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The Puzzling World of Winston Breen #3
The Puzzler's Mansion
For fans of The Westing Game and The 39 Clues, a third exciting Winston Breen adventure! Winston Breen and his friends Mal and Jake accompany Mr. Penrose for a weekend of puzzles and games at the mansion of a famous musician. Over the course of the weekend, some guests' prizes and belongings inexplicably disappear. As the group continues with the elaborate puzzles--which the reader is invited to solve too--some of the guests try to figure out who is stealing things, and others become suspects. But in the end it's Winston who stumbles upon several clues, and eventually discovers the real culprit. A fast-paced whodunit, this latest Winston Beren installment will have readers hooked!
247 pages, Hardcover
First published May 10, 2012
33 people are currently reading
393 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
March 1, 2021
I love that these puzzles are all interesting, but mostly solvable. I love that the story is engaging enough that I didn't want to slow down to solve the puzzles as I was reading. And I especially love that even Winston, with all his experience, still needs to have patience, and help, and still needs to work hard.
Even though this ends the trilogy well, I'm still sad that it's the last book. I'm seriously considering getting a subscription to Berlin's online puzzles.
Even though this ends the trilogy well, I'm still sad that it's the last book. I'm seriously considering getting a subscription to Berlin's online puzzles.
August 1, 2018
A great book for puzzle maniacs and mystery solvers that are wanted to help solves puzzles with Winston and his friends in a Millionaire Manshion
June 29, 2025
The third Winston Breen book might just be my favorite! I loved the broader mystery of this book most (though the second one was awesome, too) and all the puzzles were really fun to solve.
June 1, 2021
What a fun book! I've always loved well-done middle grade fiction, and I'm a huge fan of puzzles, so this was right up my alley!
April 19, 2018
This series was really good! I loved that it combined mysteries with puzzles. I wish there were more books!
September 10, 2012
Winston & his friends are invited for a weekend puzzle event at the house of a famous piano player, Richard Overton, who happens to be friends with Mr. Penrose. When a thief keeps stealing things, the guys realize they have even more to solve than just some puzzles.
Winston struggles with whether or not he's spending too much time on puzzles. Mr. Overton gives him some great advice, "The people who tell you to close out the world are wrong. Whatever your passion is - even if you're great at it - it can't be the only thing you do. You can't just lock yourself in a room and study chess your entire life. If you do, you'll be great at that one thing... and bad at everything else. Getting that balance is not easy..." p. 155.
I love how Berlin incorporates puzzles into his stories. Some of them share the solution as part of the puzzle while others are left for you to figure out on your own (or look in the back of the book).
Winston struggles with whether or not he's spending too much time on puzzles. Mr. Overton gives him some great advice, "The people who tell you to close out the world are wrong. Whatever your passion is - even if you're great at it - it can't be the only thing you do. You can't just lock yourself in a room and study chess your entire life. If you do, you'll be great at that one thing... and bad at everything else. Getting that balance is not easy..." p. 155.
I love how Berlin incorporates puzzles into his stories. Some of them share the solution as part of the puzzle while others are left for you to figure out on your own (or look in the back of the book).
January 31, 2017
Awesome! Some of the puzzles were tricky and some were really challenging that my mom couldn't figure out! We read this together, my mom and I, and I can't wait to read the next one.
July 23, 2022
I would call this a comfort book, sort of like comfort food
May 7, 2019
Well, that was a fun trilogy series. I liked the first book most then second then this third even if it had a better climax than the second - I just like the first treasure hunt theme and the second's puzzles and wandering around city more. In this one, I disliked the music focus of puzzles as they required more prior knowledge of stuff like instruments and players that I didn't have, and there was a lot more word based puzzles I think, compared to last time. I liked the twist of the gardener and hints like the roses being better and them hearing footsteps on the stairs.
This had more of a coming of age element as Winston wondered if he should quit or outgrow puzzles, but I dislike stuff talking about death so the mansion owner dying didn't appeal to me. I also miss side characters from previous books like Brendan Root, Ray Marietta, and his cousin Henry, etc. So I felt the book squandered a bit of it's history from past books as it didn't use it's full collection of characters as well as it could've.
The climax in the shed was fine though, and most puzzles we're still decent at least, though the book felt overall slower.
I may also just be burn out from reading so much of this series at once. But anyway, I dunno if I'd come back to this one even if I liked the semi sudden secret entrance/door. Its still a good series overall but I don't know how much I liked this one. But anyway fun series where Winston Breen book 1>2>3.
