The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby. Chapter Book.“When a potato-faced real estate mogul buys their historic, rent-controlled building, three middle schoolers..band together to solve a centuries-old mystery. At once thoroughly modern (a solar-powered city filled with a genuinely diverse cast of characters) and charmingly old-fashioned (steampunk machinery, ciphers, and a mystery at times reminiscent of Ellen Raskin or E.L. Konigsburg), Ruby’s vision of New York brims with innovative details that perfectly support her themes of friendship, family, and history…They throw themselves into the Morningstarr Cipher, named for the twins who built much of New York’s astounding infrastructure (elevators that go sideways, subways that climb buildings), hoping to discover a treasure—but the Cipher “tr[ies] to solve you” as you solve it. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-15)” Source: Kirkus Reviews