Win 8 Children's Crime Fiction Books

To conclude this special focus on children's crime fiction, I have a brilliant competition with 8 books to giveaway thanks to Orion and Random House.

One lucky person will win:

Alex Carter - The Case of the Ruby Necklace & The Case of the Poisoned Pie
Caroline Lawrence - The Case of the Deadly Desperados & The Thieves of Ostia (#1 Roman Mysteries)
Helen Moss - The Mystery of the Whistling Caves & The Mystery of The Midnight Ghost
Marcus Sedgwick - Flood and Fang (#1 The Raven Mysteries)
Lauren St John - Dead Man's Cove

To enter, please fill in the form below. All entries will be deleted once the winner has supplied their address details. The prize will be sent out by the publishers.
One entry per person only please. To enter you must be over 13 and live in the UK. (You do not have to be a blog follower to enter but if you become a new follower I will be most happy!)
The competition will close at the end of the day on 30 June 2011.

Teenage Crime Fiction Recommendations

Following on from yesterday's younger crime fiction recommendations, here are some teenage crime novels that I've read and enjoyed over the last two years:

Beverley Birch's Rift. A fabulous mystery set in Africa with, unusually, a significant role for the police in the shape of Inspector Murothi.

CT Furlong's ARCTIC 6 series. So far I've read the first one, Killer Strangelets which is a thriller which takes a group of children of mixed ages all the way to CERN.

Julia Golding's Darcie Lock series. So far I've read the first one, Ringmaster in which Darcie Lock, finds out what her parents do for a living and she is recruited to MI6 to bring down an international bad-guy. The third book should be out next year.

Helen Grant's amazing debut, The Vanishing of Katarina Linden, a very atmospheric tale set in a small German town.

John Grisham's Theodore Boone series. I've read the first one, Theodore Boone which introduces the young lawyer, and look forward to the second one which is just out.

Gabrielle Lord's Conspiracy 365 series, a set of 12 books, one per month set in Australia, which has Cal Ormond running for his life and trying to decipher a cryptic inheritance. I've read 11 of these and will get round to the twelth soon. I believe it was written for more reluctant readers but is enjoyable for all abilities. Here's my review of January. If you can, do read them in order.

Sophie McKenzie's Girl, Missing and Blood Ties. Both of which have or will have sequels shortly. Sophie McKenzie is an incredibly popular author with library borrowers and these two titles are always in demand. Reviews of Girl Missing and Blood Ties.

I have many authors still to try, not least those running Crime Central: Anne Cassidy, Keren David, Linda Strachan and Gillian Philip.

More Mysteries for Children

Here are a few more suggestions for crime fiction aimed at pre-teens. As part of national crime-writing week, I've reviewed the first book in several new children's mystery series:

Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John
The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Alex Carter
The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence
Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman
The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss

and mentioned the sequels to those books. You can also read more about some of them in the Orion Star newsletter.

Another suggestion, that I haven't been able to get to in time is Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans:

As if being tiny and also having S.Horten as your name isn't bad enough, ten-year-old Stuart Horten is moved (by his very clever, but not very sensible parents) to Beeton, far away from all his friends. But in Beeton starts the strangest adventure of Stuart's life as he is swept up in a quest to find his uncle's old workshop - his famous magician, and also very short, uncle, that is...

The Book Zone has reviewed it and loved it!.



Then there are several series with links to Sherlock Holmes:

Author: Peter Abrahams
Series: Ingrid Levin-Hill (a big Sherlock Holmes fan), Echo Falls
1. Down the Rabbit Hole
2. Behind the Curtain
3. Into the Dark

Author: Andrew Lane
Series: Young Sherlock Holmes
1. The Death Cloud
2. Red Leech
3. Black Ice

Author: Tim Pigott-Smith
Series: The Baker Street Mysteries
1. The Dragon Tattoo
2. The Rose of Africa
3. The Shadow of Evil

Author: Anthony Read
Series: Baker Street Boys
1. The Case of the Disappearing Detective
2. The Case of the Captive Clairvoyant
3. The Case of the Ranjipur Ruby
4. The Case of the Limehouse Laundry
5. The Case of the Stolen Sparklers
6. The Case of the Haunted Horrors

And from my childhood:

"Carolyn Keene's" Nancy Drew continues to detect, most recently in the Sabotage Trilogy (2010/2011).

