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The Westing Game Study Guide

Ellen Raskin

Summary

Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summaries

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Chapter 1: Sunset Towers

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An unnamed sixty-two-year-old delivery boy distributes six letters to a select group
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of people. The letters invite the receivers to rent apartments in the new, luxurious
Sunset Towers on Lake Michigan, which includes a doctor’s o!ce and two
The Westing Game
restaurant spaces. Barney Northrup signed the letters, but he is not a real person.
Still, a man using that name guides the prospective tenants throughout the Add your thoughts right here!
building. He proves a successful, if dishonest, salesperson as he leases all the
spaces. The new tenants include one who was mistakenly invited.

Chapter 2: Ghosts or Worse Take a Study Break

The tenants move into Sunset Towers, and James Shin Hoo opens his Chinese
restaurant and George Theodorakis opens his co#ee shop. A month later, five QUIZ: Is This a Taylor Swift Lyric or a
Quote by Edgar Allan Poe?
people gather in the driveway, gawking at the nearby Westing mansion. They are
Sandy McSouthers, the doorman who was fired from the Westing paper mill; high
school seniors Theo Theodorakis and Doug Hoo, sons of the restaurant owners;
Otis Amber, the delivery boy; and junior-high-school student Turtle Wexler. Smoke The 7 Most Embarrassing Proposals
in Literature
rises from the mansion’s chimney even though Sam Westing, the owner,
disappeared years ago. Some say his corpse still lies inside. Sandy tells about two
kids who dared enter the house; one kid is dead, and the other now lives in an
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asylum. Turtle accepts a bet to enter the house. Watching from a window in Sunset
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Towers, Chris Theodorakis, Theo’s fifteen-year-old brother who su#ers from
spasms, thinks about the man with a limp he saw enter the house before the smoke
appeared.
QUIZ: Which Greek God Are You?

Chapter 3: Tenants In and Out, Part I

In the Wexler apartment, Angela, the pretty older Wexler daughter, is getting fitted
for her wedding gown by Flora Baumbach, the elderly dressmaker who lives and
works in the building, while Angela’s mother, Grace Windsor Wexler, supervises.
Angela sees smoke coming from the Westing house chimney, and then Turtle
comes into the room and makes the same announcement. Grace speaks sharply to
Turtle, and when Turtle snaps back, Grace must stop herself from slapping Turtle’s
face. Instead, Grace speaks of Angela’s fiancé, Dr. Deere, an intern, and beams at
the perfect Angela.

On the first floor, Crow, the building’s cleaning woman, is being treated by Dr. Jake
Wexler, a podiatrist, when she sees the smoke. She tells Jake that she doesn’t
believe Westing’s corpse is rotting in the house and that if Westing is actually dead,
he’s likely in hell. On the top floor, in Shin Hoo’s restaurant, owner Mr. Hoo tells his
son Doug to stop wasting time with ghost stories and go study. Doug, who is also a
track star, jogs down the stairs and exercises in his apartment. Left alone, Mr. Hoo
promises that if Westing has indeed returned, he will not escape punishment again.

Chapter 3: Tenants In and Out, Part II

Sandy greets Judge J. J. (Josie-Joe) Ford in the driveway and points out the smoke
coming from the Westing house. Sandy repeats Otis’s ghost story, and Judge Ford
says Otis is stupid, a comment she instantly regrets. As the state’s first Black and
female judge, she believes she needs to be more careful. Judge Ford owes
Westing money and doesn’t know how she will pay him back.

Meanwhile, in the Theodorakis apartment, Chris, who uses a wheelchair,

unsuccessfully tries to tell Theo that he saw somebody enter the Westing mansion,
but Theo interrupts him with an overly dramatic ghost story about Westing. Chris
thinks that Theo is a good storyteller, so he doesn’t want to spoil the moment by
explaining that a person with a limp entered the house. Outside again, Sydelle
Pulaski, a secretary, returns home to Sunset Towers. She limps through the lobby,
thinking that no one pays attention to her other than Chris and Turtle, who just kicks
her in the shins as she does all people. Sydelle goes into her apartment and
unwraps packages containing crutches, paint, and paintbrushes, not noticing the
smoke coming from the Westing house.

