Murder Most Unladylike is a 2014 children's mystery novel by British-American author Robin Stevens. It follows two schoolgirls in 1930s England solving their first murder mystery and is the first book in the 'Murder Most Unladylike' series.
The story is written in the style of a casebook and follows two fictional boarding schoolgirl detectives, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, as they try to find the murderer of their science teacher. The book has been nominated for several awards, including the Carnegie Medal[2]. In the US, the book was published under the name Murder is Bad Manners.[3]
The two principal characters, Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are students at Deepdean School for Girls. They are the founding members of the Wells and Wong Detective Society and its only members for that case. Daisy is the president of the Detective Society and Hazel is its secretary and vice president. The book begins with Hazel recounting her discovery of the body of Miss Bell, the Science mistress, in the gymnasium on Monday 29th October 1934. Both Hazel and Daisy stayed back in a classroom after societies, so that Daisy could finish the book she was reading, The Man in the Queue. While waiting, Hazel realises that she has left her pullover in the gymnasium, so she hurries to collect it. There, she stumbles upon the corpse of Miss Bell, who has seemingly fallen from the balcony. However, when Hazel returns with Daisy and the prefect Virginia Overton, the body is gone. Thus, only Daisy believes that Hazel saw Miss Bell's dead body, and they are both punished for lying. The absence of the body means that the Detective Society believe they have discovered their first murder case.
Daisy and Hazel begin their detective work at Prayers the next morning. The other students notice the absence of Miss Bell, and are suspicious as she is known for her punctuality. The excitement is furthered when Miss Griffin, the headmistress, doesn't mention Miss Bell's absence following her sermon.
At bunbreak, Daisy discovers from talking to Henrietta Trilling (King Henry), who is the Head Girl, that Miss Bell resigned. She is told that their was a resignation letter on Miss Griffin's desk and that King Henry had been allowed to read it. This gives the detectives evidence that Miss Bell must've been murdered by someone who knew her handwriting well enough to forge such a letter, and with enough authority to place it on Miss Griffin's desk.
As the time since Miss Bell's disappearance extends, the rumours of her whereabouts spread between the students become more outlandish. Many students suspect her of being involved with a crime ring or secret organisation.
Daisy speaks to Jones about some windows broken in school and theorises that the damage could've been caused when the murderer moved Miss Bell's body.
On Thursday morning in Prayers, Miss Griffin finally confirms that Miss Bell resigned from her post as Science mistress, and scolds the girls for their gossip surrounding her absence.
At afternoon tea, Daisy spends it with fifth former, Alice Murgatroyd, which is unusual, as the students tend to remain with their own form. When she returns to where the third formers are sat, she tells her dormmates that she wants to have a midnight feast. Daisy suggests they use the Ouija board they had from a previous term. During this, the counter spells out "HELP. MURDER.". Kitty asks who is telling them this, with the response being "MISS BELL". By the end of Prayers the following morning, the news of the séance has spread across the school, and all of the students are aware of the possibility that Miss Bell was murdered.
Daisy and Hazel use ipecac to become ill during the school day, allowing them to stay in the main school building overnight to investigate. Daisy shows Hazel an old passageway, where she believes Miss Bell's body was kept before it was removed from the school. In the passageway, they find an earring that must've been lost by the murderer. They then see the beams of other torches and realise they are not the only ones who are at school at night.
The next day, they investigate Miss Tennyson's car and find a blood stain in it, leading them to believe they have solved the case. They confront her and make her promise to go to the police. However, at Prayers on Monday, Miss Griffin announces that Miss Tennyson has died following an accident. Hazel believes it is suicide, however Daisy thinks Miss Tennyson had an accomplice who had murdered her. They find out from a policeman that a note was found beside her corpse, saying she was sorry. He tells them that she was visited by a woman on the night she died, who was likely her killer.
From the evidence of the lost earring, the detectives realise that Miss Griffin was Miss Bell's murderer. While discussing this discovery, Hazel and Daisy come across an old diary of former student, Verity Abraham. She is said to have committed suicide by jumping off the Gym balcony before Hazel arrived at Deepdean. This diary contains evidence that Verity was Miss Griffin's illegitimate child, and that she had been pushed off the balcony. Miss Bell had discovered this evidence and had threatened to make it public, giving Miss Griffin a motive for murder.
When Miss Griffin realises that the detectives have discovered her crime, they hand the diary to the police and are sent to the San to be kept safe. Inspector Priestley holds a denouement where he reveals several teachers' secrets, as well as who the perpetrator was.
Reception
In its review, The Oxford Times praised Stevens for her "sense of place ... attention to detail, in-depth characters, authentic documents of events and, most importantly, absorbing plot".[4] The website Crime Review called Murder Most Unladylike "an assured and capable debut",.[5] Children's author Jo Cotterill called it "extremely well plotted", but criticized the pacing of the story.[6] The education website Teachwire said the book is "something that is simultaneously recognisable and totally original".[7]
A sequel, Arsenic For Tea, was published seven months after Murder Most Unladylike. Since the first Murder Most Unladylike book, there have been ten subsequent books, along with six extra mini-books. In 2022, a new series, Ministry of Unladylike Activity was released, featuring characters related to those in the Murder Most Unladylike series. A casebook was also released with the tips and tricks on how to start your own detective society and much more, going by the name of Cream Buns and Crime.
