Book Scavenger

For twelve-year-old Emily, the best thing about moving to San Francisco is that it's the home city of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, book publisher and creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger (a game where books are hidden in cities all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles). Upon her arrival, however, Emily learns that Griswold has been attacked and is now in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold himself, and might contain the only copy of his mysterious new game. Racing against time, Emily and James rush from clue to clue, desperate to figure out the secret at the heart of Griswold's new game--before those who attacked Griswold come after them too.

Emily and James's teacher Mr. Quisling is up to something mysterious. First, there's the news clipping with an unusual note that he drops at a book event. Then Emily and James discover their teacher has been receiving encrypted messages in a series of Mark Twain books hidden through Book Scavenger. When Emily and James decipher the messages, they begin to suspect Mr. Quisling is hunting a long-rumored treasure of buried gold. Intrigued by this prospect and what it could mean for her family's financial struggles, Emily and James set out to best their teacher. But when they research Mark Twain and the Gold Rush era, they learn about a serial arsonist from the 1800s who called himself The Lightkeeper, and the seemingly unrelated string of arson fires around San Francisco suddenly seem more ominous. Especially when they realize the fires have been set in the exact locations where Mr. Quisling found the Mark Twain books. Is a copycat Lightkeeper trying to stop Mr. Quisling? Or could Mr. Quisling himself be the arsonist? By the time Emily and James uncover the answers, much more is at stake than whether or not Emily will have to move again.

Sleuthing duo Emily and James tackle their most challenging mystery yet set on the haunting Alcatraz Island. Legendary literary game-maker Garrison Griswold is back in action-this time with "Unlock the Rock," an extravaganza on Alcatraz Island. But just as the fun starts to take off for Emily and James, important items from Griswold's game begin to disappear, and someone is framing Emily's brother Matthew as the criminal. As the friends jump from one clue to the next, they discover a web of connections between the stolen items and a tragic nineteenth century mystery involving Harriet Beecher Stowe. This new historic enigma is irresistible, but it might be impossible to decipher. And with Matthew's record on the line, Emily and James can't afford to leave this mystery uncracked.