August 1, 2024
A girl searches for a cursed diamond while struggling emotionally after a major move. Charlotte Hess and her dad have just relocated from New York City to Casaluna, Florida. Their creepy new home, Winklevoss Manor, has been torn apart by treasure hunters looking for a cursed diamond rumored to have been hidden there by the former owners, who haunt the house to this day. The truth? Arthur and Ada Winklevossdo haunt the old manor--but so does mean-spirited Leopold Guffman, who fell down the stairs and died while looking for the diamond. When Charlie learns about the house's history, she decides that the priceless gem is going to be her ticket back to the land of good pizza, a place where the cockroaches have the decency not to fly. She enlists the help of ghost-loving new friend Sarah and medium Madame Rayna, hoping to learn enough about the Winklevosses' lives to figure out where they would have hidden the diamond. Though the novel is filled with amusing moments, especially when the ghosts learn that they can haunt the Hesses' electronics, emotion drives the story; readers will ache for Charlie as she grieves her recently deceased grandmother and navigates tricky friendships. The chapters alternate between Charlie's point of view and those of the ghosts, providing additional context and characterization. Main characters are cued white. Ghosts get equal billing with the living in this sweet tale about finding home.(Paranormal mystery. 8-13)
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