The Maze of Bones
Rick Riordan
 The story begins with Grace Cahill laying on her deathbed requesting William McIntyre to change her will to the alternate version and dies soon after it is changed. After he is sure she is truly dead, the Man In Black steps out of the shadows and talks with McIntyre. The main characters, Amy and Dan Cahill, are then introduced. They are Grace's grandchildren going to her funeral at her mansion with Grace's sister and their guardian Aunt Beatrice. Right before the funeral Amy and Dan run into the Holts. The parents, Eisenhower and Mary-Todd, and their children,Hamilton (fourteen), Madison and Reagan,(eleven), turn Dan upside down. Then a non-random selection of Cahills, including Amy and Dan, are called away in private for the will reading. Also called away are the Holts, the Kabras (nicknamed the Cobras), Isabel, Natalie (eleven), and Ian (fourteen), Alistair Oh (inventor of microwaveable burritos),Irina Spasky (ex-KGB agent), The Starling triplets (Ned, Ted, and Sinead), Jonah Wizard (famous rapper host of the reality TV show "Who Wants to be a Gangsta"), Uncle Jose, Aunt Ingrid, and Aunt Beatrice. It was not known until Rapid Fire Two, but Astrid Rosenbloom was there also. William McIntyre shows them a video of Grace Cahill telling them there are on the brink of their greatest challenge yet. Mr. McIntyre then says they have a choice,one million dollars, or a chance to be the greatest Cahill in history and gives them five minutes to decide. Dan wants the money for baseball cards, while Amy wants the chance in order to make Grace proud. Then the Kabras try to discourage them from taking the challenge. Then the people at the will reading are told by Mr. McIntyre that people like Abraham Lincoln, Harry Houdini and Lewis and Clark are Cahills. In the end Amy and Dan chose the chance and receive a sealed envelope that they are instructed not to open. Then the Holts, Alistair, Starlings, and Spasky all accept the challenge. The envelope says: Resolution: The fine print to guess. Seek out Richard S. As Amy and Dan think over what this means, the Starlings, Holts, Kabras, and Irina leave. Meanwhile WIlliam gives the kids Grace's last warning, " Beware the Madrigals." Amy then goes to the library but does not find anything there, but Dan opens a passageway into Grace's secret library where Alistair and them find a copy of Poor Richard's Almanack. They give it to Alistair to look at, but just then the mansion burns down. They barely escape through the vents (Dan grabbing Grace's cat, Saladin and a box of jewels on the way out) and go home where they convince Nellie to be their chaperone for their trip. They then head to the Franklin Institute, and then France. In France they reject the offer of Jonah Wizard and then follow Irina Spasky, who, due to a theft chain, now has the almanac. Irina lured them into a trap on an island, but they were later saved unpredictably by the Holts, a family who is also after the Clues. After their escape, Amy and Dan told Nellie all about the 39 Clues, and Nellie decides to help them. With their information, the Cahills go to the Paris Catacombs. They find some bones which have numbers on them: a magic box number game, planted there by Franklin to give the coordinates to the next Clue. This leads them to a church where they find a room with a mural of the four original Cahills, after who the four Cahill branches are named. Inside the room is a small vial, with scrambled words on it. Dan solves the anagram, and they resolve to insert the vial into a lightning rod—one of Franklin's inventions—to charge it. Amy succeeds, but the vial is then stolen by the Kabras. However, Dan still has the original envelope, and solves the puzzle for the clue: iron solute. Amy's Internet searches for Franklin also have led them to the probable location of the second Clue: Vienna, Austria, the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.