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Harry N. Abrams (2019), 304 pages
Description
Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Young Adult Fiction. HTML: A murderer could be around every corner in this thrilling YA trilogy based on the board game CLUE! When a storm strikes at Blackbrook Academy, an elite prep school nestled in the woods of Maine, a motley crew of students�??including Beth "Peacock" Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam "Mustard" Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlet Mistry�??are left stranded on campus with their headmaster. Hours later, his body is found in the conservatory and it's very clear his death was no accident. With this group of students who are all hiding something, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a motive for murder. Fans of the CLUE board game and cult classic film will delight in Diana Peterfreund's modern reimagining of the brand, its characters, and the dark, magnificent old mansion with secrets hidden within its walls… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Familiar_Diversions
Blackbrook Academy is an elite prep school in Maine. Its location is remote, and its students are largely rich, brilliant, and dedicated. When a snowstorm and on-campus flooding traps several remaining students, Headmaster Boddy, and Mrs. White in Tudor House, an old mansion that serves as an
Was it an accident? Suicide? (Obviously not, but at least one student thinks it's a possibility.) Or murder? The last option seems most likely, but if that's the case, who did it? The most comforting theory is that it was a looter, and whoever it was is long gone. Otherwise, the killer had to have been one of them. Everyone at Blackbrook Academy has something that they're hiding, and there's no telling what one of them might have done to protect their secrets.
The last time I played traditional Clue was when I was a teen, maybe pre-teen (although I did play a Golden Girls version just a handful of years ago). I've seen and enjoyed the movie, although even that was a few years ago. Basically, I have fond but not recent memories of the franchise.
That's important, because it turns out that things have changed a bit since the last time I played, and certainly since the movie was made. I recognized several of the color names in the book: Beth "Peacock" Picach, Vaughn Green, Sam "Mustard" Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlett Mistry. I didn't recognize several other characters, including one prominent one, Orchid McKee. It turns out that Orchid was added in 2016, and Rusty was added in 2003. Karlee Silverman and Kayla Gould were the most out-of-place, although it sounds like "Silver" has its roots in older versions of the game.
If you loved the movie and go into this expecting it to have the same sort of energy and black humor, you're probably going to be disappointed. If you like Clue in general, though, this is a fun book with lots of connections to the overall franchise - secret passages, casual mentions of items that are possible murder weapons in the game, and aspects of some of the characters' backgrounds (for example, Mustard used to go to an all-boys military school).
Since my area dealt with freezing temperatures, power outages, and burst pipes only a couple weeks ago, reading this gave me a bit of a weird feeling. Maybe it was a little too soon for me. I found myself getting annoyed at how clueless most of these teens were about the potential danger they were in, beyond the whole "maybe trapped with a murderer" aspect. Vaughn (one of the few locals) practically had to spell out how difficult and dangerous it would be to walk to town in these conditions, and why the police might not consider reports of a dead body to be as much of an emergency as, say, people trapped in their cars or in their houses without heat and/or water.
Speaking of the weather, what kind of idiot looter would brave life-threatening conditions to steal a few things from a remote boarding school? And why bother stealing from one of the inhabited buildings when they could have taken things from any of the evacuated buildings without fear of being caught? Scarlett's "Headmaster Boddy committed suicide" theory was stupid, but so, I thought, was the "murder committed by a looter" theory that everyone then clung to the hardest.
While I enjoyed gradually getting to see character relationships and secrets come into play, the way some of the secrets were handled and written about was kind of confusing. Unless I missed it, Mustard's secret was never directly referred to at all (it sounded like his dad tried to make him more manly by sending him to military school, where I'm guessing he realized he was gay and was then sent to Blackbrook instead). Vaughn's situation was downright confusing, and I'm still not sure whether even the adults knew what was going on there.
