Jolly Foul Play: A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery: 4

Bought for my 10 year old granddaughter who now has the complete series. As an avid reader she loves them

Gosh this series is so much fun. Daisy and Hazel are getting older and they're facing new tests of their friendship as well as the threat of a murderer. In book 4 the big girls are causing problems - bit then the head girl is murdered. Who did it? And where are all the mysterious pieces of paper with secrets on coming from? I love this series - it is the perfect mix of Enid Blyton-esque boarding school stories and Agatha Christie style crime. And although it's set in the 1930s, the cast of characters is more diverse than the Blyton equivalents and poses questions about how people are treated and people's attitudes to those who are different. But all this is done in a fun and readable way - I don't want you to go away thinking that this is a preachy book, because it's not - it's massively good fun

An excellent series.

'Jolly Foul Play' is Robin Stevens' fourth Murder Most Unladylike Mystery and for this story we are back at Deepdean School, the private boarding school attended by the story's heroines, Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells, which last featured in the first Murder Most Unladylike Mystery. This time, it is not a teacher who has been murdered, but an unpopular schoolgirl - in fact the victim is actually the new Head Girl, Elizabeth Hurst, who has managed to blackmail her way into being voted Head Girl by the other fifth formers at the school. We are in the Autumn term and at a firework party excitedly attended by all of the girls at the school, when Elizabeth's lifeless body is found near the bonfire; her head has been stoven in - ostensibly caused by her stepping on a large garden rake and, therefore, her death is put down to being a dreadful accident. But Hazel and Daisy know better; Elizabeth's injury cannot have been caused by something as ordinary as a garden rake and when both girls learn that Elizabeth has been collecting secrets about her fellow fifth formers - secrets that could ruin their lives if discovered - Hazel and Daisy decide their ex-Head Girl has been murdered by one of her schoolfellows. And so begins another adventure for the Secret Detective Society, a society which was set up in the first Murder Most Unladylike Mystery and which now includes some of the other fourth formers in Daisy's and Hazel's class. Also in this story we see Hazel sharing her theories about the murder to Alexander, another amateur sleuth who wants to become a Pinkerton Detective when he leaves school, and whom we first met in the third book 'First Class Murder'. Writing letters in invisible ink to Alexander and receiving replies from him, Hazel finds herself under suspicion from Daisy who is very angry when she discovers that her best friend has been sharing information about the murder to someone outside of their Detective Agency - a situation that results in the two best friends falling out and in a rather spectacular way. Can Daisy and Hazel put their differences behind them and pool resources in order to discover the perpetrator of the crime? And who was it amongst the fifth form girls who committed such jolly foul play? Set in the 1930s, this is yet another exciting and enjoyable murder mystery story for our engaging amateur sleuths and one in which the girls (who complement each other well with Daisy being the more daring and intuitive of the duo and Hazel being the more cautious and practical) have to learn to work with some new members of the Detective Society. As usual, this story has its fair share of red herrings, but there are clues for readers to discover and this particular story was made even more interesting by the fact that of one of the pupils under suspicion was a German girl whose Jewish parents were still in Germany where the Nazi Party was gaining power, and this aspect added another dimension to the story. I know I'm much older than the intended age range for this book but, like the others in the series, I very much enjoyed it, as did the young person I bought this for. We didn't find it quite so exciting as the first story set at Deepdean School, but still a really entertaining read and we're keen to start the next book in the series: 'Mistletoe and Murder' which we should have time to read and share before Christmas. 4 Stars.

I am slowly working my way through the 'Murder Most Unladylike' series and in my view each book impoves on the last. In this installment they are back at Deepdean and are looking for the murderer of the (hated) head girl. The book is too good to give spoilers but I can say that despite the 'puzzle' element harking back to crime novels from the Victorians to pre-WW2 (they acknowledge the debt to Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle and others such as Ronald Knox), this book continues to develop and add depth to the characters (and not just Daisy and Hazel), through which the author draws in the conventions of more modern crime novel, such as the above mentioned greater emotional range and also an acknowledgement of the long-lasting negative impact murder (and other crimes) have on those who are close to the victim and/or those who live and work in near proximity to criminals and crime in general. The fusion of these two strands works surprisingly well and I cannot wait to start the next one in the series. An added bonus for me is being able to have a 'mini book club' with my daughter (who is 10) as we both love this series and it is wonderful to find something that appeals to us both. Because of that I can highly recommend this book for anyone aged 10 and above and is one of the few books that I would genuinly class as 'family' reading.

I love this series. Sharp, funny and clever, they take a worn trope and bring it bang up to date without losing any of the charm. It also helps that the murders are usually quite grim, which adds a nice amount of grit. In this fourth outing for the Wells and Wong Detective Agency, the head girl is murdered at a bonfire night celebration. Daisy and Hazel need to find out who did it, but that's hard when they aren't speaking to each other. Can they save their friendship and anyone else from being bumped off?

Could not put this book down I hight enjoyed it. I read this book in one sitting. Definitely recommend 💖

My nine year old daughter loved these books. She has read 1-4 in the series and keeps asking for the next ones. What better praise could there be,

I'm a huge fan of Daisy and Hazel and have been following their adventures since the first book, Robin Stevens is a great writer. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries. Also, I might or might not be on a campaign to get more boys to read this, so far I've got my brother hooked.

Great detective story for 11-13 year olds, it has the fun, the mystery, a real pageturner for that age.

My 11-year-old daughter absolutely loves this amazing book series.

Another good mystery, and a thought-provoking story about bullying and the evils of telling other people's most devastating secrets. There are some ugly moments, and ups and downs, and most of the girls enjoy cruel gossiping too much. True to life, I'm sure. Well, the story is good, and the ending is satisfying. Good book.

I loved this book.