Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

This thread is for your comments on Murder Most Unladylike which is our May Book of the Month. You may also find it under the title Murder is Bad Manners



Please remember the guidance: Respect, tolerance, good vibes.

Feel free to comment as you wish within those ideals. Try not to reveal the plot or if you want to specify something about a plot point put it in 'spoiler' tags, using square brackets.

Enjoy!

(and mine's already witing for me at the library!)

This was a fun read. I got it from my library with a few days left in April and thought I'd read a little bit a day to take me into May, but once I started reading it I found that was not going to be possible. I ended up finishing it before May even started!

As for the story, I really liked Hazel as the storyteller. I appreciated her more steady approach when compared with Daisy's tendency to rush in. I did get somewhat frustrated (view spoiler)[ with her when she realized how terribly Daisy was treating her but, instead of sticking to that, she ended up apologizing to Daisy! Granted, Daisy refused it and acknowledged that she should be the one apologizing to Hazel, but that apology was ONLY for her most immediate treatment of Hazel and not how she has been treating/using Hazel during the rest of their time at Deepdean.
I'm hoping that Hazel and Daisy's relationship will grow a bit more in the next books, that Daisy will begin to realize how terribly she's treated Hazel a lot of the time, and that Hazel will begin to stand up for herself more, instead of letting Daisy push her around so much. (hide spoiler)]

I really enjoyed this book overall and I especially liked how the author slowly revealed the information, through the various clues, such that even with my suspicions I was still surprised by the ending.

Yay! Thanks for posting this thread Jem. I am currently reading this book right now! Happy Reading everyone:)

Hello all! I am new to the group and look forward to diving right in with this May selection. I requested it from my library today! Happy reading and so nice to meet you all.

I'm not really a fast reader but I'm reading as fast as I can. I'm in part 3 of this book which is We learn some interesting things. This book gets interesting in me now:) Happy Reading everyone:D

Jennifer wrote: "This was a fun read. I got it from my library with a few days left in April and thought I'd read a little bit a day to take me into May, but once I started reading it I found that was not going to ..."

This makes me look forward to starting this tonight!

Jennifer wrote: "This was a fun read. I got it from my library with a few days left in April and thought I'd read a little bit a day to take me into May, but once I started reading it I found that was not going to ..."

Jennifer, I agree with the things you've said! I've already picked up the next two books from the library, so I am interested to see some character and relationship development as well.

I felt the pacing was wonderful and the solution to the mystery caught me by surprise also! One of the final scenes, (view spoiler)[ with the girls hiding and over-hearing the conversation between the detective, the teachers, and the headmistress (hide spoiler)] was very satisfying!

I really enjoyed it and read it practically straight through!

I’d read book 4 in the series and completely forgot the spoiler in there, in fact I was convinced it couldn’t be that person until right at the end!

And I’ve added the next two in the series to my TBR!

I read this book a few years ago, and went back to my reviews to remind myself what I thought about it at the time.

This is a Sherlock Holmes meets Agatha Christie set in Mallory Towers. Hazel is very much like Watson, tolerating Daisy's thoughtlessness. I didn't like this combination -sending your young readers a message of acceptable friendships, especially when Hazel is an ethnic minority being bossed around by a golden-haired white girl. Although the story was set in a time when this type of relationship was acceptable, it makes uncomfortable reading today.

Justine wrote: "I read this book a few years ago, and went back to my reviews to remind myself what I thought about it at the time.

This is a Sherlock Holmes meets Agatha Christie set in Mallory Towers. Hazel is..."

I do agree with you, and it's my hope that Hazel asserts herself more and more, realizing that this type of behavior from a friend is unacceptable.

I thought this was a fun read. I agree that I Hope Hazel starts to stand up for herself a bit more. I ordered the next book. It’s great for some easy reading on a hot day.

I'm afraid I disliked this book. I couldn't get past the awful treatment of Hazel by Daisy. She is a psychopath-manipulative and charming. And the American version is so altered that you can't even tell it's supposed to be set in England! I agree with Justine that it sends a bad message to readers.

I liked this book, especially the characters.

Justine wrote: "I read this book a few years ago, and went back to my reviews to remind myself what I thought about it at the time.

This is a Sherlock Holmes meets Agatha Christie set in Mallory Towers. Hazel is..."

I entered this series on a much later volume, a Christmas-themed one set in a college dorm, and I do believe the characters mature into a mutually respectful new-adult (not YA) friendship (that's what I remember, I think?). In any case, it's older, typical of what was being written / produced at the time, and I wasn't particularly moved to read the rest in the series. I did really enjoy Robin Stevens' continuation of Siobhan Dowd's mysteries in The Guggenheim Mystery.

I'm getting interested in the division of opinions over Daisy. Does the US 'translation' alter her attitude that much? It would be interesting to compare the two.

Jemima wrote: "I'm getting interested in the division of opinions over Daisy. Does the US 'translation' alter her attitude that much? It would be interesting to compare the two."

I would think Daisy's attitude was similar in both versions. For me, while I was annoyed at Daisy's treatment of Hazel, it also seemed to be typical of the time period. While I don't remember it being specifically stated, I got the impression that Daisy was from a titled family with the upper-cruse attitude that would be associated with that societal position. At the same time, Hazel's reluctance to stand up for herself would be period-appropriate, as a child of a family from a colony. At the same time, it's mentioned a few times how much her father looks up to the English. He likely would have impressed upon Hazel how important it was for her to make a good impression and not make a bad impression.

With that in mind, Daisy's behavior is completely understandable even if it would be considered acceptable in today's society.

I wonder how much of the anger at Daisy's behavior of Hazel is because the reader is applying today's societal standards instead of the societal standards of the day?

Jennifer wrote: "Jemima wrote: "I'm getting interested in the division of opinions over Daisy. Does the US 'translation' alter her attitude that much? It would be interesting to compare the two."

I would think Dai..."

Thanks, Jennifer. That's a good explanation.

I don't know that having no empathy and being excited about deaths of people you know and might have caused the death of is nice at any point in history. :) I like to think that locking someone in a trunk and leaving them wouldn't be considered a nice thing either. But I never lived in a 1930's boarding school. Maybe everyone was locked in trunks and laughing about murdered acquaintances.

I have not read this, but from the comments the book seems to have a rather typical British boarding school story feel to it, where the concept of certain girls lording it over others (in lower forms, of lower social status or in this case being of a different ethnicity) is both common but seemingly also deemed acceptable and annoyingly considered part of tradition.

SaraKat wrote: "I don't know that having no empathy and being excited about deaths of people you know and might have caused the death of is nice at any point in history. :) I like to think that locking someone in ..."

This seems to be a bit extreme, but there is a weird and annoying tendency in traditional boarding school stories of not only playing some rather nasty tricks but also the rather written in stone rule about being a good sport, knowing your “place” and if someone in an upper form singles you out, to accept this gracefully.