Franklin W Dixon's Hardy Boys are still strutting their stuff as the "Undercover Brothers", last seen in 2008's Feeding Frenzy.

My favourite series though, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators hasn't been picked up recently. I remember the excitement when I finally got hold of #1 in the series, The Secret of Terror Castle after I'd read so many of the later ones.

The New Enid Blyton?

Over the last five days, I've read and reviewed the first book in five new crime series for younger readers. So how do they compare with the popular Enid Blyton crime series? Let's compare them with the first in the Famous Five series, Five on a Treasure Island:

Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
Number of children in the gang?: 4
Any Pets?: 1 dog
Setting?: Kirrin Bay/Island, Cornwall
Dead Bodies?: None*
Mobile Phones Used?: N/A
(*I haven't reread this but I don't think there are.)

Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John
Number of children in the gang?: 1
Any Pets?: 1 dog
Setting?: St Ives, Cornwall
Dead Bodies?: No
Mobile Phones Used?: Briefly but not integral to the plot.

The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence
Number of children in the gang?: 1
Any Pets?: No
Setting?: Virginia City, USA, 1860s
Dead Bodies?: Yes
Mobile Phones Used?: N/A.

The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Alex Carter
Number of children in the gang?: 4
Any Pets?: 1 gerbil
Setting?: London
Dead Bodies?: No
Mobile Phones Used?: Yes, a lot.

Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman
Number of children in the gang?: 2
Any Pets?: No
Setting?: Island off Scotland
Dead Bodies?: Yes
Mobile Phones Used?: No as no signal on the island.

The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss
Number of children in the gang?: 3
Any Pets?: 1 dog
Setting?: Castle Key (an island), Cornwall
Dead Bodies?: No
Mobile Phones Used?: Yes, but not integral to the plot.

In conclusion, The Case of the Deadly Desperados was great fun but doesn't fit into the Enid Blyton mould, and for me, The Case of the Ruby Necklace is quite like the Nancy Drew mysteries I used to read; Mondays are Murder is very Agatha Christie in its plot and has a people-watching sleuth; Dead Man's Cove is quite like Blyton in its setting and lack of parents but features a solitary detective (rather than four, or more(!)) so the winner of the new Enid Blyton tag, in this small sample, with its Cornwall-island-setting, its gang of three and a dog, has to be The Mystery of the Whistling Caves. I expect to see stickers on her books with "Helen Moss is the next Stieg Larsson Enid Blyton".

Review: The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss

Here's the fifth post in my week celebrating the young crime solver.


The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss (July 2011, Orion Childrens ISBN 1444003283)

Review: If you were brought up on Enid Blyton, as I was, then this cover alone should win you over. I've been dying to read this one since I heard about it and it was as much fun as I'd hoped.

The Mystery of the Whistling Caves is the first in the Adventure Island mysteries and is released along with book two, The Mystery of the Midnight Ghost, on 7 July.

Scott (13) and younger brother Jack (12) are sent to stay with and elderly relative, "Aunt" Kate, on the Cornish island of Castle Key. Initially upset about this, having had to leave city life and gadgets behind, they decide to explore and visit the castle. They learn that the castle's museum will soon be hosting a display of Saxon treasure. On their way back from the castle they meet Emily, who is a similar age to Jack, and her dog Drift and that's when things begin to look up for the boys.

She invites them on to her boat to see and hear the "whistling caves" at the base of the castle cliffs but she is surprised and a little upset to discover that the whistling has ceased. When they return to dry land they find that some of the treasure has been stolen from the museum. Emily, who has helped the police before, though they didn't appreciate it, invites the boys to help her and Drift solve the case.

The gang carry out the investigation in the traditional way of checking alibis as well as eavesdropping and spying until a revelation (appropriately in a church!) sets them on the right path but one that turns both frightening and dangerous.

This is a puzzling mystery with suspicion falling on first one person then the next and the author does a good job of keeping the reader in doubt as to who the thief is until late in the book. I loved Emily and Drift. Emily is a barefoot tomboy who has her own rowing boat and Drift is a talented dog who appears to have had extra training in being a spy, obeying commands such as "keep watch". The boys soon become enchanted with the island (and Emily to be fair, though not in a romantic way) and Jack is a bit of a cheeky lad with Scott being a rather more cautious character with his extra year.

