Jolly foul play A Wells & Wong mystery

The fourth installment of the A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery series, set in the 1930s, finds Daisy and Hazel back at their British boarding school, ready to begin a new term. But things have changed. Head Girl Elizabeth Hurst and her bullying band of prefects are making life miserable for the younger girls. Then, at a bonfire, Elizabeth winds up dead, and clues come to light making it clear she was terrorizing her friends as well. The Detective Society quickly realize this is murder, and once again go to many lengths to solve the mystery. There are lots of characters running around, and it's sometimes hard to keep them straight (though there is a list of players at the book's beginning). This is also more about clues and capers than the personal lives of Daisy and Hazel, which takes this story down a notch from previous entries. Still, there's plenty of good fun here, as well as some dastardly deeds, and readers who like solving the mystery along with the detectives will find themselves stretching their powers of deduction.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2018 Booklist

Gr 5-8-For the first time since the "Wells & Wong" series debut, sleuths Daisy and Hazel are back at Deepdean School with friends Beanie, Kitty, and Lavinia in 1935: their ninth-grade year. During the Guy Fawkes Day bonfire at school, the Detective Society encounters their newest case: Head Girl Elizabeth has been killed, and the only possible suspects are her five closest friends. As Hazel, Daisy, and their friends investigate, they discover that each suspect had her own potential motives for the murder. Elizabeth was holding secrets over her friends' heads, ranging from fairly innocuous (one student dyes her hair) to more serious (an eating disorder and a romantic relationship between two girls at a time when this would have been extremely taboo). As in prior installments in the series, Steven's storytelling and suspense-building are top-notch, though the killer's motive is not quite as compelling as other suspects'. The fast-changing nature of friendship between girls is a constant theme throughout; the gossipy secrets Elizabeth uses to blackmail other students and Daisy's insecurity when Hazel shows interest in a boy are prime examples. This realistic depiction of student life may make the 1935 setting a little more relatable for readers, while also providing appeal to an older audience than previous books. VERDICT An appropriately complex depiction of adolescent friendship gives this well-crafted mystery appeal beyond its genre alone.-Katherine Barr, Cameron Village Regional Library, Raleigh, NC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fall of 1935 finds a new Head Girl and her mean-girl minions making life miserable for Daisy, Hazel, and their Deepdean schoolmates. A murder on Bonfire Night and scandalous secrets put Daisy and Hazel's Detective Society back in action, but they face complication as their own friendship sours. It's an unexpected twist that makes room for character development in this compelling fourth mystery. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Jolly Foul Play I We were all looking up, and so we missed the murder. I have never seen Daisy so furious. She has been grinding her teeth (so hard that my teeth ache in sympathy) and saying, "Oh, Hazel! How could we not notice it? We were on the spot!" You see, Daisy needs to know things, and see everything, and get in everywhere. Being reminded that despite all the measures she puts in place (having informants in the younger years, ingratiating herself with the older girls and Jones the handyman and the teachers), there are still things going on at Deepdean that she does not understand--well, that has put her in an even worse mood than the one she has been in lately. And, if I'm honest, I feel strangely ashamed. The Detective Society has solved three real murder mysteries so far, and yet we still missed a murder taking place under our noses, in our very own Deepdean School for Girls--the place where we began our detective careers one year ago. It really is funny to think about that. It seems in a way as though we have not moved at all--or as though we have made a circle, and come all the way back to the beginning again. I suppose I still look almost exactly like the Hazel I was when I ran into the Gym and found Miss Bell, our science teacher, lying on the floor last October. I am not much taller, anyway. When I measured myself last week, I found I have hardly grown at all--or at least, not upward. My hair is still straight and dark brown, my face is still round, and I still have the pimple on my nose (I suppose it must be a different pimple, but it does not look that way). Inside, though, I feel quite different. All the things that have happened in the past year have made me quite a new shape, I think--one who has faced up to the murderer at Daisy's home, Fallingford, and defied my father to solve the Orient Express case. On the other hand, sometimes I think that even though Daisy keeps on shooting upward and becoming blonder and lovelier than ever, she has stayed the same inside. She bounces back from things, like a rubber ball--not even what happened at Fallingford could truly alter her. Before the fifth of November, I had not been enjoying Deepdean much this semester. Just like the changes that have taken place in me, the school has felt different from last year, and not at all in a good way. It has felt as though something awful were rushing toward us. Last night was dreadful, but now it has happened I feel almost relieved. It is like the difference between waiting to go in to the dentist and sitting in his chair. And now that there is a murder to solve, Daisy and I can be the Detective Society again. It is sometimes difficult being Daisy's best friend, but being her vice president and secretary is much more simple. This case, though, will not be simple at all. You see, the person who has died--who we think has been murdered--is our new Head Girl. Excerpted from Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.