Author of the Month Varian Johnson

Meet writer and August's Author of the Month Varian Johnson and his latest book for middle graders, The Parker Inheritance.

"Find the path. Solve the puzzle."

When twelve-year-old, Candice finds a letter from her beloved grandmother about a mysterious treasure that destroyed her career, Candice sets out to restore her grandmother's reputation and solve the mystery. With the help of her new neighbor, Brandon, Candice gets a crash course on the history of the small town her grandmother lived and worked in. Flashbacks to the past give readers the opportunity to solve the mystery alongside Candice.

More to Explore

  • Read about the event in his life that inspired Varian Johnson to write The Parker Inheritance
  • Test your code breaking skills with puzzles created by the Central Intelligence Agency.
  • Enoch Washington's character lives through the civil rights era, find out more about the Civil Rights Movement in A Dream of Freedom
  • A secret tennis game between black and white teams is an important part of the mystery, read about another secret game between black and white teams in Game Changer.
  • Varian Johnson is also the author of the middle grade caper novels The Great Greene Heist and To Catch A Cheat.

If you loved The Parker Inheritance?

The Ambrose Deception: Three unlikely students are chosen to compete in a scavenger hunt for a scholarship that takes them all over Chicago solving puzzles and a bigger mystery.

Emily feels perfectly positioned for the next Book Scavenger hunt, an online game where players use ciphers, codes and secret messages to find hidden books, until the games creator disappears. Now Emily and her neighbor must solve the mystery while staying ahead of the other book scavengers.

Enter a library full of surprising and extraordinary books, then use your puzzle solving skills to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library.

The Westing Game: When Samuel Westing dies, he leaves one final puzzle—can the sixteen people in Sunset Towers solve the mystery of his death?

A Tugging String: Fictionalized memoir of the authors experiences during the civil rights movement of the 1960's.