I-phone carrying old sea dogs, elderly cycling cleaners with gambling addictions - there are plenty of unusual characters on Castle Key which should make for a great summer for the gang. There are six mysteries planned - to coincide with the boys' six weeks of holiday perhaps?- two out in July, two in August and two in September. I can't wait!

I must also add how much I've appreciated the illustrations used at the start of each chapter in this series and Orion's other books such as Lauren St John's Laura Marlin series and Caroline Lawrence's Western Mysteries.

Read an extract from The Mystery of the Whistling Caves on the Orion website.

Review: Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman

Here's the fourth post in my week celebrating the young crime solver.


Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman (June 2009, Walker ISBN 1406314601)

Review: Mondays are Murder is the opening book in a now seven-book series featuring young detective Poppy Fields. Poppy and some other children are spending a week testing out a new outdoor activities centre on a remote island off the Scottish coast.

Poppy is glad that one of the kids is Graham a new boy at her school. He has a geeky, non-sporty reputation and is a mine of facts, especially about how dangerous certain outside activities are! Poppy's speciality is reading body language and soon has her fellow guests and hosts pegged.

Their chauffeur up to Scotland is Bruce, an Australian with severe facial scarring who will be their survival teacher. The other trainers include a husband and wife, who are not a happy couple and a water sports expert and a riding expert.

However on the first day of their "holiday", tragedy strikes and Bruce falls off a cliff into the sea below. And then, one by one the remaining adults begin to have suspicious, deadly accidents; the island becomes unreachable due to a storm and then the radio is damaged.

Together Poppy and Graham decide to get to the bottom of things. It seems like a ghost is killing people but ghosts don't exist, do they?

Mondays are Murder is quite a short book but the body count is high! The surprise in the solution to the mystery relies on you not having read one of Agatha Christie's most famous books, which I won't name so as not to give it away, and it's unlikely that the children reading this, will be aware of it. I first encountered this series last summer when a succession of children came up to the library counter to order it. I would imagine it's quite a scary read as the setting is quite spooky with the weather described keeping the island's occupiers trapped as the instructors are picked off one at a time. Not a lot is revealed about Poppy and Graham's background but perhaps they are more fleshed out in the later books.

The series is aimed at 9+ and you can sample the first few pages of Mondays are Murder here - it opens with a description of a murder, giving an idea of what's in store.

Review: The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Alex Carter

Here's the third post in my week celebrating the young crime solver.

The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Alex Carter (February 2011, Red Fox ISBN 1849411719)

Review: The Case of the Ruby Necklace is the first in the Mayfair Mysteries, released alongside The Case of the Poisoned Pie back in February. The series is so named as one of the four lead characters, Lauren, lives in the swanky London hotel Mayfair Park which is run by her mum and dad. Her best friends Jas, Mia and Becky spend their spare time there, where there is even an Olympic-sized pool in the basement.

The girls are very excited when they learn that famous US movie star Isabella Duval will be staying at the hotel to promote a new range of jewellery and she will be modelling the priceless "Cleopatra's necklace" at the launch.

Isabella is charming to the friends at first but during another visit she is rude. Why is Isabella so moody, who is her PR assistant Max and what is his interest in antiques?

The girls get themselves into some nail-biting scrapes before their keen observational skills save the day.

Despite the pink cover this was not as girly as I'd feared. I'm not sure how old the girls are - the book cover has suitable for 8+ on the back - there are a few references to fashion and make-up but not overdone (for my taste) and the girls have quite a bit of freedom. The friends are inventive and work well as a team with each girl having a different strength eg IT, acting. I think the solution to the mystery is credible to its target audience and I think they will love the glamour of the hotel setting. I don't see many boys picking it up though there are a couple of boys playing a small but critical role in this mystery. I enjoyed it and I'll be recommending it to the younger members of my reading group of 9-11 year-olds.

The girls will be back next year in The Case of the Suspicious Supermodel and The Case of the Haunted Hotel.

I haven't yet read The Case of the Poisoned Pie (though I'm planning to!) however a young lady falling squarely in the target audience, asastar at Book Angel Booktopia had this to say about it:

"I thought the Mayfair Mysteries were really exciting. I just could not seem to stop reading it even when Mum said it was time to go to sleep. I even read it as soon as I got up in the morning."

and there's no higher praise than not being able to stop reading something.

