And all of it was just wonderful.īut being the history nerd that I am, I particularly loved the historical ties that wind throughout this story. All around good, with a fun leading lady, a wry sense of humor, an intriguing mystery with ties to both past and present, an old house with a secret, mysterious neighbors, a missing diamond, and more, not to mention the perils of the middle school social order. I literally knew nothing about this book, so I was utterly surprised to discover how much I just really, really loved everything about it. I’ve been hankering for a good mystery yarn of late – not to mention in desperate need of a paranormal palate cleanser – so I was delighted to stumble upon Shakespeare’s Secret during a library crawl.

What an lovely, satisfying, old-fashioned-style mystery this book turned out to be. In this fast-paced novel, Elise Broach weaves an intriguing literary mystery full of historical insights and discoveries. Is it all in keeping with her namesake’s origin-just much ado about nothing? Hero, being Hero, is determined to figure it out. Not to mention Danny Cordova, only the most popular boy in school. There’s a mysterious diamond hidden in her new house, a curious woman next door who seems to know an awful lot about it, and then, well, then there’s Shakespeare. Hero is simply not interested in the connections.īut that’s just the thing suddenly connections are cropping up all over, and odd characters and uncertain pasts are exactly what do fascinate Hero. So she has the same name as a girl in a book by a dusty old author. When Hero starts sixth grade at a new school, she’s less concerned about the literary origins of her Shakespearean name than about the teasing she’s sure to suffer because of it. A missing diamond, a mysterious neighbor, a link to Shakespeare – can Hero uncover the connections?

Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach