78 pages • 2 hours read
Betty Ren WrightThe Dollhouse Murders
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “They Were Murdered?”
Amy and Ellen discuss their combined birthday party over dinner with Aunt Clare. The party will be a secret from Louann so Amy can have a party that’s truly for her. Amy asks Aunt Clare if Grandma and Grandpa Treloar died in a car crash, and Aunt Clare dodges the question. Wanting to know what happened without upsetting her aunt, Amy decides to “play detective and find out for myself” (47).
Amy and Ellen visit the library and look through obituaries from the year Grandma and Grandpa Treloar died. They see an article with the headline “Prominent Couple Murdered in Their Home” (49), and Amy recognizes the boy in the picture as her father. Grandma and Grandpa Treloar were murdered.
Chapter 8 Summary: “I Don’t Believe in Ghosts”
Ellen has to go home, but Amy continues the search for information. Amy learns that Aunt Clare discovered Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s bodies. Aunt Clare’s fiancé died in a car crash a few days after the murders, and the murders were never solved. Back at Aunt Clare’s house, Amy tells Ellen about the unsolved murders over the phone, and Aunt Clare overhears. Amy apologizes, but Aunt Clare is furious, saying “The past is dead, and it would help a lot if you’d leave it that way” (56).
A few minutes later, Amy hears Aunt Clare scream in the attic. Amy rushes upstairs to find Aunt Clare “staring in horror at the dollhouse” (58). The dolls are in the places where the murders took place—Grandpa Treloar in the bedroom and Grandma Treloar in the parlor. Aunt Clare accuses Amy of setting the dolls like this. Amy remembers the Grandma Treloar doll moving on its own and says she didn’t put the dolls where they are now. When Aunt Clare asks who did, Amy has no answer.
Chapter 9 Summary: “I’ve Never Been So Scared in My Life”
Amy is scared about the dolls moving on their own and about Aunt Clare getting so angry. The only thing that comforts her is Louann’s vase. Amy tries to sleep but can’t. She finally does and has strange dreams. When she wakes, the light breeze outside is gone, replaced by eerie stillness. Amy notices the doorknob turning very slowly. Amy hears a crash and screams. Aunt Clare rushes into the room.
The crash was outside, but it takes Amy a while to calm down. When she finally does, Aunt Clare apologizes for getting so upset and explains she still feels guilty about Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s deaths. Aunt Clare lets Amy get back to sleep, and Amy reflects that Aunt Clare’s house “is a sad place” (67).
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
In Chapter 7, Amy, Ellen, and Aunt Clare have a heavy discussion over dinner. Amy asks how Grandma and Grandpa Treloar died. Aunt Clare won’t answer the question. Over the course of dinner, Amy realizes she will only hurt Aunt Clare if she keeps asking questions. In this scene, the food represents Amy finding a way to learn the truth without causing Aunt Clare more pain.
Amy experiences a lot of fear and uncertainty in these chapters. Louann’s vase provides comfort. The vase’s role in helping Amy foreshadows how Louann will be brave for Amy later on, during the search for the truth about the murders. Louann has her own abilities, despite her disability, and they enable her and Amy to work together. Amy starts to change into the understanding person she will become, though she is not aware of it yet.
After Aunt Clare gets upset, Amy does homework and tries to stay calm. Somewhere in the house, Aunt Clare watches television, and a light breeze blows through Amy’s window. Despite the tension, things are relatively normal. After Amy’s nightmares, the breeze disappears, and the eerie stillness of the weather mirrors Amy’s frozen terror about ghosts and the dollhouse.
The dollhouse comes alive again in these chapters. This time, Aunt Clare sees the result of the dollhouse coming alive, which drudges up guilt about Grandma and Grandpa Treloar. Her desire to keep the past in the past represents Aunt Clare’s inability to deal with guilt and signals how that inability keeps her from moving forward.
