Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course).

First Class Murder | BookTrust First Class Murder | BookTrust

On the debit side, part of Daisy’s mentoring involves teaching Hazel to blend in by disguising her intelligence. Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event: the fiftieth Anniversary. K. edition), the first installment of a series by first-time author Robin Stevens, is an appealing whodunit set in a posh English boarding school in 1934, featuring 13-year-old detectives and BFFs Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong.I know what you mean about the preposterous in kids’ mysteries–kids solving real crimes can be tough to take for an adult reader, though it’s doubtful ten year olds are crossing their arms and shaking their heads.

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens (9780141369761

Miss Tennyson, our English teacher -- that is her name, really, although she is no relation to the famous one. It follows two schoolgirls in 1930s England solving their first murder mystery and is the first book in the 'Murder Most Unladylike' series. Narrator Hazel is sometimes worldly and sometimes naive, matter-of-factly noting that her dad has a concubine but not knowing exactly what goes on when characters are "canoodling" behind closed doors. Pilot Media optioned the rights from Emily Hayward Whitlock, head of book to film at The Artists’ Partnership, who was acting on behalf of Stevens’ literary agent, Gemma Cooper at The Bent Agency. But Hazel's hopes of relaxing amongst the beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tea-rooms are dashed by the danger lurking in the dark stairwells of Maudlin College.The other child, a dutiful daughter and diligent student named Hazel, is a Chinese girl from Hong Kong whose father aspires for her to become a Proper English Miss. It's Christmas, and the snow is falling in Cambridge, where the detective duo Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the festive period. Daisy Wells (not just a perfect English Miss) and Hazel Wong (astute and observant) have started a secret Detective Society at the Deepdene School for girls. Similarly, given the historical context of the novel, it’s no surprise that gender roles are foremost when portraying the girls. There is a handsome but weak-willed male teacher known as “The One” surrounded by hysterical spinsters: a lovelorn lesbian who pines for him, her jilted embittered and unsympathetic female lover, and a woman who appears to be strong and admirable, but who is actually (Spoiler Alert!

Murder Most Unladylike | BookTrust Murder Most Unladylike | BookTrust

Amid the not-so-secret drinking and serial romance on the faculty, a few adults we'll probably be seeing in future series installments show unexpected strengths. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate.Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove one happened in the first place. The Case of the Drowned Pearl: [ rating from when already read upon publication for world book day 2020] 3. Set in 1934, Murder Is Bad Manners offers lots of mini-epiphanies about period culture (for example, Hazel talks about the freezing, Spartan dorm and explains, "In England, the way of showing that you are very rich is to pretend that you are very poor and cannot afford things like heating or new shoes") and prejudice (a teacher's explanation of why she had to lie to get the job she's very good at).