Help me identify this YA novel I read in grade school.

November 6, 2013 8:14 AM

I read this book sometime in the late 80s. It was a mystery solving book. I believe the protagonist(s) were kid(s). It involved a town named Staunton (like the chess pieces) and some burned paper in the base of a statue. And an ominous title implying the supernatural? I may have that last bit about the title wrong.

That's it. I can't remember anything else.

posted by jeffamaphone to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: It's a John Bellairs book - The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt. He wrote a bunch of spooky mystery stories. Staunton is part of a puzzle referring to the mansion named Staunton Harold.
posted by LionIndex at 8:23 AM on November 6, 2013 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: That looks like it. Thanks!
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:26 AM on November 6, 2013

Finally an askme I could help with and you beat me to it, LionIndex! Somewhere around third grade I devoured all the John Bellairs books!
posted by robstercraw at 12:13 PM on November 6, 2013