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Happy Monday! Only two more Mondays left in our school year after today! Middle Grade Monday features Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce. Myrtle Hardcastle is a smart and spunky twelve-year-old who lives with her lawyer father and governess in Swinburne, England. She has a keen and curious mind and full access to all her father's law books and her dead mother's microscope. Her governess, Miss Judson, encourages her curiosity, but also reminds Myrtle that she is also training to be a Young Lady of Quality. Young Ladies of Quality don't spy on their neighbors. Myrtle calls it observing. When she notices that her unpleasant neighbor, Miss Wodehouse wasn't up and about for her morning routine, Myrtle calls the constabulary, who find the old woman dead in her bathtub. The death is ruled to be of natural causes, but Myrtle isn't so sure and launches her own investigation.
This intriguing whodunit will have you guessing. It's set in the Victorian Era and Myrtle constantly struggles with her drive to learn and the constraints on women and girls at the time. She's a spunky, endearing main character surrounded by a cast of colorful secondary characters. It's a long book and the vocabulary is fairly difficult, but if you love a good mystery and have outgrown the mild, middle grade stuff, Myrtle's your gal!
I just adored the audiobook energetically narrated by a new-to-me narrator. Perfectly paced and energetic. The voice made me love Myrtle even more.
Premeditated Myrtle is book one of the Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series. It was published last year and won an Edgar Award in the children's book category. If you enjoy it, move right on to book two, Premeditated Myrtle as I did! I can't wait for #3, Cold Blooded Myrtle, due out in October..
Premeditated Myrtle is book one of the Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series. It was published last year and won an Edgar Award in the children's book category. If you enjoy it, move right on to book two, Premeditated Myrtle as I did! I can't wait for #3, Cold Blooded Myrtle, due out in October..
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