Final Word

Text copyright © 2023 by Janet Sumner Johnson

All illustrations copyright © 2023 by TGM Development Corp. Jacket illustration by Francisco Fonseca

Family tree illustration by Manelle Oliphant

All rights reserved

Pixel+Ink is an imprint of TGM Development Corp. www.pixelandinkbooks.com

Printed and bound in August 2023 at Lake Book Manufacturing, Melrose Park, IL, U.S.A.

Book design by Jay Colvin

Names: Sumner Johnson, Janet, author.

Title: Final word / Janet Sumner Johnson.

Description: First edition. | New York : Pixel+Ink, 2023. | Series: The Winterton deception ; book 1 | Audience: Ages 8-12 | Audience: Grades

4-6 | Summary: Thirteen-year-old twins Hope and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy relations they have never known.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023024741 | ISBN 9781645951964 (hardcover)

Subjects: CYAC: Twins—Fiction. | Family secrets—Fiction. | LCGFT: Detective and mystery fiction. | Novels.

Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S855 Fi 2023 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023024741

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-64595-196-4

E-book ISBN: 978-1-64595-198-8

First Edition

For Mike, who always let me borrow his John Bellairs books, thus introducing me to the joy of mysteries.

And for the late Ellen Raskin, who wrote a brilliant book that continues to inspire.