THE GOOD TURN

 by SHARNA JACKSON;  

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat ©

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, and welcome to my Saturday Book Review featuring Adventures in Middle-Grade Fiction.

 

This week the weather here in Upper Much-Mousing has been erratic. Snow, bitter cold, wind and glorious sun all mixed together in unusal quantities. A bit like the temporary cook's cake mix. Mrs Mingins' latest chocolate cake came out so hard when she tried to cut a slice, it flew from the plate and dented the floor!

 

Thankfully, I have a ready supply of tooth-saving meals in the fridge, and failing that there is a mousehole on the second floor that does a great takeaway service!

 

Something else there has been a good supply of, is wonderful new Middle Grade books. Now a little while back we did a review of 'The Diary of a Buddhist Cat', by Julian Worker. My review can be found here.

A recommendation from one of my commentors lead me to pick up a great read call 'The Dalai Lama's Cat', by David Michie. I will be reviewing that fun and thought provoking book later this year, once I have meditated on it a bit longer. 

But it did put me in mind, call it fate or Karma, of a soon to be released book by one of our favourite authors. So, with a hot drink by my fireside seat, I settled down to read 'The Good Turn', by acclaimed writer, Sharna Jackson.

©Sharna Jackson/Penguin Random House

 

THE GOOD TURN, by SHARNA JACKSON

 

Published by: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CHILDRENS BOOKS: PUFFIN BOOKS

Publication date: 12 May 2022

Paperback ISBN: 978 - 0241 523 599  

 

Cover price for Paperback £7.99

 

Pages 400.

 

Age range: Middle Grade 

Any cats? No cats, but an enthusiastic dog called Brian owned by a strange character called Mr Kirklees.

 

 

SPOILER ALERT

No spoilers here. 

 

Disclaimer. 

 

We are massive fans of Sharna's High Rise Mystery series, and would have been purchasing this paperback on publication. We were therefore over the moon to be approved by Penguin Random House Childrens Books to Read and Review this for free.  Accordingly we are only too happy to share this unsponsored review with you.

The plot

The story focuses on three schoolmates Josephine, in whose voice the story is told, and Wesley and Margot. They all live in Copsey Close, in Luton, and are in the same class at school. The triangle they form with their families creates the dynamic backdrop to this tale.

Josephine is a go-getter, a leader and eager to do better for herself and drag her classmates, willingly or otherwise, with her. Some had said she is selfish. Wesley has responsibilities and worries at home way beyond his paygrade. Margot is the newcomer with a bit of a past. Wesley dislikes her with an obvious passion, and say she's a spy and interloper intent on snatching away his friendship with Josephine. But Margot is eager to please and wants to be friends with both the others. The trouble is, she's a bit tactless with her humour. Rest asssured, they each have many things to work on and crosses to bear, real or imaginary.
 

Josephine suggests that they start their own local version of the Guides and Scouts, called the Copseys. It will be a group to help others, to drive community action. Also, it will be something that will look good on a CV. She gets the others on board, albeit Wesley somewhat reluctantly. Each has a role to play, with Josephine as the leader. They start by litter-picking an old man's garden. With each activity, they will earn a badge. Positive results arise, and they earn some money. Now, this would all be a bit mundane if not for the mysterious appearance one night of lights in a nearby abandoned and derelict factory.

From that point on, as they investigate and try to earn badges for their activities and tensions mount at home, things start to spiral desperately out of control for the Copseys.

 

So, what did we think?

S.J. is on the money with this 5 STAR sassy, fun, wry, teeth-kissing new adventure about the perils and pluses of trying to do good! But it doesnt just stop there. The story deals with responsibility, choices both personal and affecting others, and doing the right thing. It does this all skillfully, without labouring under the weight of otherwise heavy topics.

A must-read for fans of her High Rise Mystery series and for readers wanting a story of this age, socially relevant, thought-provoking and engaging.

So . . . . 

Crunch time. 

There is so much to this adventure, it would be impossible to take just one aspect and say that it stood above the rest. It is an all round great story that stands tall and proud. On that basis, I think this will be a readers, classroom and parents' favourite.

 

 

Want to buy a copy?

 

To get a copy, then please do your local independant booksellers a good turn and head down to pre-order ASAP!

SHARNA JACKSON'S web page can be found HERE.  https://www.sharnajackson.com/about

 

 

Penguin Random House/ Puffin Book's web page can be found HERE.   https://www.penguin.co.uk/brands/puffin.html

 

 

If any authors or publishers wish us to review their books, please do get in touch. Details are listed on our book review page.

 

 

And for all my fans out there, I leave you with a picture of me savouring the delights of a catnip infused rainbow banana. There'll be no work done this afternoon, I can tell you!

 

Till later!

ERin

 

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

Top Marks for Murder; a book review.

 

 A Murder Mystery book review by Erin the Cat Princess

Erin the cat: Addicted to Murder Mystery & Mice!

It's finally Saturday, and that means it's time for my Saturday Book Review!

 

But first, a few words from our sponsor about my week here at the Palace.

 

The summer here in Upper Much-Mousing, set deep in the tiny English county of East Lambtonshire, has been pretty much business as usual. Now most of the crops are in, I've been preparing for one of the events for which Lower, and Upper Much-Mousing were and are known – MouseFest.

 

As the lady of the manor, I also hold the honorary title of 'The Majestic Much-Mousing Mouse Muncher Mistress'. Thankfully it is a title that has no requirement for a minimum waist size. What I have to do is inspect the fields for mice. Once I have found the best field, I then select the best points for the competitors to station themselves for the night of the hunt.

