50 Fun Facts About The Westing Game

In The Westing Game, what does Turtle Wexler do to anyone who dares to touch her braid?

Kicks them in the shin is Turtle's rule, and half of Sunset Towers has the bruises to prove it. A bruised shin on the wrong man later helps her crack the whole mystery.

The clues handed to the heirs in The Westing Game are words taken from which patriotic song?

America the Beautiful supplies every clue, and Sydelle Pulaski proves it by singing the verses aloud. The heirs still guess wrong, because the real answer hides in the words left out.

Which heir, the last one anyone suspects, turns out to be Sam Westing himself in disguise?

Sandy McSouthers, the friendly doorman, is the millionaire all along. Judge Ford works it out too late: her own partner was the one heir she had never investigated.

Despite its name, which direction does Sunset Towers in The Westing Game face?

East is the wrong way for watching a sunset, and the five-story building has no towers either. The opening page is a warning that nothing in this story is quite what its name says.

Which shocking claim does Sam Westing's will make to the heirs gathered to hear it?

One of them killed him, the will says, in a way too clever for the police to catch. That single sentence turns sixteen heirs into suspects and detectives at once.

Where does Turtle Wexler put the check she shares with her partner, Flora Baumbach?

The stock market is how Turtle reads the will's advice to 'take stock' in the country. She is wrong about what the clues mean, yet she and Flora finish with more than $11,000.

Why does Turtle Wexler confess to planting every bomb that goes off in Sunset Towers?

To protect her sister, Turtle sets off one last blast herself and takes the blame. Angela, the real bomber, is the one tenant nobody thought to suspect.

What does Turtle Wexler do with her team's set of clues so that no other heir can read a word?

Swallows it, right at the card table, once Flora Baumbach has the words memorized. It leaves her rivals guessing while she quietly follows her own theory.

Which prop does secretary Sydelle Pulaski fake a need for so that her neighbors finally notice her?

Painted crutches are Sydelle's bid for attention, along with a wasting disease she invents to go with them. A hospital doctor later calls the crutches a touch of genius from a lonely woman.

What is the real profession of Otis Amber, the 62-year-old delivery 'boy' of The Westing Game?

Private investigator is the job Otis admits to at Turtle's mock trial. Judge Ford had even hired him by phone, puzzled by a voice she was sure she had heard before.

In The Westing Game, the words missing from the heirs' clues spell out which character's full name?

Berthe Erica Crow, the Sunset Towers cleaning woman, was once married to Sam Westing. When no one else will say it, she gives her own name as the answer.

Which man, who does not really exist, signs the letters inviting tenants to rent in Sunset Towers?

Barney Northrup, a salesman in a bad wig, rents out the whole building in a day by telling each visitor only one apartment is left. The narrator admits from the start that there is no such person.

Under which name is Sam Westing living when Turtle Wexler finally tracks him down to claim her win?

Julian Eastman is the chairman of the company its founder supposedly walked away from years earlier. Turtle bikes to his house, tells him she has won, and keeps his secret for good.

According to his obituary in The Westing Game, how much is Sam Westing's estate worth?

$200 million is the prize dangled before sixteen heirs, yet the last page of the will never mentions it. They are left equal shares of Sunset Towers instead.

In The Westing Game, which kind of business made millionaire Sam Westing his enormous fortune?

Paper products built the fortune and a whole company town, Westingtown, for the workers who made them. The will even signs off by telling the heirs to go out and buy some.

Which body of water do the luxury Sunset Towers apartments in The Westing Game overlook?

Lake Michigan gives the tenants their view, but the windows that matter look the other way, north toward the old Westing house on its cliff.

On which night of the year does Turtle Wexler sneak into the Westing house to win a bet?

Halloween is when Turtle goes in, at two dollars for every minute she lasts. She runs out screaming after finding a body tucked up in a four-poster bed.

Which costume is Turtle Wexler wearing when she creeps into the Westing house on a dare?

A witch, in a costume Angela offered to hem. Turtle likes the label so much that she signs 'witch' as her position on the receipt for the will reading.

Which item taken from her mother does Turtle Wexler later spot in the hands of the corpse?

A silver cross goes into the Westing house in Turtle's pocket and gets left behind when she bolts. At the will reading it is clasped in the hands of the body in the coffin.

At which game did Sam Westing trick young Josie-Jo Ford by giving up his queen on purpose?

Chess runs through the whole book: the obituary calls the dead man a master, and a board sits ready in his game room. Judge Ford spots his old queen trick one move too late.

Which holiday did the patriotic Sam Westing celebrate every year by staging elaborate pageants?

Fourth of July frames the whole story: the invitations to Sunset Towers go out on that day, and years later it is the day the old man finally dies.

In which Midwestern state, the home state of author Ellen Raskin, is The Westing Game set?

Wisconsin is where Raskin was born and grew up, in Milwaukee during the Great Depression. She studied art at the state university before moving to New York.

Which kind of doctor is Jake Wexler, who rents the medical office in the Sunset Towers lobby?

Podiatrist, a foot doctor, which is why the building's cleaning woman comes to him to have a corn removed. His wife prefers to explain his absence from the will reading as an 'emergency operation'.

Which illegal sideline does Jake Wexler, father of Turtle and Angela, run beside his medical work?

Bookmaking, taking bets on sports, is Jake's secret, and Turtle knows all about it. By the end he has gone straight, working on the government's side of gambling.

Which hobby fills the days of Chris Theodorakis, who watches the Westing house from his wheelchair?

