Robin Stevens: A Spoonful of Murder (Puffin Books 2018)
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong met at DeepDean School for Girls and founded the Wells and Wong Detective Agency, in complete secrecy, with the purpose of shedding light on the mysterious cases that occur at the school. Together, they have solved five serious murder cases so far and become best friends. This time, they have to investigate a case that is personally related to them. Hazel has to travel home to Hong Kong after her grandfather’s death for mourning period, where Daisy accompanies her for support. Unfortunately, they have to use their detective skills again because Hazel is also in danger.
We have previously seen Daisy’s home and family as the embodiment of the old aristocracy. Now we can see Hazel’s home, which reflects unattainable wealth by European standards. Here, Hazel is truly in her zone, as she is not the sidekick here, but the main character. However, there is a backside to ‘sweet home’: the strict rules and traditions that permeate Chinese society, in which girls are not as valuable as boys. The story shows Daisy and Hazel’s personalities very well by placing them in a different environment. As we progress in the series, the relationship between the two main characters changes and even Daisy becomes more sympathetic due to her friendship with Hazel. One of the most interesting parts of the story is the accurate and beautiful natural description of Hong Kong at that time, which provides the background for the investigation.
Robin Stevens was born in USA, but has lived in England since she was 3 years old. She herself went to a boarding school, however, unlike the protagonists of the story, she waited in vain for a real crime that she could investigate. The mysteries followed her throughout her life. Ever since she read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, she knew she wanted to be Poirot or Miss Marple when she grew up. She studied crime fiction at university and then worked for a children’s book publisher before becoming a full-time writer. The Murder Most Unladylike series started in 2014 and ended in 2021. It contains a total of 11 volumes, two of which are short stories. The second book has just been published in Hungarian. The author also has standalone books, but her new middle-grade series is about child spies of the British Secret Service under the title The Ministry of Unladylike Activity.