 

It is hard work and requires many hours of nighttime observation and patience (as well as restraint) on my part to pick the best spots. I should stress that competing cats from the neighbourhood are checked before the competition to ensure they don't bring their own mice to add to their tally.

 

This year's hot favourite is Bertie, mouse-catcher in residence at the local inn. He has quite a following (not from the mice) though I think he is a bit on the stout side from, well, too much stout. My favourite, and a small amount of my piggy bank, is riding on Mavis, the baker's cat. She has a rigorous exercise routine that includes kneading the dough to builder upper arm strength. She also does resistance training stretching out the dough so Dorothy, the baker, can make those fancy plaited loaves. 

 

The outsider for this years event, a black cat called Sid from the undertakers, is definitely worth an each-way bet. Not the chatty sort that guy, but patient and silent as the . . . well you get my drift.

 

Me, I'll be sat with Mrs H in the Much-Mousing Tea Rooms, an extension to Mrs Singhs Food Emporium, enjoying a hard-earned nap in advance of the prize-giving. And naturally, I'll be checking out this year's prize, which was kindly donated by Johnson's Cream Bar – a years supply of fresh double cream!

 

I shall post the results of the event just as soon as we recover from the awards ceremony.

 

Oh, just in case you are interested, the second prize is a year's membership to the village gym! Methinks they should amalgamate those two prizes, don't you!

 

Anyways, enough of my rustic village life; let's get on with the review!

 

 

'Death is back at Deepdean'

 

This week we review the next book in the 'Murder Most Unladylike' series, 'Top Marks for Murder', by the wonderful Mrs Robin Stevens.

 

The Plot:

The adventure starts as our heroines, aged nearly 15, return to Deepdean School for Girls after their escapades in London. They have settled back into being just ordinary schoolgirls and all that goes with that.

 

The year is 1936. The month, July. The upcoming event is the 50th Anniversary Weekend of the Deepdean School for Young Ladies. The girls' parents, many of them ex-pupils, are invited to a weekend celebration. It will be full of banquets, and events – academic and athletic, indoors and out. All put on by the pupils and with parent participation. 

 

So far, so good. And with things planned to a T, and the girls all dressed up and on their best behaviour, then everything should be OK.

 

But of course, a murder mystery would not be such without a murder. And Deepdean School, for those that have followed the series, is now about to get its third. To make matters worse, if it's not solved by the girls come the end of the event, it will be its last as the school will close, permanently.

 

If that wasn't enough, whilst Daisy and Hazel have been away, a new girl has arrived at Deepdean from a posh school in Cairo. Amina is in the year below Hazel and Daisy. With stunning good looks and perfect manners towards the teachers, she has stolen the light from Daisy. It is fair to say Daisy is not at all pleased.

 

When one of the younger students, Beanie, spots from afar what she believes is a murder being committed in the woods at the edge of the grounds, the deadly game is afoot.

 

When the girls go off to investigate, they find two clues. One points to a French connection, and the other, most shockingly, to one or other of the murderer or victim, or both, being a parent or member of the school council coming to the school. But what they don't find is a body.

 

Not much to go on. And one could say without a body, there is no murder and thus no case. But Daisy and Hazel feel otherwise. With the help of the other members of the Detective Society – Lavinia, Kitty and Beanie – and the police, they set about spying on the parents when they arrive for the weekend celebrations. At least, on those that have come. But what of those that haven't? Is one of those the victim, or maybe they're the murderer! So, whilst the girls work on their allotted tasks for the big occasion, they have to wheedle out information from the adults.

 

What they find is a complicated web of long-buried rivalries and relationships between the adults and secrets that maybe should stay buried. This WILL be a weekend for revelation and murders and also family feud and sadness. Fair play and foul and a practical joke.

 

As with all reviews, there comes the chapter/point where we have to let the new reader carry on and find out for themselves.

 

What did we think?

I really liked this book. It was thankfully and rightly quite different to the two previous mysteries centred on the school. It is pretty complex, and there is far more fun and games than I have been able to give the book credit for in this short summary. Rest assured, as we reach the climax, there will be a feast of entertainment and crime to make you think twice about the guests at your table and place settings!

 

Of the books so far, this goes further into relationships and friendships. It also acts, I think, as a springboard to show how much the girls have changed. It also shows how in life, that change can happen in such a short time.  I like that. Yet, I get a real sense that the youthfulness of the other adventures is being left behind.

 

So, it may not come as a surprise that this is the penultimate book in this series. It will also not be a surprise if I say that of the books so far, I think this is not my favourite.

 

It is nothing to do with the adventure, just my taste and the loss of innocence as the characters grow. But I am pleased to say that this book is right up there and is both engaging and entertaining. It is also very much on a par with an Agatha Christie novel. That in itself is, Mrs H says, much credit to the skill of Robin Stevens as the author.

 

Should I buy a copy?

Absolutely. I would say this is an essential part of the series and not to be missed. Taken as a whole series, I think you'll want to read this so you go into the finale ready for what will happen and believe me, it happens.

 

Want to buy a copy?

As ever, if you are going to buy, please do support your local independent bookseller.

 

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. If you cant see what you are after, then do drop them an email.

 

Next time I will be reviewing the FINAL book in this series, book 9. It is a classic adventure and one not to be missed. So, pack yourselves a case and join Mrs H and me as we head off for 'Death Sets Sail' and murder mystery adventure on the Nile!

 

I hope you enjoyed our review and a peek at life 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 school report doesn't look like mine and say 'A very trying pupil!'

 

Toodlepip and Purrs!

 

ERin