Escape from Marigold Manor by Rachel Jackson

This book sets the reader up as the world’s greatest detective who has been invited to Marigold Manor for the occasion of Captain Marigold’s daughter’s birthday.  Unfortunately, the reader doesn’t know either of these people and upon waking in a locked room they are confronted by codes, locked doors, puzzles, hidden clues and cats!  The only way to escape is to solve the mystery and prove to Captain Marigold that they are worthy of the title "World's Greatest Detective".

With 32 different possible paths to follow and a Case File list in the back of the book for the reader to track their progress, this is a book that is designed for those readers who love Escape Rooms and puzzles, although be careful because if you fail you might get trapped in the Manor forever. 

The author’s experience as an intelligence analyst shines though as the reader engages in both the story and the puzzles as they try to reach a satisfactory conclusion to each storyline.  Readers can move through the story without solving puzzles with a bit of back and forth, but it is much more fun to solve the mystery one page at a time. 

This was such a fun book to read and one that can be picked up repeatedly as the reader chooses a different path or storyline.  I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a young reader, but this is on a different level.  This is an escape room for one with many different options for stories and endings.  I loved all the puzzles, although I had to Google one of them to work it out.  Not a book for a class to read together or aloud but certainly one that independent readers will enjoy and embrace.

Themes: Mystery, Choose Your Own Adventure, Codes, Puzzles, Detectives.

Mhairi Alcorn