This had more of a coming of age element as Winston wondered if he should quit or outgrow puzzles, but I dislike stuff talking about death so the mansion owner dying didn't appeal to me. I also miss side characters from previous books like Brendan Root, Ray Marietta, and his cousin Henry, etc. So I felt the book squandered a bit of it's history from past books as it didn't use it's full collection of characters as well as it could've.
The climax in the shed was fine though, and most puzzles we're still decent at least, though the book felt overall slower.
I may also just be burn out from reading so much of this series at once. But anyway, I dunno if I'd come back to this one even if I liked the semi sudden secret entrance/door. Its still a good series overall but I don't know how much I liked this one. But anyway fun series where Winston Breen book 1>2>3.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2019
I liked the puzzles and story, but I kind of feel like it went a bit too fast... the first book was the best, the second was okay, and this was still worth the read, but I don't know, it just wasn't as good as the first. Still an amazing(ly funny) read!
June 21, 2017
A little over the top here, with the crazy prizes and mansion of the millionaire pianist, but the plot is fun.
September 10, 2019
Super fun read with lee. I think we liked the first one best, then this one, and potato chip one ranks last.
January 6, 2021
While it kept my attention I wasn’t waiting to get back to it each night. The puzzlers were fun to think about and hard!
August 17, 2024
A fun, light-hearted puzzling adventure following middle-grade heroes.
December 31, 2025
This is my comfort series, forever and always.
February 20, 2016
Middle schooler and puzzle-lover Winston Breen is beyond excited when he and his best friends are invited to a weekend puzzle party, hosted at the mansion of famous pianist, Richard Overton. But when Overton’s valuables start going missing, Winston finds himself in the middle of a real-life puzzle, one he must solve before it’s too late.
I enjoyed this book. It’s kind of funny, because I recently read Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, and the titles have some striking similarities – definitely readalikes. Both incorporate puzzles into the text itself, both feature male protagonists working in a team dynamic to win a series of challenges, both have elderly, beneficent, sage figures orchestrating events. It also reminded me of Raskin’s The Westing Game, a book I read long ago during my own elementary school summer reading years. I also noticed that some other Goodreads reviewers said the same thing, so I guess my memory of it has served me well. Both this book and The Westing Game construct excellent whodunits, complete with red herrings and Clue-style setups.
Apparently this book is the third in a series of books. I can confidently say that it holds up excellently as a standalone; I didn’t even realize it was part of a series until I went to write this review and looked it up on Goodreads.
I appreciated this book’s exploration of the idea that if you’re talented and passionate about something, more choices exist beyond obsession and giving it up entirely. Winston strives to leave room in his life to develop his puzzle skills, while not letting them overtake his life. The message isn’t exactly subtle, but it is sort of delivered and left alone, so it’s not hit-you-over-the-head pedantic. It works.
I felt like the book was a little too long for my liking, and could’ve done with a few fewer puzzle contests between contestants before wrapping up. I mean, I generally like longer books, but it started to drag toward the end for me. But that just might’ve been because I couldn’t help but stop and try and figure out all the puzzles and rebuses in the book, and there were many.
A solid middle grade choice, especially for middle grade mystery fans who like a challenge and enjoyed Mr. Lemoncello or The Westing Game.
I enjoyed this book. It’s kind of funny, because I recently read Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, and the titles have some striking similarities – definitely readalikes. Both incorporate puzzles into the text itself, both feature male protagonists working in a team dynamic to win a series of challenges, both have elderly, beneficent, sage figures orchestrating events. It also reminded me of Raskin’s The Westing Game, a book I read long ago during my own elementary school summer reading years. I also noticed that some other Goodreads reviewers said the same thing, so I guess my memory of it has served me well. Both this book and The Westing Game construct excellent whodunits, complete with red herrings and Clue-style setups.
Apparently this book is the third in a series of books. I can confidently say that it holds up excellently as a standalone; I didn’t even realize it was part of a series until I went to write this review and looked it up on Goodreads.
I appreciated this book’s exploration of the idea that if you’re talented and passionate about something, more choices exist beyond obsession and giving it up entirely. Winston strives to leave room in his life to develop his puzzle skills, while not letting them overtake his life. The message isn’t exactly subtle, but it is sort of delivered and left alone, so it’s not hit-you-over-the-head pedantic. It works.
I felt like the book was a little too long for my liking, and could’ve done with a few fewer puzzle contests between contestants before wrapping up. I mean, I generally like longer books, but it started to drag toward the end for me. But that just might’ve been because I couldn’t help but stop and try and figure out all the puzzles and rebuses in the book, and there were many.
