SOLVED. Children's fiction book about boy who's about to inherit money from his grandfather. Spoilers. [s]

[Ed]

Book about boy who has a rich mother and a poor father. His grandfather dies and leaves him an inheritance. I read this book around 2002. The book seemed dated at the time - I feel like it was set around the 1960's-1970's.


Spoilers Ahead:

So the book is about a boy who goes to a preppy school because his grandfather is rich. But he lives in a poor area of a city - I'm pretty sure it's New York - because his dad is a struggling composer?/musician. His mom and aunt don't care about him very much but he has to go see them sometimes. The boy prefers to live with his dad and keeps track of the household budget. The boy is friends with a neighborhood kid who's parents own a candy store. The neighborhood kid has a lot of siblings and they live in a small apartment.

The boy's father meets a nice lady and the boy likes the lady as well. They decide to get cheaply married and the reception has lots of sandwiches. His father is a bad driver and the boy and lady bond over this.

The boy's grandfather dies and the boy is set to inherit a lot of money. His mom gets half of the grandfather's fortune if she takes care of the boy. The mom and aunt decide to kidnap the boy and keep him in a really fancy hotel. The boy can order whatever he wants but a goon keeps him locked up. He throws a shoe out of the window and eats a lot of steaks/malts.

The boy escapes with help from a classmate who works at the hotel. He escapes back home. The police try to arrest him in his apartment until his dad calls a lawyer. His mom leaves the country with only a quarter of the money instead of half.

[Ky]

Sport by Louise Fitzhugh?

[Ed]

Ky wrote: "Sport by Louise Fitzhugh?"

Yes, that is it. Thank you so much for finding the book. I did not remember Harriet the Spy being in it even for a bit.

[Ky]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Ed.

Sport (book 3) of the Harriet the Spy series by Louise Fitzhugh - Ky's find.