The Mystery of Locked Rooms

Published in 2024, The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a middle grade novel by contemporary American author Lindsay Currie. Currie has written several mystery and adventure books for young readers that have received critical acclaim, including The Peculiar Incident of Shady Street (2017), Scritch Scratch (2020), and The Girl in White (2022). The novel is narrated by Sarah, a young girl whose family is facing financial hardship and who sets out to find a treasure buried inside an abandoned funhouse with the help of her best friends Hannah and West. Currie states that she drew inspiration for her novel from “[’80s movies] where we saw kids going out on this big adventure—usually leaving on bikes—and they solve something that the adults in their lives couldn’t. […] Not only was it adventurous and fun, but it also managed to be heartwarming and empowering for kids in that age group” (Perzo, Zoe. “Q&A with Lindsay Currie, Author of May/June Kids’ Indie Next List Top Pick “‘The Mystery of Locked Rooms.’” American Booksellers Association, 1 May 2024). The narrative is also reminiscent of works like Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Louis Sachar’s Holes (1998), or Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One (2011). It explores themes of Teamwork and Friendship, Emotional Growth Through Challenge, and Parallels Between the Past and the Present.

This guide is based on the 2024 Kindle edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

The novel is narrated by seventh grader Sarah Greene who, along with her best friends West and Hannah, belongs to a group called the Deltas. They are inseparable and share a passion for escape rooms and puzzles.

Returning home one day, Sarah learns that her family is facing dire financial trouble when she finds a foreclosure notice on her front door. Sarah’s mother works two jobs to support their family because her father has recently been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and is unable to work. When Sarah shares her concern that her family may have to move away with Hannah and West, her friends off-handedly mention a local urban legend about a hidden treasure. In the 1950s, three brothers who were separated at birth came together to build an intricate and mysterious funhouse. However, when one of the triplets died unexpectedly, the other two abandoned the project. Instead, they spread a rumor about a treasure buried in the house, only accessible by someone who could solve all their puzzles and games.

Desperate and intrigued, Sarah decides to find the treasure to help her family. She, Hannah, and West do in-depth research about the house and the triplets, Hans, Karl, and Stefan Stein, to prepare for their expedition. They then lie to their parents, telling them that they are going to try a new escape room but instead taking a train to Maplewood, the nearby town where the funhouse is located. Some people, including an eccentric man named William Taters, have tried to look for the treasure over the years, but none have been successful.

Once they find the funhouse, the Deltas are able to enter it through a hidden door. A message in the entryway reads “Fortune favors the bold” (44), and they realize that the phrase encourages them to take risks and embrace the unexpected if they want to succeed.

They first find themselves in a room that looks like the inside of a circus tent. It contains several locked doors, hidden keys, and clues that lead them to exit the room by swinging on a trapeze several feet up in the air. Sarah, who is very risk-averse, nonetheless decides to be brave and successfully leads her friends into the next room.

The second room looks like a log cabin with wooden boxes hanging from the ceiling in a complex pattern. As the Deltas try to work out how to find the key hidden in one of the boxes, Hannah impulsively grabs a box and wastes one of their chances. When Sarah gets upset, Hannah confesses that she has been feeling insecure about disappointing her friends. Sarah and West cheer her up and, together, the team is able to enter the next room.

The Deltas find themselves in a room that looks like a library and hastily find an exit through the fireplace. However, after crawling into the next room and finding themselves in a log cabin room that looks exactly like the first one, they realize that they took a wrong turn. Sarah and Hannah become frustrated about needing to work out the wooden box pattern again, but West surprises them by remembering it and picking out the correct box. When they praise him, West confesses that he feels insecure about his extraordinary memory because it brings him unwanted, and sometimes negative, attention. Sarah and Hannah offer their support, and the Deltas return to the library room together. This time, they take their time to work out which exit will lead them forward and eventually find a trap door in the ceiling.

The three friends land in a room full of statues on pedestals, but three of the pedestals are empty. They stand on the pedestals, hoping that their weights will trigger a door to open, but the mechanism traps Hannah in a cage instead. The Deltas are once again frustrated that they failed a puzzle, but they realize that Hannah needs to get a hidden magnet out of her cage for Sarah and West to unlock the key they need. Freeing Hannah triggers the door to open, and the Deltas move on to the next room.

They now find themselves at the entrance of a mirror maze. For a moment, they get a mobile phone signal and find out that their parents have called the police and are on their way to the funhouse. Sarah, Hannah, and West decide to continue anyway and set out to complete the maze quickly. Unfortunately, they take a wrong turn and are forced to pick between three doors, with a clue from the triplets hinting that they need to embrace luck to win. Sarah, who is especially anxious, breaks down because she feels like she is losing control over her life. Her friends help her work through her emotions and encourage her to choose a door, which leads the Deltas into the final room.

The room is empty except for a slide that leads outside, so the Deltas resolve to face the consequences of their actions together. West and Hannah go first, but when it is Sarah’s turn to slide down, she notices an envelope hidden near the slide. She grabs it before leaving and, after being greeted by her worried mother and police officers, she reads it with her friends. The envelope contains a letter from the Stein brothers congratulating her on finding the treasure, which is the deed to the house.

At the end of the book, Sarah’s family is doing much better. Their house has been saved and Sarah’s father is in remission. They sold the funhouse to William Taters, who brought it back to life and invited the Deltas for the grand opening. Sarah, Hannah, and West are ready to resume their activities exploring all the best escape rooms in town.