By Becky W.

Did anyone else have the experience of playing hours upon hours of capture the flag when they were young? I remember how a game consisting of just two bandanas, a few neighbors, and a backyard made me feel as though I were on a grand adventure spanning the globe. Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts brings me right back to that simple sense of adventure. As an unlikely cast of characters race to solve an eccentric billionaire’s high-stakes, citywide scavenger hunt, I couldn’t help but let my imagination wander.

When Tuesday walks into a room, people can’t help but notice her. A tall, broad, pale woman, dressed all in black. Perhaps it’s her Wednesday Addams appearance or the fact that she rolls her eyes at the thought of socialization, but Tuesday comes across as a textbook loner. She has a good job (protected by her cubicle), a fine home (stocked with X-Files DVDs), and a long-time friend (who is always the first to text). After the death of billionaire Vince Pryce, puzzle-obsessed Tuesday abandons her content life to join half the city of Boston in solving an elaborate scavenger hunt with the hope of wining a share of Pryce’s fortune. As more clues are uncovered, Tuesday becomes allied with a group of fellow hunters: Dex, her quick-witted best friend; Nathaniel Arches, an overly charming heir; Dory, Tuesday’s lonely teenage neighbor; and Abby, a childhood friend reported missing as a teen, but whose ghost managed to follow Tuesday into adulthood.

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts is an incredibly fun, quirky, imaginative book filled with great characters and an epic plot. Racculia’s use of treasure hunt whimsy juxtaposed with the common burdens of student loans and sellout jobs, makes this a relatable, charming story of adventure and friendship.

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts is also available as an ebook on Libby/OverDrive.

Becky is an Adult Instructor and Research Specialist at the HCLS East Columbia Branch who enjoys art and everything science.