Thoughts before reading:
Well... this sounds like a gem.
The basics:
Derek Masters is back in town, and he's just finished working on a movie called Night Train to Charleston, a murder mystery. To rake up publicity, the cast and crew are going to ride on a train made up like the one in the movie. Derek invites Nicky Pike along with him as his guest. Mr. Masters also calls the BSC to hire 3 sitters to watch a total of 9 kids during the train trip. It's a 3 day ride, from Boston to Charleston. Abby, Kristy, and Stacey take the job. Some of the other kids going are Linny, Buddy, James, and David Michael.
Watson and Elizabeth take the kids to Boston, where they board the train. Right off the bat, there's some drama between a crew member and her husband, then everyone finds a threatening note tucked into their programs. It says, "The truth will come out-- There's nothing you can do to stop me". When the kids go to order lunch, someone switches their pizza out for a rubber hand, holding a note that says the same thing. Someone also sets off a smoke bomb on the train, terrifying everyone into thinking there's a fire.
Kristy and Stacey see a man push another man off the train, but it's too dark to see who they are. They raise the alarm, but no one is found to be missing from the train, so no one believes them. Kristy goes back later to look for clues, but all she finds is one loose script page.
Derek shows everyone a board game that was made based on the movie. Everyone sits down to play, and Kristy notices that the character names are different than the ones from the script page she found.
Shortly after this discovery, the train stops and the lights go out. Kristy tells Stacey she thinks the names are different because it was a script draft... like something only a screenwriter would have. They confront Ronald, the screenwriter for the movie (great idea, what could go wrong?), and he says he didn't do anything, but he knows who the culprit behind everything is. Apparently, years ago he stole the story idea for Night Train to Charleston from his student, Laurence. He ended up paying Laurence off to not tell anyone, but he continued blackmailing him for more money. Now he's on the train, going after Ronald's son, Daniel.
Together, they go looking for Daniel, and catch Laurence just in time. He's taken into custody, but does get his writer's credit on the movie.
Side plot: Mal, Jessi, Claudia, and Mary Anne are helping open the Greenbrook Club for the summer.
Timeline:
It's summer vacation, presumably still August.
Misc. thoughts:
*I liked that they had a board game of the movie... it reminded me of some of the murder mystery games I had as a kid.
*Weird continuity in here... Mal's extra covered up against the sun, but Mary Anne's dressed like everyone else. There's no mention of her sun problems from the earlier books.
*When did Ben and Mal stop dating? It's never mentioned anymore, and in the last few books where Ben was even around he's been one of the kids, like Tiffany.
*We also haven't heard anything about Quint in forever.
*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker.
Books mentioned:
None
My rating:
1 star. Another Scooby-Doo mystery... this was SO hard to get through.
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