Using the websites listed on what makes a good mystery, list the traits of a mystery. Are these characteristics found in the Westing Game? Explain. Use at least 3 examples from the text to support your answer.
One trait was found in the book. It was "red herring". One example is when Otis went and stayed at a barn for a long time and went out empty handed. Another one was when Edgar said there was a murderer Crow turned away. The last one was when Turtle thanked Angela at the hospital she said it was dumb for Angela to do something.
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Michelle Pietrzak
6/15/2014 01:26:46 pm
One trait is that in the book Samuel Wearing was so called "killed" by somebody. Yes, he could have written his will, but how did he write down who killed him if he was already dead? You can find out in the story. Another trait is when they figure out that Crow was married to Samuel Westing and she was in the clues given to the people. The last trait is when Turtle set off all the bombs.
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Jordyn Barden
7/6/2014 09:01:32 am
One trait was found in the book, when Samuel W. Westing was "murdered" by one of the 16 heirs, how could he have known that he was murdered and that Grace Windsor Wexler stood up, or that the judge was going to standup in his will if he was dead? Another is red herring, I think it mislead us with everybody thinking Otis Amber killed Samuel W. Westing. The final trait is when you find out that Crow is Samuel W. Westing's ex-wife.
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Tyler Esco
7/14/2014 03:05:12 am
The common traits of a mystery are hidden evidence, suspense, inference gaps, foreshadowing, and red herring. These characteristics are found in the Westing Game. An example of hidden evidence is the actual will and Turtle finally realizing the hidden message in the words. The words were actually clues to solving the mystery but not recognizable in the beginning of the story. An example of foreshadowing is Turtle telling the judge that she had been in the house and that the man in the bed looked like the same one in the coffin, a wax dummy appearance. It seems to be a hint that it was actually a dummy and Sam Westing is alive. An example of red herring would be clues such as the word amber discovered by Angela and Pulaski pointing at Otis Amber as the killer. The author was leading us to believe Otis was guilty.
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Tyler Wilson
7/19/2014 03:21:00 am
Traits of a mystery are a main character, a mystery, crime, or puzzle to be solved, suspects and motive, overt clues, hidden evidence, inference gaps, suspense, and foreshadowing. The main character in the book is Sam Westing and the crime to be solved is finding out who killed him. In the end they thought Bertha Erica Crow was a suspect and killed Sam Westing because they found her name spelled out in the missing clues to the song. The hidden evidence is the clues each pair received that when put together becomes the song America the Beautiful.
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Millie Dukes
7/20/2014 11:57:13 am
Some good traits of a mystery are the use of a "red herring", suspense, and hidden evidence. All of this can be found in The Westing Game. The clues are provided so you believe that Otis Amber or Crow killed Sam Westing, but they didn’t. This story always kept me on the edge of my seat with the bombs and the unhelpful clues. The heirs had to figure out who the murderer was by using the clues given. In this case, the murderer is the hidden evidence.
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Dakota Williamson
7/20/2014 11:09:18 pm
Three traits to a good mystery are main character, suspense and red herring. Turtle is the main character that found out what really happened and solved the mystery. The suspense is who the bomber is and who murdered Sam Westing. Red herring is when it said Sam Westing was murdered at the beginning of the book but he wasn't.
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Sarah Smith
7/24/2014 06:54:10 am
One trait of a good Mystery is "Red Haring" just like when a bomb went off in the coffee shop and you thought the bomber was Mr.Hoo. And when Edgar said that Sam Westing was murdered Crow turned away. Another was at the end when the heirs thought that Crow was the murderer because her name was spelled out in the missing clues.
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Allie Darty
7/26/2014 02:32:24 am
The traits of a good mystery are characters, setting, plot, problem, and solution. All of these are found in The Westing Game. The characters are very interesting and from different backgrounds. The setting was Sunset Towers which was built just for the game and the Westing house. The house was described very mysteriously. The problem was solving the murder which Turtle did.
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Alexis Boyd
7/26/2014 11:05:32 am
The traits of a mystery are the characters, suspense, and red herring. The Westing Game included all of these. The characters all had different personalities and different lives. The suspense was who killed Sam Westing. Red herring was when the heirs thought that Crow was the one who killed Sam Westing because her name was in the missing clues.
