¡Resuelve el misterio! 3 - El hotel encantado

Case Closed #3

by Lauren Magaziner

Pick-your-own-path and puzzle-packed mystery collide in the third book in Lauren Magaziner’s hilarious and interactive middle grade series in which the reader must help Carlos and his friends hunt ghosts at a haunted hotel.

In this wildly entertaining adventure, YOU pick which suspects to interview, which questions to ask, and which clues to follow. You pick the path—you crack the case!

Carlos Serrano is now officially an apprentice detective at Las Pistas Detective Agency. He finally earned his mom’s trust, but his next case will be his most difficult one yet. Guests at a creepy mountain hotel are complaining of weird disturbances, threatening messages, and hair-raising howls!

Carlos, along with his best friend, Eliza, and her wacky little brother, Frank, arrive on the scene to investigate a . . . ghost? What secrets is this haunted hotel hiding? With tricky puzzles, ghoulish secrets, ectoplasmic enemies, and dozens of impossible choices, these junior detectives need your sleuthing skills!

Can you help Carlos and his friends unravel the mystery before it’s too late? Or will it be case closed?

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gamebooks

544 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Lauren Magaziner is the internationally bestselling author of the The Incorruptibles series, the Case Closed series, The Mythics series. She is also the author of stand-alone humorous middle grade books: The Only Thing Worse Than Witches, Pilfer Academy, and Wizardmatch. Lauren is originally from New Hope, Pennsylvania, and she currently resides in Philadelphia, where she writes full-time. You can visit her at laurenmagaziner.com or follow along with her newsletter at laurenmagaziner.substack.com.

Reviews

[Briana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for an only slightly spooky read for autumn or Halloween? A fun interactive book that lets YOU solve the mystery? A story with little bit of quirkiness to lighten the book? Look no further than Haunting at the Hotel, technically book three in Lauren Magaziner's pick-your-path middle grade mystery series, though it can be read as a standalone.

When I read the first Case Closed mystery, Mystery in the Mansion, I enjoyed it, but the level of quirkiness wasn't quite to my taste (I'm not really a quirky person, ok?) because while giant ball pits and alligators in mysterious mansions are fun, they're also pretty random. Thus, I enjoyed book two, Stolen from the Studio even more because the fun and glamour came pretty naturally from the setting: the set of a popular TV series! The same is true for Haunting at the Hotel: the premise provides some naturally spooky and crazy plot lines because someone (or something!) is haunting an isolated lodge, and they are pulling all the stops to scare the guests away! I'm a scaredy-cat, so I loved that I was only a bit creeped out even as the characters (and I) were being chased, haunted, threatened, etc.

I also really liked the selection of paths and plot lines in this installment. All the books in the series seem to start the same way, where you are offered two choices (say, talk to Character A or talk to Character B) but you actually get to do BOTH of these things no matter what you choose. Do not be fooled by that and think that there are not a wide variety of paths and endings in Haunting at the Hotel; there are! I (implied?) died a couple of times, or just flat-out failed, but I also read through three different final endings of solving the case, and all were really interesting. (There may be more, but I can't read this book forever!)

I also quite liked the interactive puzzles in this one. Some are quite easy (it's a middle grade book, after all), but some took me a bit of work even though I'm not the target audience, and you can ask one of the characters for clues if you're stuck (or, uh, just kind of lazy). I did need to break out a pencil a few times, which was also true for the first two books. These come in e-books, and I've read them that way, but I highly recommend buying a paper version so you don't have to copy out the puzzles onto a separate piece of paper (also true if you borrow this from a library...I wonder how many library copies have actually been written on).

Overall, great book. Fun series. It's pretty self-evident who I'd recommend this to: people who think a pick-your-path mystery with actual puzzles to solve sounds like a good time!

[Nicolas Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really cool. I think the plot about ghosts was awesome! Carlos, his mom, Eliza, and Frank are finally working together to solve another case. There have been rumors about there being ghosts in the hotel; all of the guests are leaving. Now it's up to Carlos and his friends to solve the crime. I think this is the best Case Closed book.

[Carina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this series because it was by my teacher’s former student and loved it very much! I love this book and loved all the ghosts in the books. I love this series because I get to solve clues and riddles and actually pick my actions.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had so much fun reading this book! I loved reading all the different paths and seeing the different ways the story could go. Also, there were a lot of puns and I’m a sucker for a good pun! This book has a healthy dose of silliness, lots of puzzles, and a great mystery! Can you crack the case or will you hit a dead end?

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro aventura en el que uno decide que hacer y contiene puzzles de estos depende el avanzar en la historia. Algunos puzzles son muy sencillos y otros no tanto . Lo recomiendo para mayores de 10 años

[Melissa Marwedel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun book! I love Frank, the youngest character. I enjoy the choose your own adventure style of reading!

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids and I love the different choices and different endings

[ikallam · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly its fun to choose but the mystery part of it itself was really plain and , bad i guess. the first book was better

[alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS SUSPENSE ACTION PACKED CHOSE YOUR STORY BOOK

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Anna Subirana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very entertaining and fun book. I personally liked it a lot, although I think it is more for children between 11 and 14 years old.

[Samhitha Yenumala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this mystery book and solve the case!

[Adara Draven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my 9 year old. This was my favorite so far. Lots of twists and turns, it kept us guessing. Awesome puzzles. Such a fun read for kiddos.

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love ghost stories so this book had a great premise. I loved the choose your own adventure aspect mixed with puzzles and codes.

[Chloe O'GORMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pick your path, it was a amazing book died loads of times but eventually I completed it it was so good I read it 2 so far but I know I will read it soon like 100 times

[Leire Martín · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó.

[Odalys · Rating 4 out of 5]

aunque es algo intuitivo (no puedo pedir mucho, es un libro infantil), me encantó el hecho de que sea interactivo, nunca había leído un libro así

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in love with this series, honestly. I wish I still have 10 more installations to read.

Back to the book, Carlos and the team is once again hired as junior detectives by Carlos' Mom and this time, they have to find out why a hotel is being haunted. This is a choose your own story book so you get to choose the path and solve the mystery your own way! I love the dead ends in these book series because they're so creative and also very funny. Sometimes they're grim but that's alright. You just go back and choose the other option. I wish life is simple like that. I'd like to backspace out of a situation, please.

[Yaroslava · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book really quickly and it was so fun! I loved how you have little puzzles and riddles to go to the next page. A very nice mystery!