Jolly Foul Play

I loved this book.

Another good mystery, and a thought-provoking story about bullying and the evils of telling other people's most devastating secrets. There are some ugly moments, and ups and downs, and most of the girls enjoy cruel gossiping too much. True to life, I'm sure. Well, the story is good, and the ending is satisfying. Good book.

Great book, very interesting storyline, and over all, nothing bad to say!

'Jolly Foul Play' is Robin Stevens' fourth Murder Most Unladylike Mystery and for this story we are back at Deepdean School, the private boarding school attended by the story's heroines, Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells, which last featured in the first Murder Most Unladylike Mystery. This time, it is not a teacher who has been murdered, but an unpopular schoolgirl - in fact the victim is actually the new Head Girl, Elizabeth Hurst, who has managed to blackmail her way into being voted Head Girl by the other fifth formers at the school. We are in the Autumn term and at a firework party excitedly attended by all of the girls at the school, when Elizabeth's lifeless body is found near the bonfire; her head has been stoven in - ostensibly caused by her stepping on a large garden rake and, therefore, her death is put down to being a dreadful accident. But Hazel and Daisy know better; Elizabeth's injury cannot have been caused by something as ordinary as a garden rake and when both girls learn that Elizabeth has been collecting secrets about her fellow fifth formers - secrets that could ruin their lives if discovered - Hazel and Daisy decide their ex-Head Girl has been murdered by one of her schoolfellows. And so begins another adventure for the Secret Detective Society, a society which was set up in the first Murder Most Unladylike Mystery and which now includes some of the other fourth formers in Daisy's and Hazel's class. Also in this story we see Hazel sharing her theories about the murder to Alexander, another amateur sleuth who wants to become a Pinkerton Detective when he leaves school, and whom we first met in the third book 'First Class Murder'. Writing letters in invisible ink to Alexander and receiving replies from him, Hazel finds herself under suspicion from Daisy who is very angry when she discovers that her best friend has been sharing information about the murder to someone outside of their Detective Agency - a situation that results in the two best friends falling out and in a rather spectacular way. Can Daisy and Hazel put their differences behind them and pool resources in order to discover the perpetrator of the crime? And who was it amongst the fifth form girls who committed such jolly foul play?Set in the 1930s, this is yet another exciting and enjoyable murder mystery story for our engaging amateur sleuths and one in which the girls (who complement each other well with Daisy being the more daring and intuitive of the duo and Hazel being the more cautious and practical) have to learn to work with some new members of the Detective Society. As usual, this story has its fair share of red herrings, but there are clues for readers to discover and this particular story was made even more interesting by the fact that of one of the pupils under suspicion was a German girl whose Jewish parents were still in Germany where the Nazi Party was gaining power, and this aspect added another dimension to the story. I know I'm much older than the intended age range for this book but, like the others in the series, I very much enjoyed it, as did the young person I bought this for. We didn't find it quite so exciting as the first story set at Deepdean School, but still a really entertaining read and we're keen to start the next book in the series: 'Mistletoe and Murder' which we should have time to read and share before Christmas.4 Stars.

Not strictly for adults, but maybe a bit blood-thirsty for intermediate readers. Enjoyable, but should be reviewed by a parent or teacher before being given to children.