The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn [Library Binding]

John Bellairs (Author), Judith Gwyn Brown (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2008

Working on the few clues he has, Anthony Monday sets out to find a treasure that may or may not have been hidden by the town millionaire, Alpheus Winterborn, prior to his death, but the only way he will know is by completing a full search. Reprint. PW. "

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 180 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439515409
• ISBN-13: 978-1439515402
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,466,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book, December 14, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn: An Anthony Monday Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn is a terrific book. It is a fast paced mystery w/a dramatic and exciting climax. Readers of John Bellairs won't be disapointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST books I have ever read!!!!, May 15, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn: An Anthony Monday Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a GREAT book. I highly reccomend it. Action packed, great storyline, and a spooky mystery, this book has it all!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hidden treasure never looked so good, December 29, 2002

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn: An Anthony Monday Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Fans of Bellairs beware: This book is slightly different from most of them. While it has a lot of the Bellairs staples (meek young boy, eccentric buddy, evil adversary), it doesn't have any horror or supernatural elements. Despite that, it's an enjoyable little mystery with a twist at the end.

To get away from his money-obsessed mother, Anthony Monday accepts a job working with his friend Miss Eells at the library. But when he's dusting, he accidently uncovers clues to the seemingly hidden treasure of late millionaire Alpheus Winterborn. Though Miss Eells doesn't think the clues are anything but a joke, she helps Anthony hunt for the treasure. But Hugo Philpotts, the sinister nephew of old Winterborn, is also searching for the treasure.

At about this time, Anthony's father suffers a heart attack that temporarily makes him unable to wor. Terrified that his family is going to run out of money, Anthony becomes obsessed with finding Winterborn's treasure. And when Philpotts threatens his father's business, Anthony finds that he has only a few days to find the treasure...

Even if this isn't a horror book, it's a pretty good mystery. Bellairs did a good job with staples like hidden treasure, clues in a poem, the sinister relative and so on. There's that distinct, slightly unreal flavor of a child's daydream in his books, like this is the imagined adventure of a boy on a summer day. And even though there are no monstrous spiders or cackling sorcerers, the discoveries near the end make up for that. Action fans will especially enjoy a tense scene on a rainy rooftop near the finale.

Anthony Monday is a little darker in some ways than Bellairs' more popular heroes (Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt), but he's very much in the same mold. Nice, quiet, unassuming, extremely loyal and normally very honest. Miss Eells, a ladylike librarion who can curse like a sailor (don't worry, parents, Bellairs never makes it clear just what she says), makes a good foil as the voice of experience and reason. And Philpotts becomes a little more ridiculous as the book goes on, but is an expert manipulator and very realistic.

I read this book expecting some thrills and chills, but didn't get many "chills." Despite that, one of Bellairs' few straight mysteries is good Gothic fun.