Such a cute fun middle grade mystery. I loved the flow of the story and the writing. It was fun to see how the characters worked together to solve the puzzles and make it through the escape like rooms. The growth of the characters through the book and how they faced their fears was really well done.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a fun mystery adventure. Sarah, Hannah and West are best friends and each play a part to their amazing escape room group, the Deltas. Unfortunately life for Sarah takes a turn for the worse when her house is foreclosed on and she may have to move away to another state. The trio comes up with a plan that involves a mysterious funhouse that may hold the treasure Sarah needs in order to help save her family home and prevent her from moving away from her best friends. The adventure is on as these friends prepare for the most epic escape room adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC of The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie in exchange for an honest review.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a story about three 7th graders; Sarah, Hannah, and West. They are all going through struggles in their home lives, and only are freed from them by solving escape rooms as a group. When Sarah finds an unexpected foreclosure notice on her front door, this group of escape artists find themselves an old abandoned funhouse, looking for a treasure hidden within to save Sarahs's house and keep her from moving away. The funhouse house throws many personal challenges in their path, bringing them much closer together. From the start these characters stole my heart. West always had a witty response to every comment, Hannah was fearless and never gave up, and Sarah was a born leader and had such a kind heart. Overall it was a really sweet story about how everyone has some sort of struggle in their life, so you are not alone. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie was a fun and humorous book that reminded me of the Chris Grabenstein book series Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Three friends, Sarah, West, and Hannah are experts at escaping escape rooms. When Sarah's house gets foreclosed on, the three friends learn about an abandoned fun house from the 1950's that supposedly has a treasure at the end for any who successfully get through the fun house. Each room has a different theme and a different puzzle to solve. See if you can solve the puzzles before the kids do!

Lindsay Currie is one of my FAAAAAAVORITE MG authors, and The Mystery of Locked Rooms helped propel her there!

This “escape house” novel, full of action and brain teasers that the reader totally feels a part of, shows what happens when friendship is strong and friends join together to in hopes of solving an insurmountable problem through shared interests.

I loved every page of this book and have started brainstorming in case Currie needs ideas for a sequel. Lol! Pick a copy of The Mystery of Locked Rooms for your upper elementary or middle school reader—and go ahead and get one for yourself!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Young Readers for the e-ARC!

What would you do if you were about to lose your house? How about if that meant you had to move away from your friends? Or if your dad was so poorly he couldn't get out of bed? Well that's reality for Sarah. Her and her 2 friends (The Deltas) decide to try and find some treasure in an abandoned fun house. Think escape room x1million! They work hard as a team and discover things about themselves and each other that bring them closer together. An absolutely brilliant story that will make you puzzle along with the children.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebook Kids for the advance copy.

I have been a fan of Lindsay Currie for quite some time. Not only does she write spooky books that my middle grade readers love, but she is able to seamlessly blend across genres, giving readers a delightful fright, as well as adding historical details (often about her beloved Chicago) which gives the reader an unknown, well-researched history lesson.

When I found out she was publishing a middle grade mystery a la Lemoncello’s library I could not wait to read it! Let me tell you, this book did not disappoint. It has everything you could possibly want in a middle grade read. Puzzles rivaling those of the Hawthorne Brothers. Characters that seemed so real I wanted to jump into the funhouse with them. Real problems that they were facing and trying to find out-of-the-box solutions to. A friendship so strong where they support and encourage each other while also accepting they the others are not perfect. Adventure and suspense abound in this terrific tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and SourceBooks for an advanced review copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

This was a fun puzzle of a book to read and experience. It is very fast-paced and like the vibes of a “bottle episode” in TV shows, where the majority of the plot happens in a single setting. The characters, three best friends, were very sweet and likable—I wish that the main character, Sarah, could have been fleshed out a bit more, but I am also an adult reader, so I’m not sure the target audience would notice this.

My other piece of feedback involves the tidy-bow aspect of the ending. Without spoilers, there was one major subplot that seemed to resolve extremely quickly, enough that it almost brought me out of the story.

As the reader, I was able to click along with the characters and feel like I am solving the puzzles and riddles alongside them. Overall, I think kids between the ages of ten and twelve will really love this story, especially kids who love escape rooms and puzzle-based storylines.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for giving me the chance to read this book. It was a book that many middle grade students will love, especially those who love mysteries. There were lots of twists and turns and fun challenges and riddle the main characters had to solve. What a fun read! I’ll definitely be adding this to our classroom library.

The story would be great for middle-schoolers! The pace is fast, yet not too much. It addresses the importance of friendship and I loved how the author included the amazing world that is escape games! The characters are endearing and we truly feel for them and wish them the best!

This was an enjoyable, middle-grade book. I think it would be ideal for 5th-8th graders. The pacing was good, the dialogue and friendships felt authentic, and the premise was fun!

