Midnight at the Barclay Hotel

Mr. Barclay, the wealthy owner of the historic and reputedly haunted Barclay Hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, sends five embossed invitations offering an all-expenses-paid weekend getaway. The invitations are part of a secret scheme: He has carefully chosen a cowboy, a librarian, a chief executive officer (CEO), an actress, and a retired detective for reasons not yet revealed. The fine print warns of no cell phone service and possible encounters with ghosts, but most recipients ignore it.

Twelve-year-old JJ Jacobson, a passionate ghost hunter who struggles with reading, finds the invitation addressed to his mother, Jackie Jacobson, the CEO of PB&JJ, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich restaurant franchise. The hotel tops JJ's list of haunted locations. He convinces his reluctant mother to accept by cashing in a long-held IOU. The other guests each harbor secrets: Cowboy Buck Jones dreams of buying the ranch he works on but clashed with Mr. Barclay over the sale; Ms. Chelsea Griffin, a twenty-four-year-old children's librarian, fears a secret could be exposed; retired Detective Frank Walker is persuaded to attend by his eleven-year-old granddaughter Penny, who loves detective work but secretly longs to be seen as brave; and Fiona Fleming, a twenty-four-year-old actress and part-time spiritual medium, sees the trip as a chance to protect a secret tied to her father's recent death.

Twelve-year-old Emma, who already lives at the hotel, eagerly anticipates the arrival of two child visitors. Lonely and bored, she overhears the butler, Mr. Clark, tell her uncle, Chef Pierre, that the weekend must go smoothly and they must keep "our plan on track."

On Friday afternoon, JJ and Penny bond during the car ride, discussing the hotel's reported ghosts, including a lady in white and a little boy who plays with marbles. At the hotel, Mr. Clark, a tall butler with a handlebar mustache and a British accent, greets the guests, and Emma runs out to welcome JJ and Penny.

At the welcome gathering, Mr. Clark announces that someone in the room murdered Mr. Barclay one week earlier. He explains that Mr. Barclay, who loved mystery games and invented a board game called Catch a Criminal, anticipated he might be killed and pre-arranged this weekend as a posthumous investigation. While police concluded Mr. Barclay died of a heart attack, an autopsy confirmed death by poison. Mr. Clark names five suspects who must investigate to clear their names: Detective Walker, Fiona, Buck, Ms. Chelsea, and Jackie. No one can leave until morning because the mountain roads are dangerous at night.

JJ, Penny, and Emma form an investigative team, setting up headquarters in a hidden room above the kitchen. Using the detective framework of motive, means, and opportunity, they divide interviews among themselves. Each suspect was at the hotel on the Friday morning of the murder and had reason to resent Mr. Barclay. Fiona's theater company faces bankruptcy after Mr. Barclay rejected her murder mystery script. Jackie reveals that Mr. Barclay threatened to demand repayment of a large loan. Ms. Chelsea drove to the hotel after Mr. Clark told her a library grant had been canceled. Buck came to buy his ranch, but Mr. Barclay refused to sell.

Suspicious events escalate. JJ and Penny get trapped in the hotel's deliberately sabotaged elevator. Penny, who earlier overheard Mr. Clark speaking without his British accent, grows suspicious of his true identity. Both children later receive unsigned notes luring them to the carousel, where someone turns the machine to maximum speed, injuring JJ before Penny arrives and shuts it off. They conclude the killer is trying to scare them away.

During a ghost hunting session, JJ's secret surfaces: A letter reveals he has been hiding failing grades from his parents. He admits he struggles with reading, and Penny shares that she had a panic attack while scuba diving and wants to prove she is brave. A blizzard traps everyone at the hotel, and new evidence arrives: The victim ingested poison between nine and eleven AM on Friday, in the frosting of a cupcake. JJ realizes that because there is no cell reception at the hotel, anyone on a phone call during that window could not have been on the premises, clearing both his mother and Chef Pierre.

Detective Walker contributes a crucial lead: A con man named Serrit Hofstra, who stole millions from wealthy people, has moved to the area. Penny reads in The History of the Barclay Hotel that Mr. Barclay had a daughter named Constance, born about 24 years ago. Emma breaks into Mr. Clark's room and finds costumes, disguises, and a threatening letter signed "His Daughter." She also finds and deliberately breaks JJ's infrared camera, fearing its footage might reveal a secret about the hotel.

The case breaks open when Penny unmasks Mr. Clark by pulling off his handlebar mustache, revealing that "Mr. Clark" is actually Mr. Barclay in disguise. The real Mr. Barclay explains that the actual Mr. Clark ate a poisoned cupcake intended for him; to catch the killer, Mr. Barclay assumed his butler's identity and orchestrated the weekend. JJ and Penny shift their theory: Mr. Clark was the intended target. JJ finds a forged will leaving the estate to Gregory Clark, the butler's full name. Mr. Barclay reveals that Mr. Clark was an expert in disguises and told him all four guests despised him, though Mr. Barclay never spoke to any of them. Penny theorizes that Mr. Clark impersonated Mr. Barclay that Friday, turned away each guest, and planned to murder the real Mr. Barclay and inherit the estate. Detective Walker confirms the murder victim was Serrit Hofstra, a con man from the Netherlands who infiltrated wealthy households, assumed identities, and killed his victims.

JJ reviews the repaired infrared camera footage and discovers that Emma appears as a translucent, ghostly shape. He and Penny piece together the clues: Emma avoids physical contact, disappears without explanation, and the camera battery drained, a classic sign of ghostly energy. The history book confirms that Mr. Barclay's daughter Constance preferred her middle name, Emma, and died just after her twelfth birthday. Emma confirms she is a ghost, explaining that only children can see ghosts, with the exception of Fiona, a genuine psychic medium. She also reveals that her mother's ghost haunts the hotel as well, particularly room 217. Emma has been desperately lonely for years without other children around.

The final clue emerges from Fiona's script, Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, which lists Serrit Hofstra in the cast. Confronted in the theater, Fiona confesses that Hofstra worked as her father's butler in Chicago, poisoned him, forged his will, and stole his fortune. Fiona tracked Hofstra to the Barclay Hotel, recognized him posing as Mr. Barclay, and poisoned the frosting on his cupcake. She also admits to sabotaging the elevator and the carousel. When Fiona tries to destroy the script and triggers a stage lighting rig to crash toward the children, the ghost of Emma's mother pushes JJ and Penny to safety. Emma alerts the adults by flickering lights throughout the hotel. Buck lassos Fiona with curtain ropes, and Detective Walker takes her into custody. JJ reveals he captured Fiona's full confession on a voice recorder.

In an epilogue set three months later, Mr. Barclay reopens the hotel with JJ and Penny as advisors. Fiona is incarcerated. JJ passed his classes with tutoring from Penny and his parents and now enjoys audiobooks set up by Ms. Chelsea, who received her library grant. Buck runs horseback rides, and Detective Walker opens a detective agency with Penny as his assistant. Mr. Barclay confides that he sometimes feels his daughter's and wife's presence. JJ and Penny, who can see Emma standing beside her father, share a knowing smile as buses of children arrive for the grand reopening.