Chapter 4: The Corpse Found

The time arrives for Turtle to complete the dare to enter the Westing House. Turtle
arrives at the Westing house as Doug, acting as timekeeper, watches from behind a
tree. Doug has promised to pay Turtle for every minute she stays in the house.
Scared, Turtle enters the open French doors. Eleven minutes pass before Turtle’s
terrifying scream pierces the night and she runs out of the house. The next scene
moves to Turtle’s bedroom, where she thinks about the corpse she saw in the bed
after she followed a whisper to the second floor.

The next morning, Turtle reads a newspaper article announcing that industrialist
Sam Westing was found dead in his house. Westing was a laborer who saved his
money, bought a paper mill, and built an estate worth $200 million. He loved
games, chess, and disguises. His wife left him after their adult daughter drowned
the night before her wedding. Westing had not been seen in thirteen years, since
his involvement in a near-fatal car accident along with a friend named Dr. Sikes.
Turtle feels surprised that the article fails to mention the letter next to his bed or the
evidence that she had been in the house. The next day, Otis Amber delivers sixteen
letters from Westing’s attorney, Ed Plum. The letters invite Westing’s beneficiaries to
a reading of the will.

Chapter 5: Sixteen Heirs

The heirs assemble at the Westing mansion. Grace, who believes she is Westing’s
niece, arrives with Turtle and Angela. In the library, Plum sorts envelopes near an
open co!n holding Westing’s body. More heirs arrive: Dr. Denton Deere, Angela’s
fiancé; Flora Baumbach, the seamstress; Otis Amber; Doug Hoo and his father;
Sandy, the doorman; Theo; and Chris. When Judge J. J. Ford arrives, Grace decides
that the judge and some others must be Westing’s former household workers, not
relatives. The final two heirs enter: Crow, the cleaning woman; and Sydelle Pulaski,
who uses a crutch and claims to have a disease.

Chapter 6: The Westing Will

Sydelle takes notes in shorthand as Plum reads the eccentric but legal will. Written
by Westing, the document explains that he returned to live among his friends and
enemies. The heirs are his nieces and nephews, and one of them took his life. As
the group expresses anxiety, Plum continues reading. Westing’s heir will be the
person who finds something, but the sentence cuts o# what that “thing” is. Praising
the opportunities of America, the will states that anyone who plays the Westing
game may become rich. Judge Ford protests, but the will instructs her to sit down
and read a letter from Plum and then directs everyone to say a silent prayer for
Westing.

Chapter 7: The Westing Game

The heirs gather in the game room, where they are paired into eight teams:
Madame Hoo (Mr. Hoo’s wife) and Jake Wexler (both absent), Turtle and Flora
Baumbach, Chris and Dr. Deere, Sandy and Judge Ford, Grace and Mr. Hoo, Berthe
Erica Crow and Otis, Theo and Doug, and Angela and Sydelle. Each team present
will receive $10,000 and a unique set of clues, but it’s what they don’t have that
counts.

The teams receive envelopes filled with squares with words written on them. Most
try to rearrange the squares to make sense, but Sydelle and Angela listen to the
others to try to figure out their clues. Otis refers to Queen Crow and King Amber,
and Doug and Theo have the word on or no. Plum won’t tell them what they are
supposed to find or give them a copy of the will, but the heirs realize Sydelle has
notes in shorthand. The will’s final statement declares that solving the game is easy
if they know what they are looking for, warns them that not everybody is who they
say they are, and tells them to buy Westing Paper Products. Throughout the scene,
Theo has played several moves with an unknown opponent on a chessboard that
was previously set up.

Chapter 8: The Paired Heirs, Part I

Back at Sunset Towers, the pairs get to work. Most tenants try to convince Sydelle
to share her notes of the will, but she refuses. Chris thinks his clues—FOR PLAIN
GRAIN SHED—point to Otis (GRAIN = oats) and Judge Ford (FOR + D from shed), but
neither limps like the person he saw go into the Westing mansion. Turtle and Flora
Baumbach believe their clues—SEA MOUNTAIN AM O—relate to stock market
symbols and the way to win the game is to make the most money. They decide to
buy stocks in these companies plus in Westing Paper Products.

Mr. Hoo and Grace look at their clues in Mr. Hoo’s restaurant: FRUITED PURPLE
WAVES FOR SEA. Grace recalls that Sandy said something about “purple waves”
and Sydelle was wearing a dress with purple waves but doesn’t think she is the
murderer. Grace tells Mr. Hoo to ask his son for his clues, but Mr. Hoo complains that
Angela didn’t show them Sydelle’s notes, and Grace storms out. Doug and Theo
can’t figure out the meaning of their clues: HIS N ON TO THEE FOR. Theo asks more
questions about the night Turtle went into the Westing house. He tells Doug about
the chess game in the game room, and they decide to figure out which heir plays
chess.

