Arsenic For Tea by Robin Stevens
Jul. 14th, 2015 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
I looked at Daisy. Her eyes were glittering and her cheeks were pink. This was Daisy with a Plan.
Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy’s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for her birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t about Daisy at all. (Naturally, Daisy is furious.)
Then one of their guests falls seriously, mysteriously, fatally ill – and everything points to poison.
Suddenly, Fallingford feels like a very dangerous place to be. And when someone close to Daisy looks suspicious, the girls must reveal the truth … no matter the consequences.
It’s 1935. A term has passed since MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE with no criminal activity at all (well, apart from the frog in Kitty’s bed). Daisy has invited Hazel, Kitty and Beanie to her family home for the holidays, Fallingford, as her mum has organised a party for her 14th birthday. However it soon becomes clear that Lady Hastings isn’t remotely interested in her daughter – she’s far more enamoured with Mr Curtis, an oily antiques expert who’s agreed to take a look at some of the artefacts in Fallingford, much to the displeasure of Daisy’s dad, the affable Lord Hastings. When Mr Curtis falls fatally ill after Daisy’s birthday tea, Wells and Wong are quick to take on the case but the more the girls investigate, the more they realise that the culprit may well be one of Daisy’s own family …
The second in Robin Stevens’s middle grade crime mystery series is another murderous delight that riffs on the traditional mystery setting of a murder in a remote country house and which sets the intrepid schoolgirls on a path that unveils some uncomfortable truths for Daisy. Adult readers should enjoy the nod to Dorothy L. Sayers (Daisy’s Uncle Felix definitely tips a monocle at Lord Peter Wimsy) but there’s also a strong coming-of-age vibe here that has universal appeal as Daisy is forced to confront the state of her parents’ marriage while Hazel develops a crush on a friend of Daisy’s brother Bertie. Stevens does particularly well at showing how this creates conflict between the girls and I found the reactions of each character to be very believable as they confront each other on their prejudices and ultimately, have to confront themselves. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Uncle Felix who’s clearly got his fingers in a number of mysterious pies but I also had a lot of love for Lord Hastings, who’s shown as a bit of a duffer with a fondness for silly practical jokes and who clearly adores his only daughter. The mystery itself plays out with plenty of twists and turns and I enjoyed the help that the sleuths get from an enthusiastic Kitty and Beanie. I didn’t find the crime here to be particularly violent, but parents with very sensitive children may want to be aware. All in all, I’m really looking forward to reading the next in this entertaining series.
The Verdict:
The second in Robin Stevens’s middle grade crime mystery series is another murderous delight that riffs on the traditional mystery setting of a murder in a remote country house and which sets the intrepid schoolgirls on a path that unveils some uncomfortable truths for Daisy. Adult readers should enjoy the nod to Dorothy L. Sayers (Daisy’s Uncle Felix definitely tips a monocle at Lord Peter Wimsy) but there’s also a strong coming-of-age vibe here that has universal appeal as Daisy is forced to confront the state of her parents’ marriage while Hazel develops a crush on a friend of Daisy’s brother Bertie. Stevens does particularly well at showing how this creates conflict between the girls and I found the reactions of each character to be very believable as they confront each other on their prejudices and ultimately, have to confront themselves. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Uncle Felix who’s clearly got his fingers in a number of mysterious pies but I also had a lot of love for Lord Hastings, who’s shown as a bit of a duffer with a fondness for silly practical jokes and who clearly adores his only daughter. The mystery itself plays out with plenty of twists and turns and I enjoyed the help that the sleuths get from an enthusiastic Kitty and Beanie. I didn’t find the crime here to be particularly violent, but parents with very sensitive children may want to be aware. All in all, I’m really looking forward to reading the next in this entertaining series.
Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy’s home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy’s glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for her birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn’t about Daisy at all. (Naturally, Daisy is furious.)
Then one of their guests falls seriously, mysteriously, fatally ill – and everything points to poison.
Suddenly, Fallingford feels like a very dangerous place to be. And when someone close to Daisy looks suspicious, the girls must reveal the truth … no matter the consequences.
It’s 1935. A term has passed since MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE with no criminal activity at all (well, apart from the frog in Kitty’s bed). Daisy has invited Hazel, Kitty and Beanie to her family home for the holidays, Fallingford, as her mum has organised a party for her 14th birthday. However it soon becomes clear that Lady Hastings isn’t remotely interested in her daughter – she’s far more enamoured with Mr Curtis, an oily antiques expert who’s agreed to take a look at some of the artefacts in Fallingford, much to the displeasure of Daisy’s dad, the affable Lord Hastings. When Mr Curtis falls fatally ill after Daisy’s birthday tea, Wells and Wong are quick to take on the case but the more the girls investigate, the more they realise that the culprit may well be one of Daisy’s own family …
The second in Robin Stevens’s middle grade crime mystery series is another murderous delight that riffs on the traditional mystery setting of a murder in a remote country house and which sets the intrepid schoolgirls on a path that unveils some uncomfortable truths for Daisy. Adult readers should enjoy the nod to Dorothy L. Sayers (Daisy’s Uncle Felix definitely tips a monocle at Lord Peter Wimsy) but there’s also a strong coming-of-age vibe here that has universal appeal as Daisy is forced to confront the state of her parents’ marriage while Hazel develops a crush on a friend of Daisy’s brother Bertie. Stevens does particularly well at showing how this creates conflict between the girls and I found the reactions of each character to be very believable as they confront each other on their prejudices and ultimately, have to confront themselves. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Uncle Felix who’s clearly got his fingers in a number of mysterious pies but I also had a lot of love for Lord Hastings, who’s shown as a bit of a duffer with a fondness for silly practical jokes and who clearly adores his only daughter. The mystery itself plays out with plenty of twists and turns and I enjoyed the help that the sleuths get from an enthusiastic Kitty and Beanie. I didn’t find the crime here to be particularly violent, but parents with very sensitive children may want to be aware. All in all, I’m really looking forward to reading the next in this entertaining series.
The Verdict:
The second in Robin Stevens’s middle grade crime mystery series is another murderous delight that riffs on the traditional mystery setting of a murder in a remote country house and which sets the intrepid schoolgirls on a path that unveils some uncomfortable truths for Daisy. Adult readers should enjoy the nod to Dorothy L. Sayers (Daisy’s Uncle Felix definitely tips a monocle at Lord Peter Wimsy) but there’s also a strong coming-of-age vibe here that has universal appeal as Daisy is forced to confront the state of her parents’ marriage while Hazel develops a crush on a friend of Daisy’s brother Bertie. Stevens does particularly well at showing how this creates conflict between the girls and I found the reactions of each character to be very believable as they confront each other on their prejudices and ultimately, have to confront themselves. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Uncle Felix who’s clearly got his fingers in a number of mysterious pies but I also had a lot of love for Lord Hastings, who’s shown as a bit of a duffer with a fondness for silly practical jokes and who clearly adores his only daughter. The mystery itself plays out with plenty of twists and turns and I enjoyed the help that the sleuths get from an enthusiastic Kitty and Beanie. I didn’t find the crime here to be particularly violent, but parents with very sensitive children may want to be aware. All in all, I’m really looking forward to reading the next in this entertaining series.