Birdwatching through binoculars makes Chris the best witness in the building: he sees a limping figure slip into the Westing house just before smoke rises from its chimney.

Which sport makes Doug Hoo a high school star in The Westing Game and later an Olympic champion?

Running the mile is Doug's whole life, to the despair of a father who wants him studying. He goes on to win Olympic gold.

Which pet name does Turtle Wexler start using for her partner, the dressmaker Flora Baumbach?

Baba comes out of a bomb scare: whenever Turtle shouts 'Mrs. Baumbach' down a hall, jumpy neighbors hear the word bomb. Flora, in turn, calls her Alice.

Sydelle Pulaski's shorthand notes on the will are unreadable to others because of which language?

Polish shorthand makes Sydelle the only person able to read the only notes anyone took on the will. The other heirs end up offering her a bigger share of the prize to translate them.

What traps the heirs inside Sunset Towers for days, right after the first reading of the will?

A blizzard cuts the phones and the power as well, so the heirs can do little but visit one another. The snooping, bargaining and stealing start almost at once.

What does Turtle Wexler sell door to door, at five dollars each, when Sunset Towers loses power?

Striped candles that mark the hours as they burn are Turtle's own handiwork. One of them is later used to light the fuse of a bomb.

After the first bomb goes off in the Theodorakis family's kitchen, what red mess is taken for blood?

Tomato sauce from exploding cans covers Catherine Theodorakis, who staggers out of the kitchen looking far worse than she is. The police put it down to a gas explosion.

At which party does a gift-wrapped bomb go off in the hands of Angela Wexler?

Her bridal shower ends when a thin gold-wrapped box bursts into rockets as she unwraps it. She is the only one hurt, left with burned hands and a scar on her face.

Where in Sunset Towers does the last of the bombs go off, burning Turtle Wexler's braid?

The elevator is also where the tenants keep their bulletin board, crowded with notes about lost property and clues. The blast costs Turtle the braid she has guarded all book.

What lights up the sky over the Westing house on the night the heirs hear the last of the will?

Fireworks were the old man's favorite show, and this last display sets his empty house on fire. The heirs watch it burn from Sunset Towers, which the will has just left to them.

Why does Madame Hoo secretly take her neighbors' belongings in The Westing Game?

To get back to China, she planned to sell what she took. She hands it back in tears in the middle of Turtle's mock trial.

Which of Turtle Wexler's belongings is reported stolen on the Sunset Towers bulletin board?

A Mickey Mouse clock vanishes along with a pearl necklace and a gold watch as a thief works the building. When it finally comes back, Turtle lets the thief keep it.

James Shin Hoo once sued Sam Westing, claiming the tycoon stole his idea for which product?

The disposable diaper suit was settled, but Hoo never stopped believing he had been cheated. It is why a restaurant owner turns up in the will of a man he despised.

Which invention of his own finally makes restaurant owner James Shin Hoo a wealthy man?

Shoe insoles win over his neighbors one sore foot at a time. The building's cleaning woman is so pleased with her free pair that she stops suspecting him of the bombings.

Which punning new name does Grace Wexler choose for the struggling restaurant atop Sunset Towers?

Hoo's on First borrows the old 'Who's on First?' comedy routine, and the owner hates it. Grace ends up managing the place as a sports-themed success, then opening more.

Judge J.J. Ford believes she owes Sam Westing a debt she can never repay, because he paid for what?

Her education, from boarding school at twelve onward, was his gift to the daughter of two of his servants. She settles the debt by paying for another heir's schooling.

Where does Otis Amber spend his spare hours downtown, as a fellow heir on a borrowed bike discovers?

A soup kitchen called Good Salvation is where Otis ladles out meals for the poor. The heir who tailed him there goes home ashamed of having spied.

Which surname was Sam Westing born with, a name he shares with Grace Wexler's side of the family?

Windkloppel is the name the will finally admits to, and it proves Grace really was a relative all along. Turtle ties it to the will's line about ashes scattered to the four winds.

How does Sam Westing's will address all sixteen heirs, prompting an outburst from Grace Wexler?

As his nieces and nephews, though most of them have never met him. The will has already guessed her reaction: its very next line orders Grace to sit down.

In the ghost story told about the Westing house, which two words are all a terrified boy can say?

Purple waves is the phrase that hooks Turtle into taking the dare. The words surface again among the clues, and on the dress one heir wears to the will reading.

After crossing out two humbler answers, which position does Grace Wexler sign for the lawyer?

Heiress is her final choice, after 'housewife' and 'decorator', and the other heirs laugh when it is read aloud. By the second will reading she has earned a new title: restaurateur.

Which fellow heir has Turtle Wexler married by the final chapter of The Westing Game?

Theo Theodorakis grows up to be a novelist with one book out and a second nearly finished. Readers expecting her schoolgirl crush, Doug, get a surprise.

What does Angela Wexler become after breaking off her engagement and going back to college?

An orthopedic surgeon is the kind of career she had given up on to please her mother. Years later she and Denton Deere marry after all.

Which top American prize for children's books did The Westing Game win the year after it came out?

Newbery Medal judges chose it in 1979, and a 2012 School Library Journal survey still ranked it among the ten best children's novels ever written.

Ellen Raskin, author of The Westing Game, designed the first jacket for which children's classic?

A Wrinkle in Time wore a Raskin jacket on its first edition, one of more than a thousand she designed as a commercial artist before she began writing novels of her own.

The 1997 film of The Westing Game, with Ray Walston as the tycoon, is also known by which title?

Get a Clue gave Walston all of the old man's disguises to play. The film first aired on Showtime under the book's own title.