Chapter 8: The Paired Heirs, Part II

Judge Ford thinks about the clues—SKIES AM SHINING BROTHER—while

examining the letter that Plum gave her, which certifies that Westing was sane. The
letter is signed by Dr. Sikes, who was also in the car accident. Judge Ford mulls over
the will: Westing implied that he was murdered, the murderer was an heir, he knew
the murderer, and the murderer’s name was the correct answer. As she doesn’t
believe Westing was the type of person to get murdered, she deduces that one of
the heirs is guilty of some other action against him. Judge Ford determines to find
the heir before anyone else to ensure justice, not vengeance, wins out. She calls a
newspaper to find out everything she can about the heirs.

In the Wexler apartment, Angela and Sydelle look at their own clues: GOOD GRACE
FROM HOOD SPACIOUS. Then they add the words they have deduced from other
pairs: KING QUEEN PURPLE WAVES ON (NO), GRAINS, MOUNTAIN (EMPTY).
Sydelle wonders if the object of the game is actually “twin” (from “to win”), and they
go to her apartment to transcribe her notes. But when Sydelle and Angela get to
her apartment, they find the door open and her notebook stolen.

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Chapter 9: Lost and Found

The tenants begin leaving notes for one another on the elevator wall. Sydelle
requests the return of her notebook, an anonymous person asks that players gather
to discuss sharing clues, and Judge Ford invites everyone to a party. Turtle and
Flora return from placing their stock order. Grace tries to convince Turtle to share
her clues by treating Turtle with extra kindness, but Turtle refuses to ever share her
clues. Angela and Sydelle plan to attend the party dressed alike to find out if
anyone is a twin. Grace tries to get Sydelle to share their notes by saying any money
she wins will go to Angela. In Judge Ford’s apartment, the newspaperman informs
Judge Ford that Mr. Hoo sued Westing over a diaper invention he claims Westing
stole.

Chapter 10: The Long Party

Although few people seem to be enjoying themselves at Judge Ford’s party, no one
will leave because they are afraid of missing any clues. Many heirs watch one
another, like Chris, who looks to see who else besides Sydelle limps. Theo talks
about chess, and Sydelle keeps bringing up twins. Angela wonders why people
only ask about her fiancé and eventually runs to cry in the kitchen, where she finds
Crow, who wants to comfort her but only o#ers a dish towel. The guests discuss a
sentence that Flora remembers from the will about God refining gold.

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Chapter 11: The Meeting

The tenants meet at the co#ee shop. Theo explains that his and Doug’s clues don’t
make sense; since no sets of clues are alike, by sharing clues they can find the
murderer, win the game, and split the inheritance. Sydelle believes she should get a
larger share because the will holds clues, too, and she took notes on the document.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Hoo pulls out her shorthand pad, saying someone left it at his
restaurant. He adds that Grace tried to transcribe it, but the notations didn’t
translate into words. Sydelle explains that’s because she takes shorthand in Polish.
Mr. Hoo proposes that Sydelle get a larger share, but Judge Ford wants to
postpone a decision until all heirs are present. Instead, they ask one another
questions. Suddenly, the meeting comes to a panicked end.

Chapter 12: The First Bomb

Everyone gathered in the co#ee shop hears the sound of bangs and screams. Mrs.
Theodorakis rushes out of the kitchen covered in tomato sauce. She and her
husband think someone set o# a bomb. Later, Judge Ford gets more information
from the newspaperman: George Theodorakis escorted Violet Westing, Sam
Westing’s daughter, to a party 20 years ago. She recalls the other connections heirs
have to Westing: Mr. Hoo through the lawsuit; Sandy, who used to work in the paper
factory; and herself. Judge Ford looks in the phone book to find a detective and
sees a name that seems too coincidental. She dials a number and hears the voice
she was expecting.

