The Winterton Deception 1: Final Word by Janet Sumner Johnson

Final Word introduces the Winterton family, dictionary magnates with lots of money and plenty of secrets to hide.

The Winterton Deception 1: Final Word by Janet Sumner Johnson. Pixel Ink, 2023, 370 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 11-15

It’s a cold and rainy day when the twins, Gordon and Hope Smith, visit their father’s grave. They’ve just discovered who their father was—not from Mom—and Hope is not as thrilled as her brother to learn that they are children of the youngest son of the Winterton Clan. The Wintertons made their pile through a line of personalized dictionaries, but big deal. Rich people are barely human, in Hope’s opinion, and the fact that none of them ever reached out to her family, in spite of their dire poverty, just proves it. When news comes of the matriarch’s death, and changes in the annual Winterton Spelling Bee that could open eligibility for outsiders like herself, Hope isn’t remotely tempted. But Gordon’s scheme to maneuver the three of them into the qualifying round pays off.

Hope’s grudge against the Wintertons isn’t mollified by the prospect of a week in the family mansion, competing against both outsiders and family members. But she’s a champion speller, and her mom could sure use the $500,000. Both kids survive the first elimination rounds, but it soon becomes apparent there’s a lot more than dictionary words at stake. The late matriarch has left clues to a treasure worth even more than the half-million prize, along with a series of letters hinting at family secrets to be revealed—but only if Hope persists in following the clues, and eventually seeking help from people she despises.

The author was inspired by Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, and readers familiar with that classic will pick up on the similarities: a large cast of characters, a deceased puzzle-master, a host of misconceptions. That said, Final Word is no Westing Game. It lacks Raskin’s deft economy and light fantasy. Some of the extreme plot devices and overdrawn characters clash with its realistic tone. Hope’s one-note grousing about the Wintertons and their ilk (the story is narrated in first-person) gets a little tiresome.

But this is a page-turner with a compelling premise and storyline. Even better, it has worthwhile things to say about the importance of family, forbearance, and forgiveness. The real treasure isn’t money at all: “Money doesn’t solve problems; it only complicates them.” Hope will come to understand her own flaws in discovering the goodness in other people, and all ends well—perhaps too well, but readers will feel good about the ending anyway. Final Word is not the final word, though—apparently there are more volumes to come and more Winterton Deceptions to unwind. We’ll see.

Consideration

• Hope and Gordon are the children of a teenage romance that would have led to marriage had their father not died at age 18. The affair is treated non-judgmentally.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 4

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Review: Here’s another starred review of The Westing Game—the Grandmaster of all puzzle mystery novels.
• Reviews: A similar series, good-natured though not as good, is Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. We reviewed the prequel here.
• Resource: A perennial favorite—our Mystery Book List.

We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.