Review: Clifftoppers – The Frost Castle Adventure

This fab series of middle grade mysteries continues with the exciting fourth book, The Frost Castle Adventure!

Review: The Angel of the Crows

If you like your Sherlock Holmes retellings with a touch of the paranormal, The Angel of the Crows is a solid addition to the genre!

Middle Grade Mystery Mini-Reviews

I’ve read several books recently that seem to be on a similar theme, so I thought I’d scoop them all up into one post of mini reviews. None of these were quite my usual cup of tea, but they should all be hits with those who love middle grade mysteries set in the real world!

All three of these were sent free of charge for me to review; the first two were unsolicited physical proofs from Nosy Crow and the last was one I requested from NetGalley.

The Secret Detectives by Ella Risbridger

Review: Premeditated Myrtle

I don’t read a lot of audiobooks, but something about the sample of Premeditated Myrtle made me give it a go, and I’m so glad I did – this is a great middle grade mystery with a really fun heroine!

Review: The Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valour

As a teen I was a big fan of Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, which is set in an elite boarding school that’s a front for a training academy for spies – they were a lot of fun! Since they were heavy on the teen drama, I was interested to see that she’d turned her hand to middle grade with her new book, The Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valour.

Review: Twelve Minutes to Midnight

Taking as its subject and inspiration the Victorian penny dreadful, Twelve Minutes to Midnight is unlike any middle grade I’ve read before!

Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon

Something you may not know about me is that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes nut. I fell in love with the original stories way back in primary school, and have read them so many times I know most of them by heart (remember Data in that one episode of Star Trek? Like that). I’ve also read so many follow-ups by other authors (fanfictions, expanded canon, whatever you want to call it), and I have to say that Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon is one of the very best I’ve ever read.

Review: Clifftoppers – The Fire Bay Adventure

The Clifftoppers are back for their second exciting adventure!

Review: Clifftoppers – The Arrowhead Moor Adventure

As a kid, I never spent the Easter holidays racing around the countryside on my bike with my cousins solving crimes, but somehow this book managed to make me feel nostalgic for exactly that!

Review: Cauldron’s Bubble

When I became friends with Amber Elby on Twitter, it was clear that we had loads in common, so I jumped at the chance to review her witchy, Shakespeare-inspired middle grade book, Cauldron’s Bubble. It’s just my cup of tea!