A solid middle grade choice, especially for middle grade mystery fans who like a challenge and enjoyed Mr. Lemoncello or The Westing Game.
December 15, 2022
This was a weak end to what is overall a quite strong series. The mystery weekend with an eclectic cast of characters is a tried and true story trope. It is utterly wasted on this book.
The cast is highly underdeveloped making their eccentricities useless. The mystery is boring. Someone is stealing the prizes given away for winning each round of puzzles. It’s stuff that is worth a lot of money, but has no plot relevant significance that would force them to hunt the thief down so they don’t really care. It’s treated like an inconvenience at most.
The timeframe was way too short to fully explore the concept. This led to these supposedly high-brow puzzles feeling anticlimactic. It would have been better if the trip lasted a week to give the characters and the story time to breathe. Part of the fun of a mystery weekend trope is diving deep into the characters: Who are they? What do they do? What is their motive for x,y,z? What seemingly suspicious action is actually innocuous? None of that matters here. The characters are flat and uninteresting. There are glimmers of arcs that are all too quickly abandoned.
One of the people attending is an actor who has a teenage son that he is in conflict with the entire book. Berlin chooses not to take advantage of the tension between the two in any meaningful capacity. The dad never starts trusting his son. The son never gets over his teenage angst. It was added purely because each character needed a gimmick yet it was clear there was never any intention of pursuing it further.
Winston has a plot about possibly giving up puzzles because he’s been letting them control his life. Considering this is the series finale, this potentially world shattering revelation should have taken up a lot more attention.
It's an alright read, just not the bombastic showcase I'd expected given how well Berlin managed to raise the stakes between books before. I hoped for more from Winston Breen.
The cast is highly underdeveloped making their eccentricities useless. The mystery is boring. Someone is stealing the prizes given away for winning each round of puzzles. It’s stuff that is worth a lot of money, but has no plot relevant significance that would force them to hunt the thief down so they don’t really care. It’s treated like an inconvenience at most.
The timeframe was way too short to fully explore the concept. This led to these supposedly high-brow puzzles feeling anticlimactic. It would have been better if the trip lasted a week to give the characters and the story time to breathe. Part of the fun of a mystery weekend trope is diving deep into the characters: Who are they? What do they do? What is their motive for x,y,z? What seemingly suspicious action is actually innocuous? None of that matters here. The characters are flat and uninteresting. There are glimmers of arcs that are all too quickly abandoned.
One of the people attending is an actor who has a teenage son that he is in conflict with the entire book. Berlin chooses not to take advantage of the tension between the two in any meaningful capacity. The dad never starts trusting his son. The son never gets over his teenage angst. It was added purely because each character needed a gimmick yet it was clear there was never any intention of pursuing it further.
Winston has a plot about possibly giving up puzzles because he’s been letting them control his life. Considering this is the series finale, this potentially world shattering revelation should have taken up a lot more attention.
It's an alright read, just not the bombastic showcase I'd expected given how well Berlin managed to raise the stakes between books before. I hoped for more from Winston Breen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 10, 2014
Passionate puzzler Winston Breen is wondering if he should give up on puzzles; they're distracting him from his school studies and from opportunities in the real world. Then his friend Mr. Penrose invites Winston and his friends Jake and Mal to a weekend hosted by Mr. Penrose's friend Richard Overton, a world-famous pianist. Mr. Overton lives in a mansion and loves puzzles; he throws elaborate puzzle-weekends for his famous friends, and this time invites their families and friends to join them. Winston enjoys the puzzles, but strange things are happening at the mansion; valuable items are disappearing. Can Winston solve the puzzles and the mystery?
This is a fun series, and the books are full of puzzles all the way through and in a special section at the end. I did a few of them, but mostly just read the story because I'm not the world's greatest puzzler (I have to use the Hints pages to get through my Nancy Drew computer games, playing at the amateur level--that's how bad I am). I liked Winston's concern about his passion interfering with his life, and the general question of what differentiates a passion from an interest, and whether a passion is worth the effort it requires. It's an interesting question not often addressed in kids' books. Anyway, the solution to the mystery was disappointing, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless.
