My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing. I'm voluntarily leaving a review, and all opinions are my own.

Middle Grade Mystery, Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Conspiracy

Step aside Nancy Drew, Raven from THE SECRET OF MOONRISE MANOR is on the case! This is the next detective everyone wants to follow.

Raven, the main character, is science-oriented, smart as can be (think Sherlock), isn't afraid of death (think Wednesday Addams), has a tempestuous relationship with her older sister, and is DETERMINED. I absolutely adore determined young girls in books! In fact, Raven reminds me of another one of my favorite child detectives—Flavia from Alan Bradley's series. (However, that series is written for adults, and Raven will tickle elementary school kids.)

This is 100% a murder mystery. We've got Edgar Allen Poe quotes, a dead body, a murder weapon, and lots of suspects. AND Raven's mother died 6 years ago, so how does the dead body relate to that?

The characters are spot on for middle grade. Raven is focused on her goals, Miles wants to fit in since he's the new kid, Cosmina is edging towards having crushes, and Eric is techie and wants girls to leave him alone. There's a great balance of personalities and skills. Cosmina is definitely as quirky as Raven (the future mortician) with her belief in ghost, communing with said ghosts, and exuding a hippy vibe. And of course, there is a mean girl, and I'm interested to see how she works into the stories as the series continues. The adults in these kids lives are vested in keeping them safe and are there as a support system.

I highly recommend this book for mystery lovers. I was vested in the outcome from the beginning and couldn't wait to find out the solution.

Happy reading!

** “Death sure knew how to deal out tough cases. But Death hadn’t met Raven Gallows.” **

Stephanie Bearce journeys into the fiction world with “The Secrets of Moonrise Manor,” a story of determination and spunk.

Twelve-year-old Raven Gallows is filled with scientific curiosity, which comes in handy while helping her grandmother and aunt run the family funeral home. But it does, at times, bump heads with her best friend, Cosmina, who believes she can talk to ghosts. While visiting Moonrise Manor, the most haunted hotel in America which just happens to be in their hometown of Sassafras Springs, Missouri, she makes a shocking discovery that leads to a deeper mystery on a personal level.

With the help of Miles Farnsworth, the hotel manager’s son, and computer whiz Eric Wong, the foursome dive into the mystery found at the hotel. Will that mystery lead to answers to Raven’s mother’s unsolved death six years ago?

Bearce fills her story with great characters, like the brave and plucky quartet, as well as some equally loathsome bad guys. She also includes some good themes, like knowing truth is important, even if it hurts; loyalty to friends and family; always seeking to do what is right; and science versus faith versus the supernatural, and how sometimes they can work together.

This book is recommended for children ages 8 to 12, but adults will easily enjoy it too. With almost Nancy Drew vibes, fans of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley and the Sinister Summer series by Kiersten White will love “The Secret of Moonrise Manor,” which is due out Feb. 4.

Five stars out of five.

Shadow Mountain provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

Loved this so much! I thought it was a fun adventure story and the main characters were great. Appropriate for kids and I would recommend to everyone who comes into the library. Such a great read!

I loved this story so much. I rated it 5 stars because I couldn't put it down for a second. The Secret of Moonrise Manor by Stephanie Bearce is a masterpiece! I loved it all.

A fun MG mystery with wonderful characters you grow to care about and a quirky humorous story that keeps you gripped and guffawing. Middle graders and adults young at heart will love it!

I requested this book because the students I work with enjoy mysteries, and this one didn’t disappoint. I loved the name Raven Gallows and its double meanings. The STEM components added to the mystery were a plus.
This books has friendships and family ties that I always enjoy in middle grade.

Wow! What a fun book.
This book had me laughing with the first page. I’m a retired elementary school counselor and I was so taken with this book. I know my upper elementary students would have loved it! Raven lived above a mortuary run by her aunt and grandmother. She was a twelve year old scientist first and foremost. She wanted to solve mysteries, especially the events surrounding the loss of her mother. When she and her friends find a body, with her mother’s necklace in its pocket, hidden in a wall of Moonrise Manor they set off to solve this mystery as well. This story has a mix of colorful characters. A fun read full of smiles, laughter, and humor that I truly enjoyed even though I am well past the age it was written for. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy. This is my review and all thoughts are my own.

What a fun book! I loved Raven and her passion for all things science. Her desire for truth in her experiments and her crazy way of working on those experiments, are so fun!
Her friends, old and new, bring in such fun dimensions and talents. This town in Missouri is fun, all on a hill, touristy, and still feels real.

The murder mystery was fun, not super hard to solve for an adult, harder for a youth. The sisters relationship felt real .

I can't wait for the next installment, hint hint.

#TheSecretofMoonriseManor #NetGalley

A young readers detective story. Raven Gallows loves science and is fascinated with death. She collects skeletons of animals and loves to investigate. Her fascination with death comes from her grams and Aunt Lenore, who own a funeral home.
Raven's mother, an art historian, was murdered six years ago. Raven's is determined to find out more about her mother's death.
This book was dark and creepy and will be a great read for middle readers who live suspense.

I’m coming at this review from the perspective of a bookseller who specializes in middle grade and loves it dearly and I was honestly a bit disappointed in this book. It has a great premise, and great concepts regarding characterization, it just struggles in execution. I know this is a children’s book, but the characters felt very one dimensional and stereotypical, which is not true of many other well crafted middle grade novels I’ve read recently. The mystery was well done and I can see how the series is being set up, but the cheesiness of the characters and feeling like I’d seen all the plot points, characters, and reveals a million times before lost a lot of points for me. The cover also barely tells you anything about what’ll happen inside, and I feel that the look of the characters is so bland despite Cosmina and Raven’s eccentric descriptions, which won’t encourage children to pick up this title at all despite the art being attractive and well done.
There’s also a disconnect between the very out of place instances of Christianity being pushed throughout the book, and the hard science mindset the main character supposedly has. It’s quite jarring to read a middle grade book (which will not be shelved in the religion section of any bookstore or library) about a girl who loves science and dissection and forensics and feel like you’re receiving an awkward sermon at the same time. Sadly this aspect took me completely out of the story multiple times, and never felt like a relevant inclusion. Relevant inclusions (like when they were at church) made sense, but most didn’t and felt like they were from a completely different book narrated by a completely different main character.