Book Review: The Curse of the Dead Man's Diamond by Christyne Morrell

The Curse of the Dead Man's Diamond by Christyne Morrell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Delightful middle-grade book featuring a haunted house, humor, and finding out home is where the heart is.

The Curse of the Dead Man’s Diamond by Christyne Morrell is a delightful new middle-grade haunted house story featuring an engaging 12-year-old protagonist and the surprise inhabitants of her new home in Florida. There’s so much to enjoy: a mystery, a search for a fabulous but cursed diamond, and a young girl’s discovery that home is where the heart is.

Charlotte “Charlie” Hess is such a delightful character. While grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother, her father buys a fixer-upper home in a small coastal Florida town, uprooting her from her friends’ group and all that was familiar. The story unfolds from Charlie’s first-person point of view, and her voice is relatable and delivered with wit. I was on board and behind this character from page one and completely engaged with her feelings. The same goes for Charlie’s dad, who is trying to fit in in his new town. I laughed out loud at his Pig Latin! The three spirits are as well-developed, and their tragic backstories are sad and preventable. While they are ghosts and do ghostly things, as a parent, I was more frightened by the idea of an unsupervised 12-year-old with a box of hair dye. (So, not too scary for sensitive young readers.)

The plot moves quickly, with convenient-length chapters creating good logical stopping points for reading aloud or on one’s own. Chapters relating how the curse came to be are interspersed with Charlie’s narrative of the present. Young readers should have no trouble following the shift in perspective or time frame. The descriptions of the house, the town, and the landscape are vivid, and I felt as if I was experiencing the scenes firsthand.

I recommend THE CURSE OF THE DEAD MAN’S DIAMOND to readers of middle-grade fiction who enjoy a paranormal aspect in their stories.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.

View all my reviews