Greenglass House

Greenglass House is a New York Times Best Selling middle grade mystery fantasy novel by Kate Milford and illustrated by Jaime Zollars published in 2014. Milo Pine has high hopes to have a quiet, cozy winter break, but when a group of mysterious strangers arrives at the inn he lives in with his parents, he feels his holiday is ruined. However, the chef’s daughter Meddy is bored and has other plans. She teaches Milo a role-playing game called Odd Trails, and when someone begins stealing items from the guests, the pair use their fantasy game to solve the mystery. The novel won the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Children’s Novel and was nominated for a National Book Award, an Andre Newton Award, and an Agatha Award. The novel is the first in a series that includes The Boneshaker, The Broken Lands, The Left-Handed Fate, and The Kairos Mechanism. In addition to writing stage plays, screenplays, and works of literary criticism, in 2020, Milford contributed to the anthology Super Puzzletastic Mysteries: Short Stories for Young Sleuths from Mystery Writers of America.

This guide references the 2014 Harper Collins e-book edition.

Plot Summary

Milo Pine lives in Greenglass House with his parents, Nora and Ben Pine, who adopted Milo from China when he was a baby. Situated atop a tall cliff on the banks of the Skidwrack River in Nagspeake, the house serves as an inn catering particularly to smugglers. It is wintertime, the slow season for the inn, and Milo looks forward to spending a quiet Christmas break with his family. The house is only accessible through three routes: a long, treacherous road journey, a ferry and then railcar winch up the hill, or a 300-step staircase. When the pavilion bell rings, signaling a guest has arrived, Milo is instantly annoyed. A man named Mr. Vinge arrives in the railcar wearing strange striped socks. The bell rings again, and the railcar delivers a blue-haired girl named Georgie. The bell rings a third time, and the car brings two guests who are arguing incessantly, Dr. Gowervine and Mrs. Hereward. As Milo unloads their luggage, a fifth guest, a red-haired girl called Clem, bounds up the staircase, barely winded by the climb. The clamor of guests fills the house with noise, and as Milo situates each guest in their room at the five-story inn, he realizes that his Christmas break will be much different than he planned. However, when he discovers a mysterious nautical chart that appears to be a map, Milo wonders if some of the guests have nefarious intentions.

The inn’s chef Mrs. Caraway arrives with her daughters Lizzie and Meddy. Meddy, though younger than Milo, attaches herself to him and suggests that they play a game to determine why each guest is at the inn and who owns the chart. Based on a role-playing game called Odd Trails, Meddy and Milo create characters for themselves based on their talents and desires. Milo chooses to be Negret, a blackjack, which is a person skilled at finding hidden passages and picking locks. Meddy chooses to be Sirin, a scholiast, an invisible winged creature. They meticulously take notes on each guest. Inspired by a book Georgie lent him called The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book full of Nagspeake folklore, Milo suggests each guest share a story in hopes that their stories reveal more about their intentions. However, as the guests’ stories unravel, Milo learns more about Greenglass House than the guests’ motives. From Mrs. Hereward, Milo learns that the house was built by the Bluecrowne family for their children Lucy and Liao, but they never lived there. The house was sold to Michael Witcher, Nagspeake’s most notorious smuggler, who went by the moniker Doc Holystone. From his mother, Milo learns that a smuggler named Fenster Plum once stayed at the inn and witnessed Doc’s ghost waving to his son’s ghost on the fire escape.

Several guests discover that items have been stolen from them. Mr. Vinge reports that someone stole his watch, Georgie says that her notebook is missing, and Mrs. Hereward is missing her ditty bag. Through their sleuthing, Negret and Sirin (Milo and Meddy) find the missing watch and notebook and learn that Georgie and Clem know each other. A mysterious man named Owen appears from the staircase and reveals that he followed Clem there. Clem and Georgie are both thieves and both fell in love with Owen, but he only loves Clem. Mrs. Hereward reveals that Owen, who is adopted from China, may be a distant relative of Liao Bluecrowne. Milo gives Owen a set of keys belonging to Liao that he found in the attic, and Owen gives Milo a dragon figurine in return. A fierce winter storm rages outside and a loud crash makes everyone fear that a fallen branch could cut electricity to the inn. Mr. Pine investigates and discovers that Fenster Plum has arrived on the underground rail system and the conductor Brandon had to bust open the frozen door. When the power flickers, the men check the inn’s generator and find that someone sabotaged it. The inn falls into darkness, sending everyone into a panic.

As Christmas Eve approaches, Dr. Gowervine, who is at the inn to examine its famous stained-glass windows, reports that his satchel is missing. Sirin and Negret go into detective mode again. They find the missing bag on the fire escape, but they also discover that Mr. Vinge is an undercover customs agent. Mr. Vinge tells his story, which indicts Doc Holystone as a dangerous weapons smuggler. When Fenster, who sailed with Doc, comes to his defense, Vinge reveals his identity and pulls a gun. Milo and Meddy run for safety just as two strange men enter the house. Vinge and his henchmen lock everyone in the laundry room and move to arrest Mr. and Mrs. Pine for harboring Fenster, a smuggler. While they hide in the attic, Meddy reveals to Milo that she is the ghost of Doc’s daughter Addie. Thirty-four years prior, Vinge tracked down Doc to the inn and during the chase Doc fell over the cliff to his death. Addie tried to wave to him on the fire escape and fell to her death. Milo summons his courage to save his parents and the others and use the nautical chart. He surmises that Doc hid a treasure in the ship-shaped dining room chandelier. When he finds the secret compartment though, it only holds an Odd Trails scholiast figurine, a gift Doc left for Addie. Meddy makes herself visible to everyone, scaring Mr. Vinge away from the house. Milo releases the hostages. After examining the chandelier again, Dr. Gowervine realizes that it contains a painting of Doc Holystone on his ship. All the guests depart in time for Milo to enjoy a quiet Christmas celebration with his parents. Meddy leaves as well but promises to visit often and play Odd Trails with Milo. Mrs. Pine reminds Milo that it is normal for him to want to learn more about his ancestry and encourages him to keep an open dialogue with them anytime he wants to share.