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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t think I’ve read such an impersonal book in a long time.
I couldn’t finish this book, but what I read was thin.
It’s all plot and mechanisms.
We don’t get to know anything about any of these people, but somehow we’re supposed to care.
I get that this is Middle Grade, we like action, we like adrenaline, but I’ve never read a Middle Grade book so detached.
This is one of those books where you could read the plot outline and not miss anything.
The two people that we follow around— I can’t even say ‘get to know’— are insufferable.
You have Hazel, the protagonist who doesn’t seem to mind being seen and treated as an inferior. Even by her supposed ‘friend’.
Then there’s Daisy who acts more like an antagonist than a friend.
We’re supposed to spend time with these uninteresting, obnoxious people?
Maybe it gets better, but there’s enough suffering without bringing it upon yourself.
I couldn’t finish this book, but what I read was thin.
It’s all plot and mechanisms.
We don’t get to know anything about any of these people, but somehow we’re supposed to care.
I get that this is Middle Grade, we like action, we like adrenaline, but I’ve never read a Middle Grade book so detached.
This is one of those books where you could read the plot outline and not miss anything.
The two people that we follow around— I can’t even say ‘get to know’— are insufferable.
You have Hazel, the protagonist who doesn’t seem to mind being seen and treated as an inferior. Even by her supposed ‘friend’.
Then there’s Daisy who acts more like an antagonist than a friend.
We’re supposed to spend time with these uninteresting, obnoxious people?
Maybe it gets better, but there’s enough suffering without bringing it upon yourself.
An exciting and well-thought out plot, novelly written into a well-paced story. I am hopeful of more in the series and am eagerly awaiting them.
4½ Out of 5
I've been hooked to murder mysteries for as long as I can remember and I've read and watched so, so many – all different sorts, in all shapes and forms. But in all my murder-mystery-ing, I've never read anything like Murder Most Unladylike. It was fun and light, but also addictive and suspenseful. Young and old crime fiction fans like me will adore it – it's just impossible to resist!
“We're still the only people who can solve the crimes."
I had to admit that Daisy's logic made sense. Under the circumstances, in fact, the Detective Society had never seemed so important.'
The year: 1934. The location: Deepdean School For Girls. The Mystery: The murder and disappearance of Miss Bell. The Detectives: Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells of the Wells & Wong Detective Society.
When Daisy Wells decides that she and her best friend, Hazel Wong, will set up a Detective Society at Deepdean School For Girls, she hopes for exciting cases. But she gets none.
And then Hazel stumbles across a body in the gym – literally. She runs to find Daisy, but by the time they return, the body has vanished. Without the body, they have no evidence – and no chance of proving a murder has taken place.
So Daisy decides that she and Hazel will serve the murder, much to Hazel's horror.
And so they begin finding clues, following suspects and making secret inquiries, with Hazel writing down everything they find.
Soon, the stakes rise and the girls find that proving the murder happened might be even harder than stopping the killer striking again – and remaining friends throughout the investigation...
Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t read this book, even though I'd heard so many good things. I don’t know why I hadn’t read it – Murder Most Unladylike is so my kind of book! I mean, Nancy Drew-Sherlock types in a boarding school in the 1930s trying to find a killer? C'mon, tell me that doesn’t sound totally awesome?! So when I got the chance to review the book, I said: YES PLEASE! And man, Murder Most Unladylike exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun – and so utterly addictive! I started reading, just planning on reading a few pages, and then before I knew it I was halfway through and utterly hooked, unable to stop reading. Always a good sign in a mystery!
Hazel was brilliant – level-headed, sweet, a little nervous, but understandably so! She was far more sensible than Daisy, more likable too, since her ego was nowhere near as big and she was much more sympathetic and in touch with her emotions. Daisy, however, intrigued me more. She looked like the perfect little British girl, but she was really this logical, rational, genius, sceptical want-to-be detective with a brilliant mind and intuition. She was a bit like Sherlock: at times it was hard to know why you liked her, but she was so intriguing it was hard not to, even when she did these strange things and showed her shockingly large ego.
The relationship the two of them had was rather intriguing – and by the end the perfect tortoise-and-rabbit example of murder mystery solving (read MMU and you'll get it). I loved how close the girls were, and yes, they still had little spats – but they made up. I liked watching Daisy evolve into a better person and Hazel evolve into someone a little more daring. They were so good for one another and really grew in the short space of the novel.
The other characters were varied and brilliant: each was original and real, unlike many younger murder mysteries, where there are cardboard-cut-out characters. I won’t say any more on the characters: don’t want to give you any suspect-spoilers!
I will talk about the writing, ‘cause it was simply smashing: it felt totally perfect for the era! I adored it – it felt as if I'd been transported back in time! Hazel's voice was brilliant and addictive – her compassion and humanity really came across – and I simply loved the casebook style of writing. There was lots of suspense in Murder Most Unladylike, but humour too. Some bits (mainly involving Daisy's brilliantly barmy plans) made me laugh out loud. And all the while, the suspense grew!
