Too Many Secrets

by Betty Ren Wright

Another spine-tingling ghost story from the master of the genre-and bestselling author-Betty Ren Wright.

Chad is thrilled to take care of Miss Beane's dog, Benson while she's in the hospital. But Chad and his friend Jeannie get more than he bargained for when they hear footsteps in Miss Beane's house and find her sewing box ransacked. Could it be a burglar? Chad and Jeannie take matters into their own hands and launch an investigation. But what they find out could be shocking!

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Betty Ren Wright was an award-winning author of children's fiction including The Dollhouse Murders, The Ghosts Of Mercy Manor and A Ghost in The House.

Known for her ghost stories and mysteries, Wright published 28 children's novels between 1981 and 2006, as well as picture books and short stories. Prior to pursuing her career as a full-time author in 1978, she worked as an editor of children's books.

Wright lived in Wisconsin with her husband, painter George A. Fredericksen, until her death in 2013.

Reviews

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have numerous Betty Ren Wright novels because she authors ghost stories. “Too Many Secrets” is not among them. The error falls to whomever posted this book's synopsis. I attribute a weak mystery to mismanaged focus. Any literature endeavouring to be a mystery must devote most of its pages in that vein. Anxieties, parental negligence, and coming of age hoo-ha of youth novels needs to play second fiddle by far. They can be woven into the mystery if these sidelines contribute to it but as sidelines for their own sakes, they are out of place.

I read youth books with a grain of salt because their mysteries are almost always more dynamic than the crime that adult mysteries appear to be stuck in; thus worth tolerating an immature demographic. However the ‘Jeannie’ character was too irritating to bear, with ‘Chad’ spineless and leaping to conclusions, despite having our sympathy striving to stick with him most of the time. My uncharacteristically low star feedback is a result of this and misspent focus of the story, which interrupted the mystery and adventure portions. Chad lives with his Aunt and Dad, who is hardly there. His friendship with the critical neighbour, Jeannie is nonsense. With one disrespectful remark, he is convinced his Dad is dating his fellow actress.

Their elderly neighbour needs her pets tended while she is convalescing in hospital. I love best Chad’s mission to comfort her dog and parrot. Things look amiss when he retrieves the dog’s toy from their home and rather than contact police, as Chad believes is right; Jeannie torments him into staking out the house themselves. She doesn’t own up to her pushiness after they’re reprimanded but I was most infuriated by how easy it would be, to have asked his Dad about dating a colleague.

[L.E. Fidler · Rating 1 out of 5]

sigh.

i usually love BRW, but not this one. i didn't care about chad, his angst, his daddy issues, his obnoxious neighbor frenemy, his dogsitting, his acceptance of miss beane's love for antique teddy bears, or his mystery.

there.

i said it.

even liam was bored while i read it...he ended up playing power rangers and star wars (an amazing crossover starring the "lemony falcon", tom-3po, and a red megazord.

this book was the equivalent to literary oatmeal. bland, harmless, and not nearly as good for me as i hoped it would be.

1 star, since my target audience couldn't be bothered to get past sad chad's first encounter with the beane burglar.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was an OK story. Found the girl to be too much for a bossy knickers which resulted in having the boy feel uncomfortable and going against what he (rightly) thought of doing the right thing, then she disappeared leaving him with the majority of responsibility. What should have been an exciting children's adventure about an old, empty Victorian house ended up reading as two kids who did not do the right thing, trespassed and lied to boot. No magic to the story.

Plus the author produced the 'bad guy' out of the blue.

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Chad and Jeannie story.

Mrs. Beane is in the hospital, so Chad watches her dog for her. He thinks someone broke into Mrs. Beane's house and is coming back for more so he resolves to spy on the house and catch the culprit.

[Brent Irwin]

I remember as a kid that this was the first book I ever read in a day. I remember loving it. Returning to it at 27, I speed-read is this morning, so maybe I missed some things.

I was disappointed that ALL clues were red herrings, and the actual burglar came out of nowhere. I was hoping the red cap was actually going to be the red wing of the parrot, and it was the parrot who startled the lady on its way to make love to a teddy bear or something. But the true culprit was not even a character in the story!

There were no hints that Dad was not actually dating this lady. I must have missed what happened to Mom, but I didn’t understand why Chad didn’t want his dad to date. So the resolution to this came out of nowhere. I guess chad and dad learned a lesson to be more open with one another or some s.

There were two mysteries and both were solved in the most non-sequitur manner. Can’t bring myself to rate this. What did I see in this as a kid? Probably I thought breaking into a creepy house was cool.

[LuAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike most of Wright’s books, this is NOT a ghost story! I agree with some reviewers that the characters are slightly irritating, though probably realistic for that. I do like the way it turns the juvenile detective story on its head!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story with lessons about jumping to conclusions, and following a friend against your own good sense.

[Alex Merlos]

This book was very good!

[Natalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dropped this book after reading 50 pages. It was boring and I did not care for any of the characters.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved reading Betty Ren Wright's ghost stories growing up. I saw this was written more recently and decided to revisit my past. What a disappointment- flat writing, plot was not exciting, and I didn't care about the characters at all.

[Breanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

good 4 4th till 5th grade but very good

[Ky'air]

i really like this good i thank a lot of people shud read it if your into mystory

[Cece · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't like it...

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that is a good book and i love it a lot and other will too

[Annaha Ibrahim · Rating 2 out of 5]

the story of a 9 year old boy got bossed around by his 11 year old neighbour. i think it was an ok story but that's that. nothing more.

[Challis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very vividly recall thinking this book was incredibly dumb while I was reading it and sad that I spent $2 of my precious allowance on it at the Scholastic Book Fair at school.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars but a younger reader may enjoy this story.

[Eros · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a fast and cozy read that can be read in one sitting. The mystery kept me interested and I liked the characters.