Showing posts with label Mrs Hudson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mrs Hudson. Show all posts

Saturday, 2 October 2021

DEATH SETS SAIL

by Robin Stevens;  

A Murder Mystery book review by Erin the Cat Princess

 

Erin the cat; Addicted to Murder Mystery & Mice! (Not necessarily in that order!)



The news of Upper Much-Mousing events has been cancelled for this week. Not because of illness but because Mrs H ran out fuel for her motorcycle. 

How does that affect the news, I hear you ask? Well, it seems she only had enough change in her purse to type up my dictation of this review over the telephone whilst standing in a public call box. Hopefully she, my shopping and the news will return, fully fueled in time for next weeks review! Also, if this review is a tad more squashed than usual, then blame the size of the telephone box!

Now, enough of the pre-amble and lets get on with the show!

 

'Is this the end for the detective Society?'


 

This week, somewhat sadly, we have come to the final main story in the MMU (Murder Most Unladylike) series of murder mystery adventures. 

 

It has been a fascinating and exciting series that has kept us going the past couple of years. OK, enough chat, let's get this show on the road, or should I say, all aboard the steamer for a trip down the Nile!

 

 

The Plot:

 

'This is an account of the last murder mystery the Detective Society will ever solve together.' 

 

The story opens with these very telling words. Words that will hang like a portent of death, a harbinger of evil, in the bone-dry Egyptian air throughout what is to come for our two, seemingly invincible detectives . . .

 

For this finale of an adventure, it is fitting we should have all of our favourites from the series. Hazel, Daisy, Hazel's father and her two sisters, Amina and her father, and George and Alexander of the Junior Pinkertons come together for one last adventure.

 

Amina's father, a wealthy Egyptian businessman, invites Daisy and Hazel to spend Christmas with Amina in Cairo. 

 

Hazel's father agrees to her going and says he will meet them there to share Egypt as a family. Daisy gets Uncle Felix's blessing too. Together the three girls fly to Egypt and take the sights, escorted by Amina's family's long-suffering pallid English governess. 

 

On arriving at her father's hotel in Cairo, Hazel, along with Daisy and Amina, can't help but hear and see a loud and irritating group of genteel European ladies and gentlemen. If only that was all they were! They are members of a fantastic sect called the Breath of Life, who believe that they are the reincarnation of the pharaohs. The more you pay them, the greater chance the sect's head, Mrs Theodora Miller, will divine you to be a high ranking king or queen. She already thinks of herself to be Hatshepsut. The locals quite rightly ignore the sect's preaching; after all, why would an Egyptian pharaoh come back as a dumpy European lady who thought herself a queen?

 

Anyway, the girls think they have seen the last of them, but they not only board the same train to head to the Nile but also end up on the very same cruise! 

 

Tensions carry on rising amidst the members of the sect and the crew. Not helped by Mrs Miller commandeering the lounge for some unusual rite that involves the weighing of the heart (not literally) to find if someone is worthy.

 

When Mrs Miller is found murdered, stabbed to death, and her daughter sleepwalking whilst covered in blood, they seem to have an open and shut case. Let me tell you that once the girls and the boys get investigating, it is anything but. 

 

Estranged family with an axe to grind? Members of the sect jealous and keen to rise in the ranks of the reincarnated? Any number of people suddenly seem to have a motive. But Who Actually Did It???

 

And that is where I have to leave the review and taster. I may have said more than I ought, but I think the mystery is so very much more.

 

 

What did we think?

Cor blimey, what a finale to the series!

 

We loved the characters; they really are a fabulous bunch of potential suspects. The protagonists are true to themselves and utterly charming for it. It was also wonderful that so much gets said/settled between Hazel and her father, and between the detectives. That is nice and rounds things off nicely, at least thus far.

 

The scene setting gives an authentic flavour of the day and location. Mixed with but not overburdened by a selection of facts and descriptions that carries us through the story and educates. 

 

Think of the best Agatha Christie adaptation for the movies or small screen, and I think this is comparable as, in its now inimitable fashion, it casts the same sort of magic for its younger reader. It has taken many readers, ourselves included, on an emotional and exciting ride right up to the final pages. Arguably, even beyond!

 

High praise, and yes, it does deserve it. The whole series has won plaudits from many reviewing agencies. 

 

Until you start writing characters and plots, I do not think we as readers can truly grasp the enormity of the task of 'world-building. Robin Stevens has masterfully created a timeline of adventures that take the girls across countries and through the seasons. They experience love, loss, fear and friendships. And through it all is woven the unstoppable and inescapable acts of growing up. Culminating in what is truly one of the classic settings, and a nod to a Mistress of Murder Mystery. 

 

I think a sign of how masterful this series has been is the fact neither Mrs H nor I had realised how much we had become invested in their lives and world. How much we cheered them on, gasped at revelations or kicked ourselves, along with the characters, when we guessed incorrectly or made a wrong turn. 

 

I will make no apology for the fact that I have had to be particularly candid about the story's details. Things get going quite literally from the opening line.

 

Be prepared to be shocked, raised high, then plummeted to depths. For those that haven't read this series, I do strongly suggest reading from the beginning. Yes, you can read this as a stand-alone, but it will be losing the contextual experience of the relationships between characters and their investment in each other over 8 books. If you have read up to this point, then I need to say no more than be prepared. But this is everything we have been waiting for and more.

 

 

Want to buy a copy?

 

If you'd like a copy of Death Sets Sail for your next cruise, please do support your local bookshop first. 

 

If you would like something extra spiffing, Round Table Books, here in the UK, can offer special editions, signed copies and pre-orders. I believe they do ship internationally too. A link to Round Table Books special orders can be found HERE.

