78 pages 2 hours read

Betty Ren Wright

The Dollhouse Murders

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1983

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Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary: “Something Little Will Turn Out to Be Big”

After Amy calms down, she comes downstairs to help make pizza for the party. Louann will stay overnight at Aunt Clare’s. Amy apologizes to Aunt Clare for getting so upset, and then her friends arrive.

Amy has fun at the party despite Louann’s being there. Kathy Sells, one of Amy’s friends, is kind to Louann, and Louann takes a liking to her. Louann stays by Kathy’s side, and Amy wishes her relationship with Louann were so simple. One of the girls tells fortunes, and Amy’s fortune says that she will “make an important discovery” (95). Ellen connects Amy’s fortune to the dollhouse.

The girls, including Louann, go upstairs to see the dollhouse. Amy’s friends love it, and Louann is entranced by the detail of the house. The dolls are in the places where the murders took place. The house remains quiet and inactive. Still, Amy knows the light and moving dolls are “as real as the house itself” (99), and she resolves to find out what it all means.

Chapter 14 Summary: “The Poor Dolly Is Crying”

After the party, Amy, Ellen, Louann, and Aunt Clare go to bed. Amy and Louann are in the same room. Later that night, Amy wakes to find Louann gone.