This is a fun series, and the books are full of puzzles all the way through and in a special section at the end. I did a few of them, but mostly just read the story because I'm not the world's greatest puzzler (I have to use the Hints pages to get through my Nancy Drew computer games, playing at the amateur level--that's how bad I am). I liked Winston's concern about his passion interfering with his life, and the general question of what differentiates a passion from an interest, and whether a passion is worth the effort it requires. It's an interesting question not often addressed in kids' books. Anyway, the solution to the mystery was disappointing, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless.
November 6, 2012
a. Realistic Fiction
b. 247 pgs.
c. The Puzzler's Mansion is about a boy named Winston who loves solving puzzles. He sees puzzles in everything, from pizza to wrapping paper. In this book his friend, Mr. Penrose, gets a invitation
from a friend of his. This friend loves solving puzzles too and sets up this weekend of puzzles for some of his friends. Mr. Penrose invites Winston, Jake, and Mal to come with him. Once he gets there he has a lot of fun solving puzzles, but then someone starts stealing prizes and money. The weekend goes on and the thief is found. At the end Winston goes home happy and ends up making a new friend.
d. I liked this book because I like solving puzzles. It was fun going back to solve the puzzles. Winston really likes puzzles and does them all the time, I never knew you could get in trouble for liking puzzles so much! He sees puzzles everywhere! Mal is really goofy and helps Winston out a little because he sees things from a different point of view. In one puzzle his jokes help Winston solve the puzzle. I feel sorry for Zook because everyone accuses him of stealing everything. Just because someone is grumpy doesn't mean he stole everything.
b. 247 pgs.
c. The Puzzler's Mansion is about a boy named Winston who loves solving puzzles. He sees puzzles in everything, from pizza to wrapping paper. In this book his friend, Mr. Penrose, gets a invitation
from a friend of his. This friend loves solving puzzles too and sets up this weekend of puzzles for some of his friends. Mr. Penrose invites Winston, Jake, and Mal to come with him. Once he gets there he has a lot of fun solving puzzles, but then someone starts stealing prizes and money. The weekend goes on and the thief is found. At the end Winston goes home happy and ends up making a new friend.
d. I liked this book because I like solving puzzles. It was fun going back to solve the puzzles. Winston really likes puzzles and does them all the time, I never knew you could get in trouble for liking puzzles so much! He sees puzzles everywhere! Mal is really goofy and helps Winston out a little because he sees things from a different point of view. In one puzzle his jokes help Winston solve the puzzle. I feel sorry for Zook because everyone accuses him of stealing everything. Just because someone is grumpy doesn't mean he stole everything.
February 15, 2013
One book you should read is The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin. The genre of the book is mystery because of all the things you have to solve and at the end you see all the answers and see what you got right or wrong. The main character is of course Winston Breen. The setting of the book is Winston’s house and other places.
The main conflict is to find what the wooden puzzles mean. This conflict can make the book very interesting because of trying to solve all the puzzles. A scene from the book is where you find the wooden pieces. What I like about Winston is that he likes puzzles a lot. A scene of the book is where he says he likes puzzles.
I like this book. The strength of this book is all the puzzles you have to solve. I have no weaknesses for this book. I would recommend this book to people who love puzzles. This is one of the best books I ever read!
The main conflict is to find what the wooden puzzles mean. This conflict can make the book very interesting because of trying to solve all the puzzles. A scene from the book is where you find the wooden pieces. What I like about Winston is that he likes puzzles a lot. A scene of the book is where he says he likes puzzles.
I like this book. The strength of this book is all the puzzles you have to solve. I have no weaknesses for this book. I would recommend this book to people who love puzzles. This is one of the best books I ever read!
May 1, 2013
I hope I'm not alone when I confess that I don't actually sit and figure out the puzzles... I mean, some of them are easy enough that I can just by glancing, but usually I'm so caught up in the story, I don't even -care- about a puzzle. That aside, I love the Winston Breen books. Winston and his friends are likeable and a joy to learn about. This novel was interesting because Winston takes a step back and seems to realize how much puzzles have overtaken his life...to a point where he almost considers giving them up. Richard Overton was an interesting and inspirational character and had a point to make that everyone should hear: we should all be great at something, but make sure you don't forget about everything else in life.
April 20, 2013
I actually really liked this book! At first, I picked it up as a quick and fun read but this book is more than just a fun read. I really liked the puzzles that were included in the book because the author let the reader's solve them too. I also really liked the plot but I wish the author would have explained why Richard was giving out all his precious items. Who would give away heirlooms and items worth millions? I also really liked the plot twist in the end, but of course I can't reveal that!
I just didn't like the introduction of a main character at the very end of the book, but Berlin made it work. I really liked this book and if you are a person who likes to sit on your couch and read a good book, I suggest this one!