Sarah, Hannah, and West are three best friends who love escape rooms. They come to the ultimate escape room - an abandoned 1950s funhouse hoping to find the treasure that was left behind when the house was never opened. This promise of a treasure is appealing to Sarah, who is desperate to help her family who face financial hardship and a house foreclosure. Sarah's friends are bound and determined to help their friend find this treasure, and so the games begin.

This book has great messages about friendships, facing adversity, teamwork, and trusting others. I loved seeing these themes play out against the backdrop of an exciting funhouse as they try to escape. Each room is set up with challenges or puzzles that must be solved to move on. I enjoyed reading about each room.

The pacing in the novel kept me turning pages, and I think it will be a real treat for those children who love escape rooms.. Be on the lookout for this book when it is published in April of 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Young readers will be enchanted by these intrepid tweens who will find out if they have problem solving skills to discover a long forgotten mystery and escape with their lives.

I could not put this book down. I finished it in one sitting. It kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat. A fun story of friendship and escape rooms.

What a fun, quick read! A cute story about three smart and adventurous friends, they call themselves the Delta's since there's three of them - they love math, riddles, and escape rooms.
When Sarah's family falls on hard times and they are in need of money or a miracle, the Delta's decide to go explore an abandoned fun house in the next town. Urban legend tells of three triples who built this fun house like an escape room, and the person(s) who figured it out would win a treasure... Sarah wants that treasure to save her family. So the three friends set off to explore the fun house and find the treasure.
The bulk of the story takes place in the fun house, so you get to enjoy the adventure along with the kids.
The ending is just right. It's fun, and a nice escape. I really enjoyed it. A cute story!

Every once in a while I come across a book with a concept that's so cool, I end up kicking myself wishing I'd thought to write it. This is one of those books. A trio of friends with a knack for beating escape rooms. An abandoned, decades-old house / escape room that's never been beaten and with a rumored treasure at the end. It's got some serious Lemoncello meets Goonies vibes and I loved every page!

I received a copy from Netgalley. This is my first story by Lindsay Currie. It was well written. Escape rooms are popular, yet challenging. This escape house was extremely well designed. I kept thinking about how to rest a room for the next group. That is my practical side showing. I had to let that go and adjust my thinking to match the kids. Great ending! I highly recommend for school and public libraries. Fourth - eighth graders would enjoy it. The cover is outstanding!

Sarah and her two best friends Hannah and West love solving escape rooms together. Their individual talents combine in the best possible way, and their collaborative skills are unmatched. As much as Sarah enjoys escape rooms, however, she also uses them as a way to escape the difficulties in her life. Her dad is too sick to work, and her mom is not always able to pick up the slack. So, when a fabled treasure inside a decades-old escape room catches the trio’s attention, they know it might be the only chance to bring Sarah’s family back from the edge.

This fun middle grade novel blends some very real challenges of adolescence with the problem-solving component found in escape rooms. Most of the narrative takes place in an elaborate and abandoned sequence of escape rooms, and the three friends must work together to solve clues and advance from one segment to the next. Along the way, tensions run high, but the companions always find a moment to smooth over their differences in order to move forward as the friends they know themselves to be. The dynamics among the three protagonists feel real, and every interaction demonstrates to readers what positive and authentic relationships can be like.

While the book is enjoyable overall, it lacks some of the depth one hopes to find in longer novels. However, readers who enjoy puzzles and games will find the presentation to be particularly intriguing because nearly the entire story is an escape room. Additionally, the brevity of the chapters and the focus on action and dialogue make the narrative move quickly while being accessible to a range of middle grade readers. Lovingly crafted, this book will pull on readers’ heartstrings while simultaneously increasing their anxiety as the trio is faced with one challenge after another inside a space that does not guarantee their safety. This is a unique addition to library collections for middle grade readers with an interest in stories that champion collaborative problem solving.

Lindsay Currie has done it again!
The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a fantastic middle grade novel. I really enjoyed the idea of the escape rooms and how Currie crafted the tale of the mystery house. The threesome not only build up their friendship, but each character has an "a ha" moment about themselves as well. I think readers are going to love this tale of mystery and friendship.

This has been one of my favorite Lindsay Currie books to date. I was so intrigued by the funhouse with it's puzzles and mysterious pathways. I thought the friendship between the Deltas was great for younger readers who are figuring out how to be a good friend and will see themselves in these characters.

I especially liked that the friends had to make mistakes before they were successful and they showed fortitude and bravery in figuring out the puzzles.

Overall, this book seemed like a departure from Lindsay Currie's more scary stories, but the depth of the mystery and the friendships was just as exciting. I will recommend this to all my patrons who love escape rooms!

The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie is the perfect middle grade book for anyone who loves escape rooms and puzzles. When Sarah, West and Hannah go looking for treasure in an old abandoned Fun House they find more than they bargained for. The dynamics between the friends and their hope to save Sarah's foreclosed house make for a very interesting read.