Murder Most Unladylike ~ Robin Stevens

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens has been on my bookshelf for some time now. I hit a massive reading wall recently and just had no motivation to pick anything up. So, I decided that I’d choose an easier read to ease myself back in rather than the big storylines I’m use to. This series is aimed at age 8-12 year olds which definitely isn’t my age range but I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

At Deapdean School for Girls, we follow two best friends. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong who have set up their own detective agency. Their only problem is that they haven’t got and REAL crimes to report on. Well, this all changes when Hazel finds their Science Mistress, Miss Bell, dead on the gymnasium floor. The mystery deepens when five minutes later after going to get help the body has dissapeared. Not only do Daisy and Hazel now have a murder to solve, but they have to actually convince the rest of the school that it happened in the first place. Will they figure out who the killer is before he or she strikes again?

I love how this book played on the murder mystery classic. But having it written through such a younger persons perspective was really refreshing. I was fascinated by the casebook which the two kept all their notes and findings in throughout the book. It was so simply written with who they had seen at what times and whether everyone had alibis or not. They worked everything out step by step like true detectives would.

The only thing I would say that at times I didn’t really like the character of Daisy that much. I often felt sorry for Hazel because of how bossy and pushy that Daisy could be and that Hazel got the brunt of this quite regularly. It felt as though Stevens was trying to stick to the stereotype of the overpowering popular schoolgirls but as the story unravels we gain a better understanding of these particular traits.

Having the book written from Hazels point of view is one of my favourite things about this book. Being from Hong Kong, Hazel, has to get used to an English way of life and gain an understanding of our customs. So, seeing everything through her eyes was interesting as it was almost an outsiders view on our culture.

Overall, I only gave this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars because although I throughly enjoyed it didn’t have me gripped like other books have and this is probably due to the fact that it isn’t aimed at my age group. However, I am intrigued to see how the series continues in the next seven books.

M🌸