I went into this expecting it to be fairly self-contained, despite knowing that it had a sequel, so I was disappointed by how many things were left open/unresolved by the end of the book. Yes, the murderer was identified and handed over the police, but Vaughn's secret was never revealed to anyone, the thing Orchid was afraid of was never resolved, and Mustard's POV bits never went anywhere. I assume it's all fodder for future books, but since Boddy is already dead, those books will have to break out of the usual Clue "murder mystery" format, unless Peterfreund can come up with other franchise-appropriate victims. I plan to read the next book, so I guess I'll find out for myself how it all works out.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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all-girls dorm, it initially seems like their biggest problems will be boredom and the cold temperatures. Then Orchid McKee stumbles across Headmaster Boddy, a knife buried deep in his chest.Was it an accident? Suicide? (Obviously not, but at least one student thinks it's a possibility.) Or murder? The last option seems most likely, but if that's the case, who did it? The most comforting theory is that it was a looter, and whoever it was is long gone. Otherwise, the killer had to have been one of them. Everyone at Blackbrook Academy has something that they're hiding, and there's no telling what one of them might have done to protect their secrets.
The last time I played traditional Clue was when I was a teen, maybe pre-teen (although I did play a Golden Girls version just a handful of years ago). I've seen and enjoyed the movie, although even that was a few years ago. Basically, I have fond but not recent memories of the franchise.
That's important, because it turns out that things have changed a bit since the last time I played, and certainly since the movie was made. I recognized several of the color names in the book: Beth "Peacock" Picach, Vaughn Green, Sam "Mustard" Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlett Mistry. I didn't recognize several other characters, including one prominent one, Orchid McKee. It turns out that Orchid was added in 2016, and Rusty was added in 2003. Karlee Silverman and Kayla Gould were the most out-of-place, although it sounds like "Silver" has its roots in older versions of the game.
If you loved the movie and go into this expecting it to have the same sort of energy and black humor, you're probably going to be disappointed. If you like Clue in general, though, this is a fun book with lots of connections to the overall franchise - secret passages, casual mentions of items that are possible murder weapons in the game, and aspects of some of the characters' backgrounds (for example, Mustard used to go to an all-boys military school).
Since my area dealt with freezing temperatures, power outages, and burst pipes only a couple weeks ago, reading this gave me a bit of a weird feeling. Maybe it was a little too soon for me. I found myself getting annoyed at how clueless most of these teens were about the potential danger they were in, beyond the whole "maybe trapped with a murderer" aspect. Vaughn (one of the few locals) practically had to spell out how difficult and dangerous it would be to walk to town in these conditions, and why the police might not consider reports of a dead body to be as much of an emergency as, say, people trapped in their cars or in their houses without heat and/or water.
Speaking of the weather, what kind of idiot looter would brave life-threatening conditions to steal a few things from a remote boarding school? And why bother stealing from one of the inhabited buildings when they could have taken things from any of the evacuated buildings without fear of being caught? Scarlett's "Headmaster Boddy committed suicide" theory was stupid, but so, I thought, was the "murder committed by a looter" theory that everyone then clung to the hardest.
While I enjoyed gradually getting to see character relationships and secrets come into play, the way some of the secrets were handled and written about was kind of confusing. Unless I missed it, Mustard's secret was never directly referred to at all (it sounded like his dad tried to make him more manly by sending him to military school, where I'm guessing he realized he was gay and was then sent to Blackbrook instead). Vaughn's situation was downright confusing, and I'm still not sure whether even the adults knew what was going on there.
I went into this expecting it to be fairly self-contained, despite knowing that it had a sequel, so I was disappointed by how many things were left open/unresolved by the end of the book. Yes, the murderer was identified and handed over the police, but Vaughn's secret was never revealed to anyone, the thing Orchid was afraid of was never resolved, and Mustard's POV bits never went anywhere. I assume it's all fodder for future books, but since Boddy is already dead, those books will have to break out of the usual Clue "murder mystery" format, unless Peterfreund can come up with other franchise-appropriate victims. I plan to read the next book, so I guess I'll find out for myself how it all works out.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
In this Clue homage, a group of students are trapped at a remote boarding school due to flooding. Their classmates headed home for the holidays, but then a major storm hit. Now they're trapped in the only dorm on high enough ground to avoid flooding . . . and Headmaster Boddy has just been found
The book doesn't have the lightning wit of the 1985 film, and some of the color-based names are a stretch ("Mustard" as a nickname?). The writing is good and the characters mostly distinct. I found one plot point rather confusing, but that may have been intentional. While the main mystery is resolved by the end of the book, there are plenty of secrets hinted at or partially revealed that will probably play a role in later books in the series. I didn't love it enough to continue on, but it was a pleasant diversion.
