THE MASTERMIND'S TRAP

Megumi Mizuno and her friends are back at Leland Chase Academy with another trail of clues to follow—and even higher stakes.

After solving the Mastermind’s mystery in A Study in Secrets (2025), Meg gets to enjoy her prize: a California vacation with her friends Tana Rabin, Ryan Hsieh, and Zane Yoshikawa. But what should have been the end of the now unraveled mystery turns out to be just the beginning of another series of clues to solve. Once the friends return to their boarding school in upstate New York, Meg scrambles to protect them from threatened ruin and figure out what the Mastermind really wants. This group of seventh years is bright and fiercely loyal to one another. Meg and her roommate, Tana, have a believably close friendship that serves as the unbreakable center of the foursome. The mystery thrills, and Florence weaves in serious coming-of-age themes and explores grief and family tension and dysfunction. One particularly tender and moving scene shows Meg mourning the loss of her mother with Tana by her side. Meg celebrates Oshōgatsu (New Year’s Day) and visits the Japanese American National Museum, where she learns for the first time about the internment of Japanese Americans, including some of her own family members, during World War II. Some elements of the mystery are left unresolved, setting up for a sequel.

Well-drawn characters strengthen their bonds as they tackle another page-turning mystery.