The Crossbones by Patrick Carman

The Crossbones by Patrick Carman is the third book in The Skeleton Creek Series. The story is told through Ryan McCray's journal and Sarah Fincher's videos, just like the first two books in the series. After finding the hidden gold in the floorboards of the old gold dredge in their small town, Sarah and her family moved to Boston while Ryan's family stayed in Skeleton Creek and opened a fly fishing shop/guide operation. But, Ryan has held onto a secret since the night of their discovery: he found a mysterious envelope in the pocket of the man who had embodied Old Joe Bush's ghost and terrorized them. Henry ran off before the police arrived, but the note was left behind. The note was a set of encrypted directions to four different haunted places all over the United Stated. He and Sarah hatched a plan to visit these places, find the clues the note described, and solve yet another mystery involving the strange group, the Crossbones. Their timing was perfect because Sarah was scheduled to attend film school in California. As she drove across the country on her way to film school, she stopped by all of the locations in the message, finding video after video of The Apostle, a known member of The Crossbones. All four clues led to an amazing find right back in Skeleton Creek - this time, it was Ryan's turn to investigate. At every turn, both kids are plagued by the three remaining members of the original Crossbones group: The Raven, the ghost, and the Apostle, and the danger is getting more and more real!

This was probably my favorite of the three books! I really felt like I was in Ryan's shoes as he stayed at home anxiously awaiting Sarah's video uploads as she investigated the haunted places. I loved the way the story branched out to include unsolved hauntings and mysteries from around the U.S. It reminded me a bit of the 39 Clues Series by the end, because of the seemingly endless hunt for more information to solve the mystery of The Crossbones.