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with a knife in his chest. While the janitor sets off to get police help, the students start worrying who might be next . . . and if there's anyone else in the house with them.The book doesn't have the lightning wit of the 1985 film, and some of the color-based names are a stretch ("Mustard" as a nickname?). The writing is good and the characters mostly distinct. I found one plot point rather confusing, but that may have been intentional. While the main mystery is resolved by the end of the book, there are plenty of secrets hinted at or partially revealed that will probably play a role in later books in the series. I didn't love it enough to continue on, but it was a pleasant diversion.
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LibraryThing member LibrarianRyan
This is an officially licensed Clue mystery. Yes, as in the game from Hasbro. As the title suggests we know how somebody is going to die: In the hall with a knife, but who will it be. Our game takes place in Tudor house on a peninsula in northern Maine. Tudor house is a girl’s dorm at a budding
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science academy for only the biggest brains with the biggest pockets. A winter storm has come in, flooded most of campus, and separated the school from the rest of town. The students that didn’t evacuate are now stuck in the house with a killer. But who is the killer and who’s really the prey and why are they dead? Those are the questions you must answer to solve this game of Clue. This book was a lot of fun and very tongue and cheek. There are characters that align with the game like Mustard, Peacock, White, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love the play on the old board game as well as how the action fells like you are in the middle of said game. Now this book doesn’t end completely. We still don’t know what happened to Orchid, her history or what the hell the Green twins are up to. I need more! I need the next book! This book is a trilogy. All are out and I can’t wait to pick up but number two: In the Study with a Wrench. Show Less
LibraryThing member beckyhaase
IN THE HALL WITH THE KNIFE by Diana Peterfreund
This middle grade to young adult mystery based on the board game CLUE is a quick read. The usual suspects are presented early and with enough characterization to identify them. Beyonf that there is little development of the stock characters. The plot
Both boys and girls will identify with the characters and the setting (an isolated boarding school). There is little violence beyond an upper cut to the chin (described) and the off scene knife stabbing. There are no curse words and no sex. There is a satisfying resolution to the mystery.
3 of 5 stars
This middle grade to young adult mystery based on the board game CLUE is a quick read. The usual suspects are presented early and with enough characterization to identify them. Beyonf that there is little development of the stock characters. The plot
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is interesting and there are enough red herrings to keep interest in the story.Both boys and girls will identify with the characters and the setting (an isolated boarding school). There is little violence beyond an upper cut to the chin (described) and the off scene knife stabbing. There are no curse words and no sex. There is a satisfying resolution to the mystery.
3 of 5 stars
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LibraryThing member ShellyPYA
When a storm strikes at Blackbrook Academy, an elite prep school nestled in the woods of Maine, a motley crew of students--including Beth 'Peacock' Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam 'Mustard' Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlet Mistry--are left stranded on campus with their headmaster. Hours
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later, her body is found hanging in the conservatory and it's very clear her death was no suicide. With this group of students who are all hiding something, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a motive for murder. Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
This was fun and I really enjoyed this more than the graphic novel adaptation that came out not to long ago. Set in an elite boarding school on a remote island during a horrible storm; "In the Hall with the Knife"focuses on some of the rich kids that get stuck behind in the storm. Mrs. White (the
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housekeeper) tends to the kids, the janitor, and the headmaster while they hole up in the Tudor House, the all girls dorm high up on the hill and safe from flooding. The first night there, the headmaster is stabbed. At first everyone thinks it's a looter, but soon the kids start to get suspicious of each other. What are their motives? Braniac Scarlett, army kid Mustard, local boy Green, brown noser Plum, tennis star Peacock, and elusive Orchid are all hiding secrets. But are any of those secrets reason enough to kill their headmaster? A good mystery for teens and I would be interested in reading more in this series! It's a little predictable for adults, but still very enjoyable for fans of the classic board game. Show Less
LibraryThing member ethel55
A book based on the board game Clue, written by the author that gave us killer unicorns?!? I was definitely intrigued. Formerly a reform school, the Blackbrook Academy entices many elite students to its' remote Maine location. Isolated from the very small town it borders by a storm, the few who
