Lovers of The Gollywhopper Games, Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3 take heart. Here is a crafted tale filled with mysterious floors in an old hotel with rooms designed as pinball machines and the potential to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of a billionaire. Fifteen year old Merganzer has simply vanished from the face of the Earth and from the Whippet Hotel. Left behind to manage the place is the vengeful Ms. Sparks who is keeping a laundry list of the failures committed by the maintenance man, Clarence Fillmore and his son, Leo. These two valiant soldiers in the battle against broken air conditioning and failing toilets work as a team to solve problems and care for each other. Leo is about to begin receiving mysterious boxes and as he opens each one, he will find clues that lead him to various rooms in the hotel. Who is sending the boxes? Why are they sending them? Leo will be joined in his detective work by Remi, the boy who serves as a doorman and who now is thrilled to be part of the real inner workings of the hotel. They will unfortunately also be joined by Daisy, daughter of an extremely rich hotel guest who must not be offended. With an eye out for Ms. Sparks the team searches room by room and follows the trail of the clues revealed box by box. Where will it all lead? Is there any hope that the horrid Ms. Sparks will fail in her mission to fire Mr. Fillmore and send him to the streets without a job or any way to support his young son? Who are the mysterious senders of the clues? Where is the young Merganzer and what will the wildly imaginative inventions of this hotel reveal? Fun for those who love to explore the wacky and those who enjoy solving a puzzle. Ages 9-12 261 pages ISBN 978-0-545-25519-6
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“There’s mystery and adventure on every floor. There’s no other place on Earth quite like the Whippet Hotel. Each and every floor has its own wacky design, and its own wacky secrets. The guests are either mad or mysterious. And ducks are everywhere.”
Leo and his father are responsible for the maintenance at the amazing Whippet Hotel, where each room is more fantastic than the next. One hundred days after the hotel owner Merganzer D. Whippet disappears, a purple box appears in the duck elevator, addressed to Leo. Leo needs to find the other three boxes and complete the tasks required of him. The only advice he is given is to travel with a partner and always bring a duck! So with the help of the new doorman, Remi (who could be a friend his own age), and the head duck, Betty, Leo sets out to solve the riddles and hopefully save the hotel. Fantastic inventions and quests make this an engaging read.
Recommended by Alice Cyphers, Librarian, Pennsylvania, USA
