A first-rate whodunit, reminiscent of a game of Clue and terrific preparation for the works of Agatha Christie.
Wells and Wong return in a classic country-estate mystery.
Spending their April break at Fallingford, Daisy’s stately (but run-down) family home, schoolgirls Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong become detectives again when an unpleasant friend of Daisy’s mother is murdered there. Mr. Curtis is a stranger, ostensibly invited for Daisy’s 14th birthday party. He’s clearly more interested in the family’s valuable antiques, and Daisy’s mother, Lady Hastings, is inappropriately interested in him. When he’s fatally poisoned after drinking his tea, many people have motives, but the girls (and two school friends invited for the occasion) quickly narrow the list. All their potential suspects are members of Daisy’s own family. This is difficult for the president of the Detective Society, but she continues to gamely direct its proceedings. Hazel serves as scribe and narrator. Besides recording their activities, she supplies her own observations, including comparisons of her wealthy Chinese family’s home in Hong Kong with this shabbier one, and her feelings about looking and being different from Daisy and her white family. Published in England in 2015 as Arsenic for Tea, this well-crafted and entertaining detective story, a stand-alone sequel to Murder Is Bad Manners (2014), is solidly set in a fading world of 1930s minor nobility and supported by a cast list and map.
A first-rate whodunit, reminiscent of a game of Clue and terrific preparation for the works of Agatha Christie. (Historical mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2215-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
An outstanding new edition of this popular modern classic (Newbery Award, 1961), with an introduction by Zena Sutherland and...
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-395-53680-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Navigating this stunning novel requires thought and concentration, but it’s well worth the effort.
Returning to themes she explored so affectingly in Moon Over Manifest (2011), Newbery Medalist Vanderpool delivers another winning picaresque about memories, personal journeys, interconnectedness—and the power of stories.
Thirteen-year-old Jack enters boarding school in Maine after his mother’s death at the end of World War II. He quickly befriends Early Auden, a savant whose extraordinary facility with numbers allows him to “read” a story about “Pi” from the infinite series of digits that follow 3.14. Jack accompanies Early in one of the school crew team’s rowing boats on what Jack believes is his friend’s fruitless quest to find a great bear allegedly roaming the wilderness—and Early’s brother, a legendary figure reportedly killed in battle. En route, Early spins out Pi’s evolving saga, and the boys encounter memorable individuals and adventures that uncannily parallel those in the stories. Vanderpool ties all these details, characters, and Jack’s growing maturity and self-awareness together masterfully and poignantly, though humor and excitement leaven the weighty issues the author and Jack frequently pose. Some exploits may strain credulity; Jack’s self-awareness often seems beyond his years, and there are coincidences that may seem too convenient. It’s all of a piece with Vanderpool’s craftsmanship. Her tapestry is woven and finished off seamlessly. The ending is very moving, and there’s a lovely, last-page surprise that Jack doesn’t know but that readers will have been tipped off about.
Navigating this stunning novel requires thought and concentration, but it’s well worth the effort. (author’s note, with questions and answers, list of resources) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-74209-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
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