The Ambrose Deception

Emily Ecton's The Ambrose Deception is a Chicago puzzle mystery for 10 year olds about three kids nobody would ever pick for anything.

What happens

Melissa sells worksheet answers to pay for her bus fare. Wilf is late for everything (and according to Wilf, it's never quite his fault). Bondi once got the classroom rat elected school president.

So when all three are picked for a contest where the prize is a scholarship worth ten thousand dollars, their own schools can't believe it. Melissa's guidance counsellor is sure they meant a different Melissa!

It's a strange set-up from the very first meeting. A tall man bolts the door behind them. A sour Mr Smith makes them sign a contract promising never to share or talk about their clues. Then each kid gets an envelope with an old flip phone, a debit card, their own driver and three riddles hidden somewhere in the city.

The riddles are brilliant. Go to the site of Lorado Taft's Death in 1909? Melissa looks him up, finds he died in 1936 and decides the whole thing is a scam (her first written answer is VERY rude). Your reader will want to crack it before she does.

The chapters hop between the three of them, with rule sheets, memos and schedules dropped in between. It feels a bit like being handed the case file and left to work it out.

Wilf is probably the funniest. He decides the debit card is for baseball, the aquarium and a hot dog taste-test that carries on "until puking commences". Bondi thinks he's won after solving one clue over an ice cream sundae. And Melissa, who has the least money and the most to lose, is the one you'll be rooting for.

There's something fishy about the grown-ups too. Two men quietly watch the kids at school and take photos. The rules keep saying the clues must go to Mr Smith and nobody else. Why would anyone want these three in particular?

If you've got a reader who loves a riddle and likes their heroes a bit scruffy round the edges, this is a lot of fun. It's American, so expect dollars, middle school and a lot of hot dogs.

What to read next

If puzzles and suspicious grown-ups are their thing, try Ben Guterson's Winterhouse next. Elizabeth is packed off alone to a grand hotel by an aunt and uncle who don't want her around, and nobody seems sure who's paying for it.