A review by oashackelford
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

5.0

Long before the cousins were born their parents were disinherited by their wealthy grandmother. Now three cousins, Jonah, Millie, and Aubrey have received a mysterious invitation in the mail from their grandmother Mildred Story. None of the cousins is particularly interested in getting to know their grandmother, but their parents want their inheritance back, so the cousins are sent to meet Mildred. When they get there though it seems like there is a lot more to the story of their parents' disinheritance, and everybody seems to be keeping their secrets to themselves.

I usually struggle with Karen McManus. I always really like the premise of her books, and I think that she builds worlds really well, but usually I am disappointed with the execution of the mystery. I don't feel like the characters have enough to lose if they go to the cops and so I usually spend the whole of her book going, "why has no one told an adult what is going on?" This book however has been refreshingly different. None of the kids is the very circumstantial suspect for a murder that they didn't commit and all of them have appropriate stakes and motives that justify the actions that they take and make them feel more real as characters. This is the first time I have read one of her books and I wasn't thinking that the whole situation could have been avoided easily. This book really worked well and the mystery was intriguing and not too easy to guess.

A very good read.