Lost Treasure Of Casa Loma by Eric Wilson (October 13,2005)

In the 19th mystery of the Tom & Liz Austen series, the siblings and their Uncle Henry arrive at Casa Loma in Old Toronto after receiving the call that Uncle Henry's cousin has disappeared. Sir Nigel Brampton has been the owner of Casa Loma for about a year. His disappearance occurs not long after his discovery of diamonds within the castle and his hiding them somewhere safe. While Tom and Liz try to piece together the clues of where the diamonds are hidden to hopefully find Sir Nigel, the siblings learn more about Sir Nigel's friends and staff while touring the city.

I started this series when I was much younger and enjoyed the blend of history and mystery. However, this novel has a vast amount of issues that resulted in a disappointing read for me.

Don't get wrong; the story starts off with a strong opening with the first line, "We fear it was murder." The story catapults into a classic mystery novel with a spooky castle, a strange butler, lights going out at a crucial moment and another disappearance.

We also have several scenes depicting the history of the Old Toronto area, including Kensington Market and Fort York. It provides readers with an immersive experience, which is one of the reasons why I originally fell in love with the series.

But as the story progresses, it's written with too much brevity. Consequently, important characters are repeatedly cut out of the story and underdeveloped in the scenes they have. In some instances, I was left questioning character motives and went back to see if I missed details, which was not the case.

I was also disheartened to see Tom and Liz act as if they had never solved a mystery before, making such obvious sleuthing mistakes. This book is not a good representation of the series, so I would recommend readers checking out the earlier books in the series.

For a longer and spoiler-filled review, check out my blog post: https://redwolfsroom.blogspot.com/2021/02/book-review-lost-treasure-of-casa-loma.html