'Premeditated Myrtle is a book young readers will love and adults may well sneak out of backpacks and off of nightstands for their own enjoyment… Here’s hoping for more adventures with this delightful, heroic protagonist.' 'A joyful thing to behold. Set in Victorian England, this mystery gleefully overturns sexist norms and celebrates independent women of intellect, with Myrtle Hardcastle leading the charge.'

With sparkling wit and a tight, twisty plot, Premeditated Myrtle, the first in a series from an award-winning author, introduces a brilliant young investigator ready to take on hard cases and maddening Victorian rules for Young Ladies of Quality in order to earn her place among the most daring and acclaimed amateur detectives of her time or any other. With her unflappable governess, Miss Ada Judson, by her side, Myrtle takes it upon herself to prove Miss Wodehouse was murdered and find the killer, even if nobody else believes he -not even her father, the town prosecutor. When her next-door neighbor, a wealthy spinster and eccentric breeder of rare flowers, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtle seizes her chance. Armed with her father’s law books and her mum’s microscope, Myrtle studies toxicology, keeps abreast of the latest developments in crime scene analysis, and Observes her neighbors in the quiet village of Swinburne, England. Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle has a passion for justice and a Highly Unconventional obsession with criminal science. Introducing Myrtle Hardcastle, your favorite new amateur detective: a wickedly smart twelve-year-old with a keen interest in criminology and a nose for murder in Victorian England. Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readers for my e-ARC, in return for an honest review.A 2021 Edgar® Award Winner, Best JuvenileĪ BookPage Best Book of 2020: Middle Grade Published by Algonquin Young Readers 2020, ISBN: 1616209186 Lovers of cozy mysteries and adventurous tales for girls. The great news is that the second book in the series, How to Get Away with Myrtle, came out in October! A Novel Prescription for: If you enjoy hanging out with Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes or Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong from Robin Stevens’ Murder Most Unladylike series, you’ll like Myrtle Hardcastle.

Other adult characters involved in the detection business, including the police inspector and the local solicitor, are refreshingly respectful of Myrtle’s ideas. Like Myrtle, Miss Judson is on the outer of things, being from French Guinea. Importantly, she also has faith in her detection skills. Fortunately, Myrtle’s governess, Miss Judson, genuinely takes an interest in what Myrtle has to say.

Premeditated myrtle series