What Lives in the Woods

Gr 4 Up–This suspenseful tale is yet another horror offering from Currie, whose protagonists are equally in love with books and mysteries. Ginny Anderson hears from her parents that their family is packing up and moving out for a monthlong retreat in Michigan, which means missing a highly anticipated mystery writer’s workshop and leaving her friend Erica and their summertime plans behind. Her father is entrusted with the renovation of a legendary spooky mansion in Saugatuck on Lake Michigan, and her parents, Ginny, and her brother Leo find themselves in the heart of haunted happenings. Almost immediately, Agatha Christie–obsessed Ginny begins to witness moving objects, faces in the mirror, and shadows in the house’s ballroom. Thankfully, Ginny enlists her brother and new friend Will in solving the curse of Woodmoor Manor, giving readers a succinct detective story and bantering dialogue for the paranormal-enthused. Currie serves up an appropriately tween horror story in staccato chapters with plenty of goosebumps.