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haven't left for break congregate at Headmaster Boddy's request in Tudor House, one of the reform school's original buildings, complete with a ballroom, billiard room etc. I thought the way the various characters were introduced and how they sort of matched the identities of pieces in Clue was kind of fun. Following along as they run across more clues, rooms and passages to finally find the killer made me long for a crack at the game. Show Less
LibraryThing member muddyboy
A young adult novel based on the board game Clue. The characters and weapons are all there. It involves teenage kids at a boarding school on an island. A tremendous storm hits and while they are cut off from the mainland the headmaster is murdered. Much of the book is about the characters positing
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who did it and how it happened. My major problem with it is that I don't buy the "big" twist at the end. I think the author is doing acrobatics to make a sequel necessary. Show Less
LibraryThing member KeriLynneD
While I did like this story I did find it lacking in suspense. I was expecting more action for some reason, maybe because I was comparing it more to the movie Clue where multiple characters "die" instead of the board game where it is just one person. I did go back and forth quite a bit with who the
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killer was though and fact that there are two greens got a little confusing. I did like it enough to continue if more books are written. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sarah220
Meh. I LOVE the movie. And I didn't really want a novelization of the movie or anything but this book was in this weird middle space between being it's own thing and making meta-references to the movie. Most of the times lines taken from the movie it was awkward and didn't quite fit. They just made
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me want to watch the movie and didn't make me like the book more. Too many characters, too many secrets revealed too late in the book, a cliched evil twin and a cliffhanger for the second book. I never really cared about any of the characters although I found them fairly distinct (except for Karlee and Kayla who are supposed to be twins-esque but neither of them is the evil twin) which is some indication of writing skill. Also making most of the characters teenagers undercut the tension for me. Although it was relatively easy to guess the killer, the motivation was never really made clear. And some of the characters were clearly NOT suspects which isn't the point of CLUE at all! Show Less
LibraryThing member ewyatt
Inspired by the game (and movie) clue, this YA take focuses on a boarding school in the Northeast that becomes secluded when a giant storm strikes leaving the remaining students and few staff members stuck together at Tudor House, a mansion used as a dorm on a hill.
Characters alternate chapters.
The murder that occurs in this book is wrapped up at the end of the novel, but there are lose ends of other brewing mysteries and scandals.
Characters alternate chapters.
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The murder that occurs in this book is wrapped up at the end of the novel, but there are lose ends of other brewing mysteries and scandals.
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LibraryThing member ftbooklover
In the Hall with the Knife is a clever YA book based on the game of Clue. All of the characters in the book have names or nicknames based on one of the characters from the game. The main characters attend the boarding school, Blackbrook Academy, and have enough secrets to make them all suspects in
In the Hall with the Knife does a good job of developing the characters by having every chapter told from the perspective of a different character and layering the secrets each one is keeping. After the murderer is revealed, the author leaves a nice opening for a sequel. Overall an entertaining mystery.
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the murder of their headmaster, Brian Boddy. Most of students of the school have already headed home due to a warning that a major winter storm is approaching. A few students and staff are stranded at the school when the power goes out and the flooding begins, including, Beth "Peacock" Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam "Mustard" Maestor, Finn Plum, Scarlet Mistry, Mrs. White, and Headmaster Boddy. The tension really starts to build after they find Headmaster Boddy's body stabbed with knife in the chest.In the Hall with the Knife does a good job of developing the characters by having every chapter told from the perspective of a different character and layering the secrets each one is keeping. After the murderer is revealed, the author leaves a nice opening for a sequel. Overall an entertaining mystery.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
This is an excellent homage to the fabulous Clue movie and board game, complete with a spooky mansion, an eclectic cast of characters, and an intriguing mystery.
LibraryThing member Kiaya40
Fun murder mystery, cozy mystery story.
Awards
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 2023)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
8.55 inches
ISBN
1419738348 / 9781419738340
Local notes
When a storm strikes at Blackbrook Academy, an elite prep school nestled in the woods of Maine, a motley crew of students—including Beth “Peacock” Picach, Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Sam “Mustard” Maestor, Finn Plum, and Scarlet Mistry—are left stranded on campus with their headmaster. Hours later, his body is found in the conservatory and it’s very clear his death was no accident. With this group of students who are all hiding something, nothing is as it seems, and everyone has a motive for murder.
A Clue boardgame reimagining.
A Clue boardgame reimagining.