themselves into a lot of trouble, but it doesn't stop them. Together, they have a wild imagination and are determined to solve the case. They end up being town heroes, but it takes a lot of sneaking around and troublemaking to get the job done.

For junior readers. Logan is new to town and has no friends and is about to start in Year 7, to make matters worse his father has bought the "Murder House" where an old lady died in mysterious circumstances a few years ago. The first person Logan meets is his next door neighbour Arthur who is in Grade 6 and lives with his grandmother who is an very opinionated woman and who was the one to discover the murdered lady's body. Arthur is a bit quirky - he rides a girl's bike, never stops eating and doesn't seem to understand when he is being annoying. He takes Logan on a "tour" of town and even shows him the run down amusement park called Magic Forest - an overgrown park full of creepy, rotting fairy tale figures. Then Logan and Arthur meet show more Nina, a reporter looking for information about Open murder cases like the one that occurred in Logan's house. But is Nina whom she seems and, after a run in with some local bully's and rough characters, Logan decides Arthur isn't that bad after all and maybe they can help solve the mystery. A chance find while they are clearing the attic of the "Murder House" helps.
Much better written than some of the juvenile mysteries I have read lately, this e-book had a few twists that I must admit I didn't guess. The ending is a little bit all over the place with a chaotic chase through the Magic Forest park, but apart from that, the characters and settings are believable. show less