A little while ago, I asked for recommendations of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Shortly thereafter, I stumbled into Running Girl (20014) by Simon Mason, which is Teenage Sherlock in all but name.
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It’s happened to us all: you’re minding your own business in a second-hand bookshop, and suddenly you stumble over 17 volumes of a juvenile mystery series you’ve never heard off…and a Three Investigators-adjacent-sounding juvenile mystery series, at that.
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Sometimes I feel like a curmudgeon for not liking a book — books do many things, and one book can be something entirely different to so many people, that it feels rather lousy when something just passes you by entirely.
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An aristocratic family, a big house in which an aged relative resides, everyone converging for a party, said elderly relative being the victim of a crime, a precocious young girl keen to investigate, rumours of a family treasure hidden in the grounds…lordy, I hope I’m not reading The Swifts (2023) again.
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A twenty-first outing for Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews, and the fourth to be written by Mary Virginia Carey, The Secret of the Haunted Mirror (1974) is another fast-paced and engaging turn for The Three Investigators, even if it doesn’t quite hit the highs that this series or this author have achieved before now.
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A second mystery for Roger, Diana, Snubby, Loony, Barney, and Miranda — and one with a hint of the impossible, about it, to boot.
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I had hoped to diversify these Minor Felonies posts this month, and to bring in some new authors who might produce well-structured juvenile detective fiction. But, well, that didn’t work out, and so instead I guess I’ll just have to return to Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle, perhaps the best series of detective novels for 8 to 12 year-olds currently on the market.
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A third entry in the delightfully silly Montgomery Bonbon series, from the mind of the equally delightfully silly Alasdair Beckett-King, Mystery at the Manor (2024) is…delightfully silly.
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An isolated, snowbound mansion, a wealthy family at each other’s throats…you’d frankly be disappointed if this setup didn’t result in a murder.
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Recently made into a series for British TV, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019) by Holly Jackson was recommended to me about a year ago…and it’s taken almost that long for it to be available at my local library, its popularity no doubt enhanced by recently coming to wider public awareness.
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