It’s 4th July 1936, 2 weeks after DEATH IN THE SPOTLIGHT. Summer term has already begun at Deepdean School when Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong return and both feel oddly out of place. For starters, Daisy has been displaced as pre-eminent Fourth Former by newcomer Amina El Maghrabi from Egypt, whose gift for pranks and gracious behaviour to the shrimps means that even the Marys have transferred their devotion to her. Plus the girls’ late return means that Daisy’s lost her place on the equestrian team and has entirely lost out on any involvement in the school’s preparation for its 50th Anniversary weekend, to which various parents, relatives and school signatories are invited. Everything changes during the Anniversary weekend when Beanie thinks she’s seen a man murder a woman in the nearby woods. With the help of fellow Detective Society members Lavinia, Beanie and Kitty, Daisy and Hazel rush to the woods to investigate but while they find evidence that something happened in the woods and that it involves visitors to the Anniversary weekend, they can’t find a body and not even the support of Inspector Priestly will get the local police to take them seriously. Then there’s another murder, one that strikes at the heart of Deepdean and threatens to see it closed forever unless Daisy and Hazel can find the killer and bring them to justice … The 8th book in Robin Stevens’s crime mystery series for readers aged 9+ is another cunning mystery filled with red herrings and clever twists. Daisy and Hazel’s characters and relationship are developed further and depth is given to Lavinia and Beanie but with all the students and parents at Deepdean I sometimes struggled to keep track of who was who although that is a minor quibble given how tightly this is plotted and how fast it moves. This is the 3rd time the MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE MYSTERIES has visited Deepdean and, for me, it’s the most interesting. Stevens cleverly shows how the girls’ adventures have affected them so that while they are slowly outgrowing Deepdean, the school and its students have equally moved on without them. I particularly enjoyed the effect this has on the narcissistic Daisy who is so used to being the centre of everyone’s universe that she’s more than a little put out to find that Amina has supplanted her. Also good is the more empathic Hazel, who realises what her friend is going through and is keen to find a way to improve things for her and while she doesn’t want the proud Daisy to know, Daisy nevertheless does. There’s a particularly lovely moment where Daisy wonders if Hazel is actually the hero of the story before discounting it as absurd. Also good is the character development of Lavinia and Beanie (my favourite of the other Detective Society members) as we see more of their parents and their relationship with them. In Beanie’s case, her mother’s worsening health is a source of upset and Stevens does a great job of showing how the other girls rally around her while Lavinia is unable to cope with her new stepmother (who is much younger than her father). However there are a lot of characters in this book because of all the parents and dignitaries attending the Anniversary event and at times I did have to cross-refer back to the character chart to work out who was who. The other consequence is that with so many characters, the victim didn’t make enough of an impact for me and while I enjoyed how Stevens tied in the latest death with Deepdean’s previous form for murder as serious grounds for its closure, I still wanted a more personal connection than what was on the page. The mystery is very well done with a premise that reminded me a little of THE 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON. There are plenty of twists and turns to it and I liked how Hazel convinces Daisy that they need the support of Inspector Priestley if they’re to uncover what’s happened as he forms a neat, laconic foil to Daisy’s sense of self-importance without undercutting her. Stevens also spreads the detective laurels equally between the various members of The Detective Society with each member making a valuable contribution. If I had a complaint then it was that the ending has devastating consequences for one of the characters but that really only gets recognised by Hazel. For all this though, I do really enjoy these books - they’re clever, have great period detail and really show Stevens’s love of Golden Age Detective novels while Daisy and Hazel are excellent detectives with a unique point of view. There’s only one more book in this series and I am really going to miss them when it’s over.

I was highly excited for the next book in the Murder Most Unladylike series, and I have to say that I was disappointed. It is highly unrealistic- really Deepdean should have been closed after the first book and two murders rather than the third murder set in the school- it just would not have been possible for it to remain open. I hope that there will not be another book set in the school because then I will really begin to complain about the fantasy of it. Another unrealistic factor is just how Inspector Priestley literally hands the case over to the girls. I mean, WHAT?! You have to seriously keep a blind eye to the lack of solid, historical facts in this book to make it completely enjoyable, particularly how the girls always come across a murder, but I suppose the series would be pointless then. Personally, I thought that you had to read a little too carefully to solve the mystery, and I also found the motives for the murderer really quite boring. The murder was dull as was the ending. When the girls come to their first conclusion, I just don't understand that it is not possible for that to be the case, since they are 'so smart'. Then the ending becomes obvious and it sort of worsens. I also feel like it is very Poirotesque, too Poirotesque. It is also so like Malory Towers that it becomes almost infuriating. A lot of the children and adults who may read this book may not have read Agatha Christie and Poirot, but if they did, then they would realise, like myself, that it almost seems like fan fic. Those that read Malory Towers, might understand a little more. It doesn't even feel particularly original after a while into the series. However, I am not saying that it is not well written and the series does not always feel as bad. For example, the previous murder case Death in the Spotlight is fantastic and a great read. I hope I don't sound that I don't enjoy reading Stevens, I do, it's just that this book was really just not for me.

I was quite disappointed with this book. I loved the others in the series, especially Death in the Spotlight and Mistletoe and Murder. It was quite boring and the plot wasn’t anything new or creative. I think that this book should have had a new setting and completely different story rather than being set at Deepdean again, the setting has been overused by this stage. I also wish that George and Alexander had more of a presence in the story and that the author had expanded on the lgbtq+ aspect mentioned in the previous book. I was surprised at this book, it’s my least favourite in the series. Nevertheless I would highly recommend the other books in the series, unfortunately I just did not enjoy this one.