A murder in a boarding school, two girls determined to find the killer... C'mon, how can't you want to find out more? There was a real Nancy Drew feel to Murder Most Unladylike – only I adored MMU way more than I ever liked Nancy Drew. As with all good murder mysteries, there were twists, false turns and red herrings – along with numerous suspects. I was quite proud of myself by the end: I'd had a suspicion for quite a while that turned out to be true – of course, I had two or three similar suspicions that were completely terrible... But still! I've always enjoyed murder mysteries and Murder Most Unladylike totally appealed to my life-long love of the genre, making me even more excited than a Diagnosis Murder marathon!
As for the setting: loved it! I've always found the archetypal British boarding school to be a fascinating place for a story. Put said story back in the 1930s and you get a deliriously happy book addicted girl! I mean, I loved the boarding school setting so much I just wanted to go back in time and go to Deepdean – be in the Detective Society with Daisy and Hazel, sneak around solving a murder, have bun breaks and just do everything! Someone invent a time machine ASAP!
I also adored all the Sherlockian nods in Murder Most Unladylike: as a Sherlocked gal, I found this addictive! And seeing the diversity in the book was awesome too: canoodling between men and women and two women, a Chinese Watson, the younger girls “pashing” on Daisy... Oh, and the map and character list at the front and 'Daisy's Guide To Deepdean' at the back were just awesome! I loved both – especially Daisy's guide: her voice was brilliant and so Daisy!
I've not had so much fun reading a book for ages as I did reading Murder Most Unladylike. Utterly compelling, captivating, fun and addictive, I easily read it in one sitting and was left feeling desperate for more.
Oh, I just can't recommend this one enough! I absolutely adored it and cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on the next Wells and Wong book! With enough thrills to keep a crime junkie like me happy and more than enough light hearted silliness to entertain all, Murder Most Unladylike will appeal to everyone – and everyone should read it, ASAP!
I've been hooked to murder mysteries for as long as I can remember and I've read and watched so, so many – all different sorts, in all shapes and forms. But in all my murder-mystery-ing, I've never read anything like Murder Most Unladylike. It was fun and light, but also addictive and suspenseful. Young and old crime fiction fans like me will adore it – it's just impossible to resist!
“We're still the only people who can solve the crimes."
I had to admit that Daisy's logic made sense. Under the circumstances, in fact, the Detective Society had never seemed so important.'
The year: 1934. The location: Deepdean School For Girls. The Mystery: The murder and disappearance of Miss Bell. The Detectives: Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells of the Wells & Wong Detective Society.
When Daisy Wells decides that she and her best friend, Hazel Wong, will set up a Detective Society at Deepdean School For Girls, she hopes for exciting cases. But she gets none.
And then Hazel stumbles across a body in the gym – literally. She runs to find Daisy, but by the time they return, the body has vanished. Without the body, they have no evidence – and no chance of proving a murder has taken place.
So Daisy decides that she and Hazel will serve the murder, much to Hazel's horror.
And so they begin finding clues, following suspects and making secret inquiries, with Hazel writing down everything they find.
Soon, the stakes rise and the girls find that proving the murder happened might be even harder than stopping the killer striking again – and remaining friends throughout the investigation...
Up until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t read this book, even though I'd heard so many good things. I don’t know why I hadn’t read it – Murder Most Unladylike is so my kind of book! I mean, Nancy Drew-Sherlock types in a boarding school in the 1930s trying to find a killer? C'mon, tell me that doesn’t sound totally awesome?! So when I got the chance to review the book, I said: YES PLEASE! And man, Murder Most Unladylike exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun – and so utterly addictive! I started reading, just planning on reading a few pages, and then before I knew it I was halfway through and utterly hooked, unable to stop reading. Always a good sign in a mystery!
Hazel was brilliant – level-headed, sweet, a little nervous, but understandably so! She was far more sensible than Daisy, more likable too, since her ego was nowhere near as big and she was much more sympathetic and in touch with her emotions. Daisy, however, intrigued me more. She looked like the perfect little British girl, but she was really this logical, rational, genius, sceptical want-to-be detective with a brilliant mind and intuition. She was a bit like Sherlock: at times it was hard to know why you liked her, but she was so intriguing it was hard not to, even when she did these strange things and showed her shockingly large ego.
The relationship the two of them had was rather intriguing – and by the end the perfect tortoise-and-rabbit example of murder mystery solving (read MMU and you'll get it). I loved how close the girls were, and yes, they still had little spats – but they made up. I liked watching Daisy evolve into a better person and Hazel evolve into someone a little more daring. They were so good for one another and really grew in the short space of the novel.
The other characters were varied and brilliant: each was original and real, unlike many younger murder mysteries, where there are cardboard-cut-out characters. I won’t say any more on the characters: don’t want to give you any suspect-spoilers!
