Over all our group found the book to be "cute" - nothing too riveting, nothing too gory, nothing too serious to tackle, just a nice family mystery story and some great puzzles to solve along the way. This book has good boy appeal as well as being the perfect read for mystery and puzzle lovers.
Characters were generally well developed and so were the relationships between them. As adults ready YA, our group tends to give a lot of proverbial high-5s when the protagonists parent's are dead, absent or negligent, but still give voice to the character's own independence. This story has great parents as far as this is concerned. We did, however, think that retired Officer Marietta was overly mean and sort of filled the "kids these days" grumpy old man stereotype, but even he comes around.
We were all pleased that none of us really figured out the entire ending ahead of time. This story was engaging whether you solved the puzzles or just let them unfold to you as you read. A good family themed story and relatively light-hearted overall, despite the librarian's family issues from her past.
This has wide age appeal as noted by being a cross-over between age groups for the Maud Heart Lovelace Award nominees.
Next up: Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer for January; Anya's Ghost (graphic novel) by Vera Brosgol.
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