Once Upon a Crime: A Murder Most Unladylike Collection (A Murder Most Unladylike Collection, 1)

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Robin Stevens (born 15 January 1988) 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.

I (40) got this for my daughter (8) but stole it and adored it so much that it is now MY book for good... she'll have to get her own copy! (Plus, I think she is more of a Rose than a Hazel and therefore might prefer something a little less murdery and a little more ladylike really). For the case of the deadly flat, the murder weapon (a knife or pistol, I would imagine), a key. Maybe there could even be the illusion that the pistol (if there is any) has shot the corner of the book The Case of the Uninvited Guest: 5* - we finally got this story and it didn’t disappoint 😩 it was so funny too In November 2020 she announced that she was to have a new book out in August 2021, called Once Upon a Crime. [10] She also announced that there would be a new book (the first of a new series), coming out in 2022. The Ministry of Unladylike Activity will star Hazel Wong's (read below) little sister and two other characters, as yet to be named. This new series is set during World War II.

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Featuring six marvellous mini-mysteries, including four original, brand-new and never-seen-before stories: A thrilling new short story collection in the number-one bestselling, award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series.

Another would be that I don't care particularly for May Wong. Not a big fan of her personality. Let's see how Ministry plays out. (Also not a big fan of Weston School, and not particularly interested in the boys' mysteries.) Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are the stars of the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries. Murder Most Unladylike (Murder is Bad Mannersin the USA ), Arsenic for Tea (Poison is Not Politein the USA ), First Class Murder, Jolly Foul Play, Mistletoe and Murder, the Cream Buns and Crimeseries companion, A Spoonful of Murder, Death in the Spotlight, Top Marks for Murder, Death Sets Sail and my book of Murder Most Unladylike short stories, Once Upon a Crime, are out now in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and everywhere the Puffin editions are sold. May Wong has returned with her new friends Eric and Nuala as the heroes of my newest series the Ministry of Unladylike Activity! Ministry is also out in German, and it will publish in Italian and Polish in 2024. And its sequel, The Body in the Blitz, is out now in the UK and Ireland! The Case of the Drowned Pearl: [ rating from when already read upon publication for world book day 2020] 3.5* - it was interesting, and I'm always here for more content with the detective society and junior pinkertons - I just felt that it suffered a little from its length and it would've been better if it was longer and had more space (?) to developI really enjoyed getting more content about my favourite characters (especially hazel and alexander), and I'm glad that we'll still get to see them (to an extent) in the Ministry of Unladylike activity series (pls tell me who I have to threaten to get on the arc mailing list whenever they come out) :) You’ll also find four stories that haven’t ever been published before. There’s The Case of the Uninvited Guest, the account of exactly what happened at Uncle Felix and Aunt Lucy’s wedding. I actually first wrote this story in 2017 – and I’m very excited that you’ll finally get to read it! for the case of the uninvited guest, maybe a long piece of paper that looks like a list hanging from one of the corners and a wedding ring that is placed on the curling end of the ‘N’ (In the word “Once”). May Wong and the Deadly Flat: 4.75* (i think i was feeling generous when i made this lol) - May is kinda my least favourite of the siblings (except for teddy bc I don’t have an opinion on him) and she can be kinda annoying but this was still pretty fun and I’m interested to see how she goes in the ministry of unladylike activity:) Book Genre: Childrens, Crime, Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Short Stories, Young Adult

Once Upon a Crime is a mix of old favourites and new stories. It collects up The Case of the Missing Treasure and The Case of the Drowned Pearl for readers who haven’t been able to get hold of them yet ( Pearl, in particular, hasn’t been available outside the UK and Ireland, and I know that readers in Australia, New Zealand and America have been desperate to read it – so here it is for you at last!). As usual, we have Daisy (with the curly hair) and Hazel (with the plait) on the cover – but for the first time ever they’re joined by another character, Hazel’s little sister May Wong! She’s the star of one of the short stories, ‘May Wong and the Deadly Flat’, and she’s going to be one of the three main characters of my new series The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (out next year!) so we thought now was the perfect time to introduce her properly. She spent her teenage years at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she’d get the chance to do some detecting herself (she didn’t). She then went to university, where she studied crime fiction, and then worked at a children's publisher. The Case of the Missing Treasure: [ rating from when already read upon publication prior to the release of death in the spotlight] 4.25* - it's a nice change reading from daisy's perspective but i prefer hazel's lol Robin's books are: Murder Most Unladylike (Murder is Bad Manners in the USA), Arsenic for Tea (Poison is Not Polite in the USA), First Class Murder, Jolly Foul Play, Mistletoe and Murder, Cream Buns and Crime, A Spoonful of Murder, Death in the Spotlight and Top Marks for Murder. She is also the author of The Guggenheim Mystery, the sequel to Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery.

May Wong and The Deadly Flat

For the Weston mystery (I haven’t read the hounds of Baskerville although I know the rough outline – without any spoilers!), maybe a school bell, a dog (I would imagine it placed right below the A) The cutest part was of course Hazel and Alexander but while we have a much more fleshed out narrative on Alexander's side there wasn't enough of them and what they've been doing after Death Sets Sail. There wasn't quite enough information about anyone, really. It all felt rather disjointed, random and abrupt.

i don't really have much to say about this like i did for Death Sets Sail - i think that this was more a bridge into the new series than a commemoration of what had already happened in the murder most unladylike series, but the short stories were still fun and the author's notes at the end were :,))) Stevens's eleven book series Murder Most Unladylike consists of schoolgirl detectives, Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells, as they solve murders, as well as personal things. Hazel falls in love with American boy Alexander Arcady, as Daisy struggles with her feelings for other girls. She eventually comes out to Hazel as she falls for Martita Torrera in book seven, Death In The Spotlight, and begins a relationship with Amina from Deepdean during "Death Sets Sail". As well as ten full-length murder mysteries, there are also six mini mysteries featuring these characters. Stevens has vocalised how she believes LGBTQI+ relationships are not portrayed in children's literature at all, and not enough in literature in general, and so she has made many of the characters LGBTQ+. Once Upon a Crime has now been out for just over a week – and I’ve been so thrilled at all of the support I’ve had from it from bookstores and fans. The Case of the Drowned Pearl: murder follows the Detective Society wherever they go, even on holiday...

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There are six different stories here, set at different times in Hazel and Daisy's investigative careers, and while the book technically slots in at 6.5 and 8.5 in the series time frame, I think it is the perfect place to start if you want to get a taste for the style and content. Stevens has cited the Golden Age of Detective Fiction as an influence on her work – particularly the authors Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers. [9] Robin was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. She has been making up stories all her life.