 

A BIG PS

 

Now, eagle-eyed among our readers will have spotted certain clues that there may be more books to this series. And I am pleased to say that there are some short stories to be had. The first is called 'Cream Buns and Crime' and subtitled 'Tips, Tricks and Tales from the Detective Society'. Jolly good fun for your next bun break!

 

'Tips, Tricks and Tales from the Detective Society'

There is also the recently published collection of 6 short adventures called 'Once Upon a Crime'. Two of the stories have been published separately – The Case of the Missing Treasure and the Case of the Drowned Pearl – but have not been widely available. So seeing them here makes a welcome addition to this new book so all can enjoy them. 

  


 

'Once Upon a Crime' features characters old and new and recounts tales of 'off-screen' moments referred to in other stories, as well as a lead into a brand new series of adventures for Hazel's sisters, May and Rose. 

 

We read this in the last few weeks and can happily say it lives up to the main 9 stories and is a most welcome addition to the Murder Most Unladylike series. 

 

OK, so that really is it from us here at the Palace this week. We will return with a review of another great set of books for you to enjoy. 

 

Till then, we hope your own summer vacations culminate in nothing more worrying than thoughts of the reincarnation of last nights pizza! 

 

Till later.

Toodlepip and Purrs!

ERin

Saturday, 11 September 2021

'A Spoonful of Murder.'

 'A Spoonful of Murder' by Robin Stevens; a Murder Mystery book review by Erin the Cat Princess

Erin the cat; Addicted to Murder Mystery & Mice!


Well, what a funny old summer it has been, and strangely my thoughts are, if not exactly heading to Christmas time, then thoughts of Halloween. Brrr, doesnt it just make you shiver and send the staff heading off to dig out the winter duvets!
 

Well, I say duvets, but this year we are trying something different. Mrs H is trying a weighted blanket, and a sensory sheet. Now if you havent heard of such things then do look them up as they help restless sleepers get a good nights sleep. Why she wants a weighted blanket when she has me to pin her to the bed I don't know, but hey ho, the ways of housekeepers are sometimes beyond not so mere princesses as I.

OK, enough of the pre-amble and lets get on with the show!

 


 


This week we are reviewing the next book in the 'Murder Most Unladylike' series, A Spoonful of Murder', By the fabulous Robin Stevens.


The Plot:

This time around Hazel becomes the lead detective when she and Daisy venture to Hazel's birthplace and home in Hong Kong. 

When Hazel's beloved grandfather passes away, Hazel, as much through love as duty, travels home by boat to be with her father and mother, as well as her father's second wife and her two incorrigible younger half-sisters, May and Rose.

Don't worry, family structures in Hong Kong are very different to those in the west, as Daisy soon realises. Daisy, the archetypal British aristocratic daughter of a lord, also realises that she is a fish out of water and that Hazel, who has never made much of her family wealth and standing, is actually a bit of a 'dark horse'. But, in true Daisy-like fashion, she aims to make the most of the trip and learn as much as she can to fit in.

-setting, and there is NO mystery in Hazel's Grandfathers death. But, there is a surprise that triggers the series of events that creates a fantastic adventure for the girls. On arriving home, Hazel discovers that she has a new baby brother! A stepbrother by her father's second wife. Hazel is devastated, not least because she hasn't been told before now. But things run deeper than just that. With a new baby brother, her place as the eldest child and apple of her father's eye is automatically usurped in favour of Teddy, the baby. Despite his age, he will rule the roost as the son. 

Emotions run high for Hazel, as I am sure you can imagine. But, these get put, if not completely to one side, then slightly out of focus when Teddy is kidnapped, and his nursemaid, who was Hazel's own whilst she was growing up, is murdered.

Now at this point, things really do take off. There is, like all of these books, a great selection of characters and events and clues to be considered by the two detectives. Add to this that the girls get embroiled with the local Triad gang, risking their own safety in the process, then we have a bowlful of even more Murder Mystery and Suspense to captivate the avid reader.

I shall leave it there for the review, as to go further will, I think, spoil the fun.

 

What did we think?

This is a wonderfully crafted continuation of the series, that touches on many aspects of society, values and prejudices, as well as emotions and driving forces. It is also a jolly good read!

Mrs H and I both loved this new and original adventure, especially meeting May and Rose, Hazel's sisters. We will, I promise, get to hear and see more of them as time goes by. I have to say I learned a lot from this book, and think a younger reader will too. Most of all we both loved the way the plot accelerated and developed as the girls fought against the clock to get Teddy back and solve the murders!

It is also heartwarming, and gratifying. We truly cant praise this book enough for what it brings to this genre, and the age range – and beyond. The series, which I must confess Mrs H has now read up to date, but keeping the endings to herself, has been a constant bedside companion.


 

Want to buy a copy?

 

If you'd like a Spoonful of Crime with your morning oats, muesli or granola, please do support your local bookshop first. 

 

If you would like something extra spiffing, Round Table Books, here in the UK, can offer special editions, signed copies and pre-orders. I believe they do ship internationally too. A link to Round Table Books special orders can be found HERE.

 

Round Table Books is "an Inclusion-led book shop" based at the heart of Brixton, London, UK. Its purpose, as shown on their website, is to highlight and celebrate underrepresented children's books, writers and illustrators, and draws from as wide a range as possible of UK and Irish publishing houses. Mrs H says, in an age when small or minority is often pushed to one side by the big, shops across the world like Round Table Books, should be encouraged by us all, so we can nurture great new diverse talent.


Next time I will be reviewing the next major book in the series 'Death in the Spotlight'.

OK, so that is it from us here at the Palace. We will return, editorial work on our own adventure novel permitting, in a week or so time.

 

Till then, we hope your own spoons will be filled with nothing more sinister than lukewarm porridge!

Till later.

Toodlepip and Purrs!

ERin