Premeditated Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery 1)

(Paperback)

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Description

Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle has a passion for justice and a Highly Unconventional obsession with criminal science. Armed with her fathers law books and her mums microscope, Myrtle studies toxicology, keeps abreast of the latest developments in crime scene analysis, and Observes her neighbours in the quiet village of Swinburne, England.

When her next-door neighbour, a wealthy spinster and eccentric breeder of rare flowers, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtle seizes her chance. 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.

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.

Reviews

A 2021 Edgar Award Winner, Best Juvenile
A BookPage Best Book of 2020: Middle Grade
A Mighty Girl's 2020 Books of the Year

"Ajoyful thing to behold.Set in Victorian England, this mystery gleefully overturns sexist norms and celebrates independent women of intellect, withMyrtleHardcastle leading the charge."
Booklist,starred review

"Premeditated Myrtleis a book young readers will love and adults may well sneak out of backpacks and off of nightstands for their own enjoyment Heres hoping for more adventures with this delightful, heroic protagonist."
BookPage,starred review

"Bunce crafts a truly captivating murder mystery, throwing in a delicious mix of twists, red herrings, and relatives excluded from the family fortune.Myrtle is an entertaining protagonist, not afraid to get her hands dirty, sneak into mansions after dark to find a clue, or call out sexism of men toward her scientific interests or the racism toward her governess. The book will make readers yearn for more of Myrtles (mis)adventures."
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"A saucy, likable heroine shines in a mystery marked by clever, unexpected twists."
Kirkus Reviews

"[A]clever and lively Victorian English village murder mystery . . . Bunce does an excellent job of making Myrtle the lead actor but gives her a strong set of (mostly female) supporters."
The Horn Book

Bunces detective series opener features a quirky, winning narrator and a lively secondary cast . . . A generous, well-wrought relationship between governess and charge complements tightly plotted twists . . . Myrtle is as clever as she is determined, and her expertiseseen in evidence collection and courtroom anticsis certain to delight genre stalwarts and mystery novices alike.
Publishers Weekly

In the tradition of heroines like Flavia de Luce and Harriet the Spy, Myrtle is a fine example of the Victorian scientific femalesmart, inquisitive and fearless. Written with a terrific mixture of humor and suspense, Premeditated Myrtle is a perfect read for any budding detective.
Rhys Bowen,New York Timesbestselling author of theHer Royal Spynessseries

Author Bio

Elizabeth C. Bunce grew up on a steady diet of Sherlock Holmes, Trixie Belden, and Quincy, M.E., and always played the lead prosecutor in mock trial. She has never had a governess, and no one has ever accused her of being irrepressible, but a teacher did once call her 'argumentative' which was entirely untrue, and she can prove it. Shewas the inaugural winner of the ALA's William C. Morris Award for a debut work written for young adults, for A Curse Dark as Gold.She lives in Kansas City with her husband and their cats. Premeditated Myrtle is her first book for middle-grade readers.