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Chapter 13: The Second Bomb

The scene opens as the unnamed bomber sets a can on a kitchen shelf in Mr. Hoo’s
restaurant. Grace, meanwhile, has a new job as a hostess, and most of the tenants
are coming for dinner. Grace seats Chris and Sydelle together. Angela and Theo
share a table and talk about their thwarted college dreams; Theo aims to get a job
to help pay for an operation for his brother, and Angela only attended college for a
year before dropping out due to her parents’ desire that she marry for money.
Judge Ford and Flora sit together, and Flora says that Angela reminds her of Violet
Westing. Jake Wexler joins Turtle, who is listening to a bad stock report on the
radio, and Turtle accuses her father of being a bookie. Sydelle asks Chris if he can
walk and says being in a wheelchair is the perfect disguise for a criminal, which
delights Chris.

Sydelle goes to the kitchen to thank the chef just as Otis enters the restaurant and
the bomb goes o#. Sydelle is injured, and Jake calls an ambulance, which takes her,
accompanied by Angela, to the hospital. The police o!cer and fire inspector
investigate but believe both explosions were due to a gas explosion. However, the
bomber is already planning to place the next bomb in the Wexler apartment.

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Chapter 14: Pairs Repaired

Flora and Turtle go to the stockbroker’s o!ce, where Turtle teaches Flora how to
monitor the ticker tape, and Turtle sees their stocks have gone down. Teams begin
gathering at Sunset Towers. Sandy has been working on the clues but has come up
with six suspects, not one. He can’t figure out why he is an heir. He and Judge Ford
agree that Westing seems out to get someone. Crow and Otis are in the Wexler
kitchen. Otis thinks Crow lost their clues, but she actually put them in Angela’s bag.
Dr. Deere tells Chris he does not want to play the game, but Chris won’t sign the
check until he does.

Dr. Deere then takes Angela to the hospital to see Sydelle. At this time, Dr. Deere
asks Angela if she wants to get married, but she can’t tell him the truth, which is no,
because she feels the need to be perfect. Sydelle’s psychiatrist confirms to Angela
that Sydelle made up the wasting disease, but Angela doesn’t tell Sydelle she
knows the truth. She looks in her bag to get toiletries for Sydelle and discovers a
letter addressed to “my daughter” along with two clues: THY BEAUTIFUL.

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Chapter 15: Fact and Gossip

Life returns to normal after a snowstorm; the kids go back to school, diners come to
the co#ee shop, and the adults return to their jobs while Flora goes to the
stockbroker’s o!ce. Back at Sunset Towers, Turtle, Sandy, Doug, Theo, and Otis
gather in the driveway. Turtle has been telling them about her night in the Westing
mansion. She says Westing looked too peaceful to have been murdered. After Otis
leaves, Sandy says that the only others who went out that evening were Otis and
Crow, who left together.

Inside the building, Judge Ford comes home from work with newspaper clippings
about tenants. She and Sandy look at them and discuss the mysterious Mrs.
Westing, whom Judge Ford knew long ago. One clipping tells about Violet
Westing’s engagement to a state senator, but a picture shows Violet dancing with
George Theodorakis; she does look like Angela. Sandy explains that according to
the gossip, Violet killed herself because she wanted to marry George instead of the
politician. Judge Ford asks if Angela and Theo are secretly dating, but Sandy says
“no” and if Westing wished to replay the events of Violet’s death, Angela would have
to die.

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Chapter 16: The Third Bomb

Angela is miserable at her own wedding shower. As she opens her presents, an
impatient Turtle reaches over to peek, but Angela grabs the gift away, and the lid
blasts into the air. Fireworks shoot out, leaving Angela with burned hands and a
deep cut on her cheek. The police arrive, but the captain believes the explosion is a
prank, not a bomb. At the hospital, Angela shares a room with Sydelle and doesn’t
remember what happened. Privately, Turtle tells Angela she will have some
scarring and that what she did was dumb. Pretending to be asleep, Sydelle realizes
that Angela is the bomber.

Chapter 17: Some Solutions

The stock market drops, and the bomb squad investigates packages arriving at
Sunset Towers. Madame Hoo learns English from Jake, who eats lunch at the
restaurant and helps Grace and Mr. Hoo. He thinks that PURPLE FRUITED refers to
the lawyer, Ed Plum. Sandy shares information from the detective’s reports: Mr. Hoo
sued Westing for stealing his disposable diaper invention and settled for a cash
payment despite thinking he was cheated. In his apartment, Theo studies his clues
and realizes that by moving the letters, he can create the chemical solution for an
explosive, NH4NO3, while the remaining letters spell Otis. He believes he has found
the murderer and goes to tell Doug but runs into Crow, who pulls him into her
apartment to pray.

