Johnny Dixon #2: The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs

My name is Johnny Dixon, and I'm worried I'll be left alone. I live with my Grandma and Grandpa, and my dad enlisted to be a fighter pilot in the Korean War. Grandma has a tumor on her brain, so I'm really worried she might die. I've been obsessing over the clues for the lost Glomus will, and I just have to get the $10,000 for solving the mystery. Then, I can use the money to get Grandma the best doctors if her condition gets worse. The clues didn't make any sense to me until I took a Boy Scout camping trip up into the northern part of the state. We saw a castle-like house nearby, and I found out it belonged to the Glomus family. The nephew shared a story about the Guardian making people disappear, and I assumed it was a bunch of hooey. I changed my mind when I heard him scream, and no one has seen him since.

The thing that surprised me most about this book was that it didn't mention anything about the events from the first book. Johnny accidentally summoned an evil spirit in that one, but there were no references to it when things got a little eerie in this book. Johnny over-thought everything, again, and figured he was the only one who could help his Grandma. Of course, he couldn't tell anyone about his plans, because they'd only talk him out of it. The professor was an interesting character, since he was a crotchety old man who happened to be Johnny's best friend. He was sometimes brash and blunt, but he still displayed concern for Johnny's safety. Like in the first book, he introduced Johnny to a mystery and then proceeded to tell him to forget about it. The mystery of the will became an obsession for Johnny, and his quest to find it was pretty unrealistic. Not totally unbelievable, so it was okay. This series offers a nice transition into more serious ghost stories. The books aren't super childish, but they won't freak out young readers either. Overall, I've enjoyed the characters and stories, and I recommend you give them a shot.