tl;dr
Another entry in the grand tradition of stories about squabbling rich families and the fallout over a will.

Thoughts
Anyone looking for the cocktail of mysterious benefactors, strange mansions, treasure hunts with cryptic clues, and a high-stakes competition will find all that and more. Final Word is not shy about its inspiration - even referencing The Westing Game within its own text. And while there are certainly a lot of similar beats, this one opts to pick a more serious tone. The competition for the money is interspersed with themes of grief, family trauma, hurt, and forgiveness. The main character is surprisingly cynical (maybe TOO cynical?) for a pre-teen, but at least her level of savvy saves the reader from having to yell at her naiveté. The puzzles were all very clever and fun to try to figure out, and I appreciated all the literary references as well. Of note, this appears to be the first in a series, despite the main competition wrapping up in this volume. I will be curious to see where it goes from here.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.