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Laurel Bacon
7/28/2014 11:38:32 am
The characteristics of a mystery include a good cast of characters, a problem to be solved, a red herring, some suspense, and a good setting. All these characteristics can be found in the Westing Game. There is a great cast of characters, which are very diverse, from children to older people, from the rich to the poor, from families to single people. There is a definite red herring, in the form of the murder, which isn't a murder at all. Another example is the setting, between the Westing house
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Laurel Bacon
7/28/2014 11:40:00 am
Computer problems!!
The last sentence should read, "Another example is the setting, between the old, traditional Westing house to the new, modern Sunset Towers.
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Sullivan Stevens
7/29/2014 03:21:05 am
one characteristic is red herring like when Sandy said Sam was murdered. another one is when Otis Amber went into the building for a few minutes and then came out empty handed. And when the bomb went off in the coffee shop and you thought it was Mr. Hoo.
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kaleb miles
7/29/2014 05:44:23 am
a mystery needs a good plot to back it up, good evidence, and a good reason. if it doesn't have that it isn't really a mystery its a story. plain and brand story.
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Ethan Hunt
7/30/2014 04:51:14 am
There are three traits to a good mystery, main character, suspense, and red herring. Turtle is the main character that found out what really happened and solved the mystery (fourth identity). The suspense is who the bomber was and who murdered Sam Westing. Red herring is when it said Sam Westing was murdered at the beginning of the book but he really wasn't.
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Emma-Grace Teal
7/31/2014 03:12:44 pm
A good mystery will include suspense, main character(s) to figure it out, a twist that makes you believe that things aren't really what the seem. The suspense was throughout the book like when Barney Northrup rented a wrong apartment, and Turtle said Hi to Sandy at the end. The main characters were of course the heirs, but most of all Turtle who figured out what happened. The other Heirs never really found out about Julian Eastman, so they really just helped in solving the case. The twist or red herring was Sam Westing's death, that was faked. It made you doubt everything that ever happened in the book.
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Logan Carter
8/1/2014 07:43:24 am
It is a good mystery because it has suspense,secrets,and an object to keep all characters tied in proving that it shows a perfect mystery
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Caroline Smith
8/1/2014 11:26:26 am
The traits of a good mystery are the characters, suspense, and red herring. The characters in the Westing Game all had different lives and different personalities. The suspense was who killed Sam Westing. Red herring was when the heirs thought Crow was the murderer.
The traits of a good mystery are: characters (suspects, detectives, and witnesses), setting, plot (unsolved problem or crime, unexplained event, secret, or something lost), clues, and red herrings (false clues). All of these characteristics are definitely found in the Westing Game. First, there was an unsolved crime which was Westing’s murder. There were characters of all three types. All 16 heirs were the suspects in Westing’s murder; Otis Amber was an actual detective, but the other 15 heirs were working with their partners as detectives trying to solve the mystery and win the money; and although no one was a witness to the murder (since there really wasn’t one), each person witnessed key elements to solving the mystery. As for clues, Westing gave actual clues to each of the partner pairs and many other clues were found along the way. Finally, the red herring in this mystery was Sandy McSouthers, as he was the one giving false clues throughout the game so that each player was being used as his pawn in this murder-mystery strategy game.
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Aubrey Beyer
8/3/2014 04:24:07 am
Some traits are crime scene, great setting, suspects, detectives, red herring, plot, evidence, and witnesses. Like when the bomb went off in the coffee shop. The Sam westing mystery. Also when Otis went into a building and came out empty handed.
Traits of a mystery are a good plot twists, the clues must be cleverly planted so that the mystery is not solved too easily or too soon, and characters. Yes these Characteristics are found in the Westing Game such as the plot of this story was to find out who killed Mr.Westing, and clues such as clues hid in songs, and characters all being someone other than who they are introduced as such as Angela being the bomber.
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Spencer Shoaf
8/3/2014 01:32:53 pm
A good mystery needs to have an idea, main and minor characters, a plot or problem, clues to help figure out the problem, diversions to mislead the reader, suspense, a good setting, and an ending. The Westing Game has all of these. The idea is the murder mystery and Sam Westing is the main character. All of the other characters are the minor characters. The plot is winning the money and solving the murder. The clues are given to the characters. The diversions are the thief and the bomber. The setting is the apartments and the mansion.
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Dylan Presciti
8/3/2014 02:40:25 pm
A good mystery will keep you thinking about what is going to happen next. It will have twist in the plot. And it will not end like you expect it to. The Westing Game had all of this.
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