The Babysitters Club Mysteries #Dawn Schafer, Undercover Baby-sitter

Dawn is still in Stoneybrook but getting ready for summer to end and to head back to California. While at a BSC meeting, they get a call from a Mrs. Cornell who needs a sitter. They then get a call from a Mrs. Keats for a sitter. Both women ask for a different sitter but have the same address. Kristy and Dawn get the jobs.

The two head to Livingston Place, which is a Mansion that makes Watson's house look like my house. They meet John, the Butler, and then the two clients. Each woman leads one of the girls to a separate wing. Dawn notices a super ugly portrait of a man on the wall. John tells her that it was Mr. Livingston and that they're are more like it around the house.

Richard comes to pick Dawn up, and she finds him outside with Mrs. Iorio, a fellow lawyer. She explains that she's the executor of the estate. Apparently, Mr. Livingston was quite the asshole in real life. He pitted his kids against each other all the time. When he died, his will left the entire estate to just one of his three girls, whichever one is the smartest. There was also a son who died in the past. Both the women are sisters, do not get along, and claim their kids can't get along either.

Things change though because they eventually hire two sitters to watch all the kids together. I'm not writing out all their names and ages. All you need to know is that they're are five of them and that they're all like 10 or younger. Dawn finds out that the dad left each girl a clue that would lead to a code. Whoever gets the code to the executor first wins his estate.

Amy, the youngest daughter, tells them her clue, which is about the first being the best or most important. She thought it meant a book and started her search in the library. Abby hears from one of the kids that her mom's clue was something about how the signature tells all. Her and Dawn take the kids on a treasure hunt that they use as an excuse to take notes about everything with a signature on it. Dawn also finds a check with the signature A. Livingston on it, dated within the last month, which is proof that the old guy is still around.

The sitters, the kids, and Amy all head up to the attic and go through the room together. Dawn finds some of the man's clothing folded and put away, which is more proof that he's still alive. The kids eventually figure out what's going on and confront their moms. Their moms then reveal all three clues. The last one says, “I didn't do it. I was ----.” No one can figure out what it means.

Dawn has a whole list of suspects. She thinks it might be the lawyer because she saw the woman in the house one time. The lawyer claimed she was there to deliver some papers but left without talking to anyone and without any papers. Dawn also suspects John because he's conveniently around all the time. He also knew when they had a treasure hunt, even though no one told him.

After having a dream one night, Dawn gathers the whole family together in the house. She realized that all clues pointed towards one of the paintings and the oldest one. The oldest painting is the ugly one she saw on her first trip, which Mrs. Livingston painted after taking a class. She thinks she sees they eyes on another painting move and then hears a sneeze. Out comes good old John.

As it turns out, John was the presumed dead brother. He and his father fought all the time, and his dad eventually cut him off and just told everyone he was dead. Amy and John stayed in contact, and she promised him that if he helped her solve the mystery, he could have half the estate because he wanted to buy a house and start a business. The other sisters hug him and come to an agreement that they'll split the estate four ways equally.

Mrs. Iorio compares the code on the back of the painting to the one he left behind and declares the mystery solved. Dawn finds an explanation for the weird stuff she experienced. John didn't have enough clothing and was wearing some of his dad's old stuff, which she saw in the attic. The signature belonged to Amy and was a check she wrote to a utility company.

Since Dawn is heading home soon, anyone and everyone wants to see her. She's suddenly best buds with people like Erica and Emily. They stop by or call her to make plans with her, but she keeps double booking herself, which usually ends up with Mary Anne on the outside. She finally sits down and sets out a schedule that has all her sitting jobs listed and all her other commitments. That lasts until her mom comes up with an idea of her and Dawn having a mother daughter day.

Dawn plans a Friend Day as a way to say goodbye to everyone at once. The only person missing is Kristy because her family just left for Hawaii. They spend the early part of the day with charges like Jamie, Jenny, Haley, Matt, and the Pikes. All the kids get to play their favorite games before eating. The big kids then come over for a teen party, and the night ends with a BSC sleepover.

The next day is Family Day. She makes a huge breakfast for everyone and then exchanges goodbye gifts with Mary Anne. They each get the other a pinky ring, which makes me cringe. The two then go shopping before splitting off, so Dawn can have lunch with Sharon and MA can meet up with Logan. She takes a bike ride with Richard and then has dinner with the family.

On one of her last days, the Livingston brood invites her over for a swimming party. She shows up with Mary Anne and gets to check out the “guest house,” which is like five times the size of my house. The swimming pool rivals any she saw in California too. Amy tells her that John will stay in the guest house until he decides what to do and she'll stay in the main house but may move to New York for work. The family decided to keep the house too just for family parties and stuff like that, which totally makes sense given the amount of taxes on it.

*Claudia wears yellow overall shorts with a tie dyed shirt and jelly shoes that let you see her “scarlet” toenails through the plastic. There are times when I seriously miss those shoes...

*Dawn eats ice cream (Ben & Jerry's to be specific) and says she likes to splurge sometimes. Since when? Dawn would NEVER eat processed sugar!

*She makes tofu sausage for her family and says they taste just like the real thing. The only people who say that are the people who never had real sausage before. I've even hand long-time vegetarians tell me that it's a good substitute but nothing like the real thing.

*Dawn plans a special trip to the pool with Matt and Haley, which makes no sense. She has no special connection with them like she does with the Barretts.

*There's also a mention of her playing Marco Polo with them in the pool, which also makes no sense. I'm not trying to be mean, but how does a deaf kid play that game?

*I get the ghostwriter suddenly giving Dawn all these random friends she rarely talked to before to show that Stoneybrook is still kind of home to her. The problem is that it makes her moving to California seem especially shitty. When she moved back the first time, she really only had the WLK club and a few regular charges. This book makes it seem like she has way more friends and charges in Stoneybrook than she has out there. Plus, Stoneybrook has her mother who actually wants to spend time with her unlike her father who seemingly only cares about getting his you know what wet.

*Dawn brags about this new organic face mask she bought and how it uses all natural ingredients and even has a recycled paper label. Does anyone else see her as one of those MLM women in real life who tries to sell and use anything with an organic or healthy label?

*Dawn doesn't understand why MA is always so unhappy with her, but she literally keeps forgetting that they made plans and then blowing her off for other people. She also doesn't understand why MA wouldn't want to go along with her new plans. They have met before, right?

*The Livingston “guest house” is two stories with three bedrooms, a full kitchen, a game room with a pool table, and two bathrooms. Amy says that John will stay there because it's cozier. Cozier than what, the White House?

*Kristy has a surprise for Dawn: Watson worked it out with her dad that they'll have a layover coming back from Hawaii and will spend the night at their house. Since when does their house have room for like eight extra people? Also, I totally want to read a Kristy book about what she did in Hawaii and what happened at Dawn's house.

*Unlike other reviewers who were sad about this book because it's the last Dawn book, I'm kind of glad. I know Ann wanted to bring in a new character and that she claims it made sense for Dawn to leave, but I never felt like it did. There were SOOOOO many books where she talked about how she could never leave her mom and how selfish Jeff was for leaving that her doing the same thing seemed really awful. I'm also not a fan of her dad...