The Dollhouse Murders

The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright is a juvenile mystery novel with supernatural elements published by Holiday House in 1983. The story follows the emotional growth of Amy Treloar and her Aunt Clare while they uncover the mystery revolving around two family murders from 30 years ago. The book won several awards, including the 1986 Bluebonnet Award and the 1987 Iowa Children’s Choice Award. It was nominated for the 1984 Edgar Allen Poe Award and was adapted into the 1992 film Secrets in the Attic. Wright worked as a children’s book editor for many years. She later left editing to focus on writing, penning several short stories and a few books for children. This guide follows the 1983 Holiday House edition of The Dollhouse Murders.

Plot Summary

The story opens on a warm night in June. Amy Treloar and her new friend Ellen Kramer are at the mall with Amy’s developmentally disabled sister, Louann. Louann gets into some trouble, and Amy’s mother later accuses Amy of not watching her sister closely enough. Already upset over the years of babysitting Louann and losing friends because of her sister, Amy runs away and finds herself at the house where her great-grandparents (Grandma and Grandpa Treloar) used to live.

Amy’s Aunt Clare has moved back from Chicago and is temporarily living in the house to get it ready to sell. Amy finds a dollhouse in the attic that’s an exact replica of Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s house, complete with dolls to represent Grandma and Grandpa Treloar. Amy loves the dollhouse, but Aunt Clare discourages Amy from playing with the house and its dolls. The dollhouse serves as a painful reminder of Aunt Clare’s past and the guilt she feels over Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s deaths.

Amy confesses her frustration about being Louann’s caretaker. Wanting some company in the old house, Aunt Clare proposes that Amy come to stay for a while. Arrangements are made for Louann to have her own after-school activities so the sisters can have time away from each other. At first, living with Aunt Clare is everything Amy wants. She doesn’t have to take care of Louann, and Aunt Clare seems to understand Amy better than her parents. Amy looks up to Aunt Clare and wants to leave home to get away from her family, just like Aunt Clare did.

Amy notices strange events in the dollhouse. The dolls move around on their own, and the entire house lights up. Amy wonders if these strange happenings have anything to do with Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s deaths, but every time she tries to ask Aunt Clare about Grandma and Grandpa Treloar, Aunt Clare shuts down the conversation. Wanting to know more without upsetting Aunt Clare, Amy researches Grandma and Grandpa Treloar at the library, where she learns they were murdered. The killer was never found.

The dollhouse continues to come alive, and Amy believes it’s trying to tell them something. Aunt Clare thinks Amy keeps arranging the dolls to show the murder scene. Meanwhile, Amy’s time away from Louann is interrupted when Louann comes to Amy’s birthday party at Aunt Clare’s and stays the night. With the help of Ellen and Aunt Clare, Amy enjoys the party, learning she can live her life despite having Louann as a sister. That night, Louann also sees the dolls move, and the sisters witness books falling off the dollhouse parlor shelves.

The following night, the dollhouse plays out Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s murders. Amy remembers the falling books, and she, Louann, and Aunt Clare search the books in the real house’s parlor, where a letter falls out of one. Grandma Treloar wrote the letter the night of the murders and named the killer: Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s handyman. With the truth known, the angry spirits in the house and Aunt Clare’s guilty conscious can finally rest. Throughout the desperate search for the truth, Amy works seamlessly with Louann, each sister contributing unique strengths. Later, Amy realizes Louann is a person, not a burden, and reunites with her family.