Murder Most Unladylike (2014)
Arsenic For Tea (2015)
First Class Murder (2015)
Jolly Foul Play (2016)
Mistletoe and Murder (2016)
A Spoonful of Murder (2018)
Death in the Spotlight (2018)
Top Marks for Murder (2019)
Death Sets Sail (2020)
Once Upon A Crime (2021)
Extras:
The Case Of The Deepdean Vampire (2016)
The Case Of The Blue Violet (2016)
The Case Of The Missing Treasure (2019)
The Case Of The Drowned Pearl (2020)
The Case Of Lavinia's Missing Tie (2016)
Cream Buns and Crime (2017)
Related Research Articles
Unnatural Death is a 1927 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her third featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. It was published under the title The Dawson Pedigree in the United States in 1928.
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934, under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.
Death in the Clouds is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in 1935. It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and Chief Inspector Japp. It is a "closed circle" murder mystery: the victim is a passenger on a cross-Channel aircraft flight, and the perpetrator can only be one of eleven fellow-passengers and crew.
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is the title of a detective novel by English writer P. D. James and of a TV series of four dramas developed from that novel. It was published by Faber and Faber in the UK in 1972 and by Charles Scribner's Sons in the US.
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1975 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year, selling for $7.95.
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 24 October 1960. It is the only Christie first edition published in the UK that contains stories with both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the writer's two most famous detectives. It retailed in the UK for twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6) and comprises six cases. It was not published in the US although the stories it contains were published in other volumes there.
Murder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 July 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The cover was designed by Robin McCartney.
Murder Is Easy is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1939, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in September the same year under the title Easy to Kill. Christie's Superintendent Battle has a cameo appearance at the end, but plays no part in either the solution of the mystery or the apprehension of the criminal. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6), and the US edition at $2.
A Murder Is Announced is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1950 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in the same month. The UK edition sold for eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.
Mrs McGinty's Dead is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1952 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 3 March the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at nine shillings and sixpence (9/6). The Detective Book Club issued an edition, also in 1952, as Blood Will Tell.
They Do It with Mirrors is a detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1952 under the title of Murder with Mirrors and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 17 November that year under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6). The book features her detective Miss Marple.
The Clocks is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 November 1963 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50.
The Hall–Mills murder case involved Edward Wheeler Hall, an Episcopal priest, and Eleanor Mills, a member of his choir with whom he was having an affair, both of whom were murdered on September 14, 1922, in Somerset, New Jersey, United States. Hall's wife and her brothers were accused of committing the murders, but were acquitted in a 1926 trial. In the history of journalism, the case is largely remembered for the vast extent of newspaper coverage it received nationwide; it has been regarded as an example of a media circus. It would take the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in the 1930s to eclipse the high profile of the Hall-Mills case.
The Thirteen Problems is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in June 1932 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1933 under the title The Tuesday Club Murders. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The thirteen stories feature the amateur detective Miss Marple, her nephew Raymond West, and her friend Sir Henry Clithering. They are the earliest stories Christie wrote about Miss Marple. The main setting for the frame story is the fictional village of St Mary Mead.
The Bishop Murder Case is a 1929 American pre-Code mystery film directed by David Burton and Nick Grinde and starring Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams and Roland Young. Ten years before assuming his role as Sherlock Holmes in a series of 14 films, Rathbone essayed the character of S.S. Van Dine's detective Philo Vance in this single outing.
Arsenic for Tea is a children's mystery novel by American-English author Robin Stevens. The story is written in the style of a casebook and follows the fictional schoolgirl Detective Society detectives, the Honourable Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, as they try to find the murderer of a guest at Daisy's birthday party, Mr. Curtis. Arsenic for Tea was nominated for the 2016 Carnegie Medal awards, but did not make the longlist. The book is a sequel to Murder Most Unladylike and is the second book in the Murder Most Unladylike series. It is set at Fallingford, Daisy's house, during the Easter Holidays, when Daisy's birthday takes place. Mr Curtis, a guest of Lady Hasting, is killed by arcenic.
Robin Stevens is an American-born English author of children's fiction, best known for her Murder Most Unladylike series. She has spoken of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction as an influence on her work.
Lethal White is the fourth novel in the Cormoran Strike series, written by J. K. Rowling and published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel was released on 18 September 2018.
The Stranger is an eight-part British mystery thriller miniseries written primarily by Danny Brocklehurst and based on the 2015 Harlan Coben novel of the same title. The miniseries premiered on Netflix on 30 January 2020. It stars Richard Armitage, Siobhan Finneran, and Hannah John-Kamen. It was filmed in and around Manchester and Stockport.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
