In this twisty middle grade mystery for fans of Knives Out, The
Inheritance Game, and The Westing Game, thirteen-year-old twins Hope
and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their
family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat
competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy
relations they've never known.
Hope Smith can't stand rich people--the dictionary magnate family the
Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon,
learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into
the Winterton's charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it.
But with their mom losing her job and the family facing eviction from
the motel where they live, they desperately need the money, and it looks
like Hope doesn't have much of a choice.
After winning the preliminary round, the Smiths are whisked to Winterton
Chalet to compete in the official Winterton Bee against their long-lost
relatives. Hope wants to get in and out, beat the snobbish family at
their own game, and never see them again. But deceased matriarch Jane
Winterton had other plans for this final family showdown. Before her
death, she set up a clue hunt throughout the manor--an alternate way for
Hope and Gordon to get the money that could change their lives.
Still, others are on the trail, too. With tensions at an all-time high,
a fortune at stake, and long-simmering family secrets about to boil to
the surface, anything could happen.
A tense, clever clue hunt unafraid to tackle the challenges and secrets
often kept behind closed doors, Final Word is a gripping series
starter sure to satisfy even the most voracious armchair detectives.