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Chapter 18: The Trackers

Flora Baumbach, whom Turtle starts calling Baba, braids Turtle’s hair every morning
while getting instructions for the stockbrokers. Meanwhile, Sandy reads information
about Flora: She’s sixty years old, her husband deserted her, her daughter had
Down syndrome and died last year, and she sewed Violet Westing’s wedding gown.
Then Sandy reads about Otis Amber and starts laughing out loud. At school, Theo
thinks the previous night with Crow must have been a dream. He tells Doug their
clues point to ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make explosives. Doug isn't
interested; he knows that if he wins his upcoming track meet, he will get an athletic
scholarship. Still, he agrees to spy on Otis after school and follows him around town
and back to Sunset Towers.

Then Otis gives Doug a letter from Plum; the heirs must gather on Saturday night.
Sandy and Judge Ford meet to review their notes. They have learned nothing new
about Otis and Dr. Deere, but Sydelle, the fifty-year-old secretary, has no Westing
connection. In the hospital, Angela tells Dr. Deere that they will have to postpone
the wedding. Turtle kicks Dr. Deere in the shin. At Sunset Towers, Chris has three
visitors: Otis, Flora, and the limping Dr. Deere. Chris says Flora shared a clue, but Dr.
Deere wants to take Chris to the hospital to see a neurologist about a new
medicine.

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Chapter 19: Odd Relatives

The stock market finally turns upward for Turtle and Flora. Crow doesn’t want to go
back to the Westing mansion but feels like she must as self-punishment. Otis
believes the bomber is Mr. Hoo, and Crow immediately wants to take vengeance on
him for scarring Angela’s face. She visits Mr. Hoo’s restaurant, but before she can say
anything, he gives her insoles for her aching feet, and she suddenly feels certain he
is not the bomber. Judge Ford and Sandy meet to review their list.

The fifty-seven-year-old Crow is divorced from a man named Windkloppel and

started a soup kitchen, but her Westing connection remains unknown. Next, they
discuss the Wexler family. Grace claims to be Sam Westing’s niece, and Angela and
Grace both resemble Violet. Judge Ford makes another connection: Grace’s maiden
name is actually Windkloppel, so she may be related to Crow. When they read the
investigator’s reports, they also discover that Sydelle was made an heir by mistake;
it was Sybil Pulaski who was childhood friends with Crow, not Sydelle. At the
hospital, Chris, who is undergoing tests, visits Angela to give her an envelope he
found in his bathrobe pocket that he mistakenly believes must be from Theo. It
contains two clues: WITH MAJESTIES.

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Chapter 20: Confessions

Turtle and Flora sell their stock for a profit, Doug follows Otis, and Theo goes to the
hospital after blowing up the science lab while experimenting with chemical
fertilizers. Mr. Theodorakis tells Judge Ford about his relationship with Violet. They
were childhood sweethearts who wanted to marry, but Violet’s mother broke them
up and arranged for her to marry a politician. Feeling trapped, Violet committed
suicide. Sandy and Judge Ford conclude that Westing wanted to punish the heir
that caused Violet’s death, who must be Mrs. Westing.

Chapter 21: The Fourth Bomb

Theo implies to Turtle that he knows the bomber’s identity, and Turtle tries to warn
Angela against confessing. Theo follows Otis to the soup kitchen to spy. Judge Ford
and Sandy review their own information. Sandy lost his pension when Westing fired
him. Judge Ford grew up in the Westing household, where her parents worked.
Westing paid for her education, which remains an unpaid debt. After another bomb
goes o# in the elevator, the police find a note from the bomber written on the back
of Turtle’s schoolwork. The police take Turtle to Judge Ford’s apartment, and Judge
Ford deduces that Turtle is protecting Angela but says nothing. Turtle confesses
that she was in the house the night Westing died and that he didn’t look like a real
person. Sydelle and Angela review their clues and notes, and Sydelle makes an
important realization about the game: the song “America, the Beautiful” could hold
answers to their questions.
0:03

Chapter 22: Losers, Winners

Turtle posts a notice confessing to setting the bombs. Grace feels terrible anger
Con$dentialité - Modalités

toward Turtle for injuring Angela, but Jake comforts Grace. When they return to
their apartment, they find that Angela has returned from the hospital, but they pay
her little attention. Angela and Sydelle talk about whom they should name as their