The Westing Game
Ellen Raskin (1978)
“Sixteen strangers inherit a millionaire's puzzle — but the real mystery is who they truly are.”
At a Glance
Sam Westing, an eccentric millionaire, is found dead in his mansion. Sixteen hand-picked heirs move into Sunset Towers and are told one of them is his murderer. They must solve clues in Westing's will to win a $200 million inheritance. As the game unfolds, the heirs discover less about who killed Westing and more about who they really are — and who Westing himself was.
Read full summary →Why This Book Matters
Won the Newbery Medal in 1979. Considered one of the most structurally sophisticated children's novels ever written — a puzzle book that is also a character study, a social satire, and a feminist argument. Consistently on best-of-children's-literature lists and school curricula across five decades. Notable for being one of the first major children's novels to feature a genuinely diverse cast treated with equivalent seriousness.
Diction Profile
Conversational with bursts of formal legal or bureaucratic language — Raskin plays register for comedy and revelation
Low-to-medium