I just didn't like the introduction of a main character at the very end of the book, but Berlin made it work. I really liked this book and if you are a person who likes to sit on your couch and read a good book, I suggest this one!
August 17, 2012
I was really excited to discover a third Winston Breen book at my local library. Winston is a lover of puzzles and the author effectively incorporates puzzles for the reader to solve while still crafting a "who done it" style story that keeps the readers interest whether you are into puzzles or not. In this installment, Winston and his buddies score an invite to a puzzle weekend at the mansion of a favorite musician. In addition to solving the puzzles presented by the musician, Winston must also discover who is stealing the prizes and other items from the mansion. A fun read that will challenge your brain!
June 5, 2014
As said in many reviews, this is an excellent book for readers who like THE WESTING GAME. Although this isn’t the first book in the series, it takes no time to be involved in this story. Winston Breen and his buddies, Mal and Jake are invited to attend a puzzle weekend along with Mr. Breen at the estate of a famous musician. When prizes start disappearing, the secretary is blamed but there’s more to the story. Because there are so many word puzzles in the book this is not a good choice to read on a Kindle. So often you need to get to the back of the book to find the solutions, and then it’s challenging to return to the page you were on. Agest 8-10
Read
March 10, 2014Week 13 (cont.)
Jan 22: 20 min
Jan 23: 20 min
Jan 24: 15 min
Jan 25: 15 min
Week 14:
Jan 27: 15 min
Jan 28: 25 min
Jan 29: 20 min
Jan 30: 20 min
Jan 31: 10 min
Week 15:
Feb 2: 20 min
Feb 4: 20 min
Feb 5: 20 min
Feb 6: 20 min
Feb 7: 10 min
Week 16
Feb 10: 25 min
Feb 11: 20 min
Feb 12: 15 min
Feb 13: 10 min
Feb 14: 20 min
Week 17
Feb 24: 20 min
Feb 25: 20 min
Feb 26: 10 min
Feb 27: 20 min
Feb 28: 20 min
Week 18
March 2: 20 min
March 3: 20 min
(continued on next book)
Jan 22: 20 min
Jan 23: 20 min
Jan 24: 15 min
Jan 25: 15 min
Week 14:
Jan 27: 15 min
Jan 28: 25 min
Jan 29: 20 min
Jan 30: 20 min
Jan 31: 10 min
Week 15:
Feb 2: 20 min
Feb 4: 20 min
Feb 5: 20 min
Feb 6: 20 min
Feb 7: 10 min
Week 16
Feb 10: 25 min
Feb 11: 20 min
Feb 12: 15 min
Feb 13: 10 min
Feb 14: 20 min
Week 17
Feb 24: 20 min
Feb 25: 20 min
Feb 26: 10 min
Feb 27: 20 min
Feb 28: 20 min
Week 18
March 2: 20 min
March 3: 20 min
(continued on next book)
Read
August 19, 2013Let me be honest. I've read all three books in this series not just so I can recommend them to young reders, but because I enjoy them. Three friends who solve mysteries together and love all kinds of puzzles- what's not to like? The adventures remind of every series I loved as a kid and the puzzles are a huge bonus. Puzzles important to the story are solved immediately but there are plenty of extra puzzles (answers in back) for you to enjoy later.
June 28, 2012
A solid entry into the Puzzling World of Winston Breen series, packed full of new puzzles for those that love them. This time Winston, Mal, and Jake are invited to a famous pianist's mansion for a weekend of puzzles. Due to a variety of events, Winston begins to question his puzzle-solving obsession. While it can stand alone, I recommend reading the other two in the series first.
November 24, 2012
Winston and his friends get invited to a weekend full of puzzles at a famous musician's mansion. They end up having to solve a mystery along with their word games when the prizes start to disappear. I love this series. I love all of the word games and puzzles that you can solve, or not, as you see fit.
August 3, 2015
Winston gets invited to a weekend of puzzles and fun, at a rich musician's mansion when things don't quite go as planned. Things start to go missing, and Winston and his friends find themselves in a little bit of a dangerous predicament. The puzzles remain fun, but I was quickly frustrated how the littler kids in the story (though quite rambunctious) were almost exclusively called "the brats."
April 2, 2015
I read this with my eight year old daughter. It was a lot of fun. The story line was engaging. There was mystery, intrigue, good character development, and a lot of puzzles to solve together. It is a book written for a younger audience, but I really enjoyed it, as did my daughter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews