No One Leaves the Castle

By Christopher Healy

Book Overview

The Brothers Grimm meets Knives Out in this unexpected, hilarious, and wholly original fantasy-murder-mystery.

The Lilac. The bard songs say that she's the world's most fearsome bounty hunter. That there's no criminal she can't catch, no mystery she can't solve.

None of that is true. Yet.

In reality, the Lilac is just a kid, and the bard who wrote all that is her best friend, Dulcinetta. But the Lilac has set her goals on becoming the best bounty hunter in the Thirteen Kingdoms--and when a priceless artifact goes missing from the home of famed monster hunter Baron Angbar, the Lilac and Netta are eager to apprehend the thief and make a name for themselves.

But when their investigation brings them to a dinner party at Castle Angbar, and they meet the Angbar family and their servants and guests--an unsavory group of nobles, mages, and assorted creatures, each more shady than the last--the Lilac begins to wonder if the reward is worth the trouble.

And that's before the dead body is discovered.

Now, everyone is magically sealed inside the castle--and there is a murderer among them. If the Lilac wants to make it out with her reputation intact, it's going to be up to her to figure out who the killer is. But everyone in the castle--even the Lilac herself--has secrets to hide, and as the walls literally start to close in around them, the Lilac worries that her first job as a bounty hunter may be her last...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062341944
• ISBN13: 9780062341945
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Walden Pond Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Entertaining middle grade mystery

This was a fun middle grade adventure mystery with strong female leads and likeable characters. It's smart, funny (occasionally outright hilarious), and chock full of plot twists. Young Lila is trying to prove herself as Lilac, the bounty hunter, and is hired to find a wizard believed to have stolen the emerald axe from Castle Angbar. It quickly turns into a murder mystery and she starts doubting if she's cut out for this life she's chosen. She's encouraged along the way, by her plucky bard sidekick Netta. The clues are all there to solve the murder. It does lose it's way a little bit in the middle which is why I only gave it 4 stars.