Review: The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence

Here's the second post in my week celebrating the young crime solver.

The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence (June 2011, Orion Childrens ISBN 1444001698)

Review: Roman goddess Caroline Lawrence turns her hand to a new era and place: the Wild West of the 1860s. In this the first of the Western Mysteries the reader meets twelve-year-old PK Pinkerton. Part white, part Native-American and orphaned twice-over.

The book begins with PK stuck down a mine and not expecting to survive the day. PK's adventures are then chronicled from the murder of PK's foster parents and the flight to Virginia City, the home of silver mining, to escape the evil desperados who want something valuable from PK. PK meets many characters in Virginia City, including the reporter who became "Mark Twain", and not all of them are trustworthy. There are plenty of chase scenes and gunfights and along the way the reader gets to know more about PK's character and abilities, some useful, some handicapping before the final showdown.

What a fabulous idea this is having a young detective in the Wild West. I loved it. The action is non-stop and with almost every chapter ending on a cliff-hanger the pages just flew by. I loved learning about this time and setting, one which will be quite new to UK readers I imagine, touching on slavery, the US Civil War as well as mining. PK is an intriguing character and should have equal appeal to boys and girls.

I can't wait for the sequel to find out more about PK's new life and adventures.

Caroline Lawrence stopped by the blog last week to talk about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. You can read her recap of the whole blog tour on the Western Mysteries blog.

Review: Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John

Here's the first post in my week celebrating the young crime solver.

Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John (March 2011, Orion Childrens ISBN 1444001485)

Review: I think the gorgeous cover gives away what you're getting in Dead Man's Cove: an old-fashioned adventure story. Dead Man's Cove is the first of the Laura Marlin books, the sequel Kidnap in the Caribbean being out in July.

Laura is an eleven-year-old orphan who, fuelled by reading 'Matt Walker' detective books and compelled by a non-stop curiosity, wants to be a detective when she grows up. She has stayed in several foster homes but always returns to Sylvan Meadows Children's Home until a miracle happens: a relative is discovered and her uncle, who lives in St Ives, wants to adopt her.

Initially quite wary of the stranger, who is her flesh-and-blood, she soon settles into St Ives and is given never-before seen freedom to wander the town and environs with the exception of one path, the one that leads to Dead Man's Cove.

Her uncle is rarely home and Laura is quite lonely so she tries to make friends with Tariq who works in the local grocery-shop, but who doesn't speak English and seems down-trodden by his parents. Eventually their friendship is broken but another friend, though not a human one, comes into her life and together they begin to investigate some of the mysteries that revolve around her home and uncle leading to a life-threatening final act involving Dead Man's Cove...

Dead Man's Cove which won the Blue Peter Book Award 2011, is a charming novel. Laura is a likeable lead character who is clever and inquisitive with a strong sense of justice and though she occasionally says something a bit nasty she soon realises and apologises. I felt so pleased that she's finally found somewhere to belong. I called this an old-fashioned adventure story however that's more due to the freedom Laura has and some of the classic tropes used: chloroform, messages in bottles, than the underlying crime that's being committed. I also enjoyed the beautiful St Ives setting and I wonder if there's now a Laura Marlin trail retracing her route to school where some significant story advances are made.

Dead Man's Cove is told in short-ish chapters each headed with one of illustrator David Dean's lovely and accurate drawings.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, Kidnap in the Caribbean.

Young Crime Solver week

The Crime Writers' Association (CWA)'s National Crime Writing Week runs 13-19 June and to coincide I've prepared a set of posts investigating the "young crime solver". I'm particularly focusing on sleuths that are not yet teenage but I will conclude with some of my favourite teenage crime novels at the end of the week.

Coming up this week:

Review of Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John
Review of The Case of the Ruby Necklace by Alex Carter
Review of The Case of the Deadly Desperados by Caroline Lawrence
Review of Mondays are Murder by Tanya Landman new
Review of The Mystery of the Whistling Caves by Helen Moss new
Highlighting new and recent mysteries for younger readers
Competition to win some of the titles mentioned this week
My favourite teenage crime novels

Plus anything else I can think of.