I will talk about the writing, ‘cause it was simply smashing: it felt totally perfect for the era! I adored it – it felt as if I'd been transported back in time! Hazel's voice was brilliant and addictive – her compassion and humanity really came across – and I simply loved the casebook style of writing. There was lots of suspense in Murder Most Unladylike, but humour too. Some bits (mainly involving Daisy's brilliantly barmy plans) made me laugh out loud. And all the while, the suspense grew!
A murder in a boarding school, two girls determined to find the killer... C'mon, how can't you want to find out more? There was a real Nancy Drew feel to Murder Most Unladylike – only I adored MMU way more than I ever liked Nancy Drew. As with all good murder mysteries, there were twists, false turns and red herrings – along with numerous suspects. I was quite proud of myself by the end: I'd had a suspicion for quite a while that turned out to be true – of course, I had two or three similar suspicions that were completely terrible... But still! I've always enjoyed murder mysteries and Murder Most Unladylike totally appealed to my life-long love of the genre, making me even more excited than a Diagnosis Murder marathon!
As for the setting: loved it! I've always found the archetypal British boarding school to be a fascinating place for a story. Put said story back in the 1930s and you get a deliriously happy book addicted girl! I mean, I loved the boarding school setting so much I just wanted to go back in time and go to Deepdean – be in the Detective Society with Daisy and Hazel, sneak around solving a murder, have bun breaks and just do everything! Someone invent a time machine ASAP!
I also adored all the Sherlockian nods in Murder Most Unladylike: as a Sherlocked gal, I found this addictive! And seeing the diversity in the book was awesome too: canoodling between men and women and two women, a Chinese Watson, the younger girls “pashing” on Daisy... Oh, and the map and character list at the front and 'Daisy's Guide To Deepdean' at the back were just awesome! I loved both – especially Daisy's guide: her voice was brilliant and so Daisy!
I've not had so much fun reading a book for ages as I did reading Murder Most Unladylike. Utterly compelling, captivating, fun and addictive, I easily read it in one sitting and was left feeling desperate for more.
Oh, I just can't recommend this one enough! I absolutely adored it and cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on the next Wells and Wong book! With enough thrills to keep a crime junkie like me happy and more than enough light hearted silliness to entertain all, Murder Most Unladylike will appeal to everyone – and everyone should read it, ASAP!
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Now, the idea was really great and honestly, from a child’s perspective, the book is actually really great. That said, I’m not a child and I did have some issues with this book.
The main characters are quite awful. Especially Daisy. She’s a horrible friend, horrible person and she just uses people to her advantage.
Hazel isn’t that much better either. She’s a Chinese girl who moved to the UK because her dad wanted her to. Now, Hazel is a bit chubby and, well, she did move half across the world to go to school on her own in a different country, so her self image isn’t that great. Also, she’s 13 and in an all girl’s school, not many people have a great self image at that age. BUT she praises the “beautiful white girls” way too much. Honestly, it’s such a poisonous state of mind, she keeps comparing herself to the other girls and this kind of scares me to recommend this book to children. Hazel’s heritage is also being used as a plot device, just very slightly, but it annoys me.
This book WAS really fun, it was a great story and really interesting, and I might actually read the other books in this series, but I don’t want to recommend this book to children who have a low self image, because this book won’t make them feel better. If you are an adult who wants to read this, by all means, it’s a fun book to read, but really think about it before you want a child in your life to read this book, are they confident enough in themselves that they aren’t affected by books or characters?
The main characters are quite awful. Especially Daisy. She’s a horrible friend, horrible person and she just uses people to her advantage.
Hazel isn’t that much better either. She’s a Chinese girl who moved to the UK because her dad wanted her to. Now, Hazel is a bit chubby and, well, she did move half across the world to go to school on her own in a different country, so her self image isn’t that great. Also, she’s 13 and in an all girl’s school, not many people have a great self image at that age. BUT she praises the “beautiful white girls” way too much. Honestly, it’s such a poisonous state of mind, she keeps comparing herself to the other girls and this kind of scares me to recommend this book to children. Hazel’s heritage is also being used as a plot device, just very slightly, but it annoys me.
This book WAS really fun, it was a great story and really interesting, and I might actually read the other books in this series, but I don’t want to recommend this book to children who have a low self image, because this book won’t make them feel better. If you are an adult who wants to read this, by all means, it’s a fun book to read, but really think about it before you want a child in your life to read this book, are they confident enough in themselves that they aren’t affected by books or characters?
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Simple statement. I really enjoyed this book! I liked everything about it, the main characters of Hazel and Daisy were charming, humorous and cheeky. I loved the fact that the main characters are both female and intelligent! But I had reservations at first that it may be an obvious whodunit but it wasn't, which made it engrossing and I will definitely be reading further into this series. Great impression so far!