The two protagonists are sweetly innocent themselves, and like Harriet the Spy, spunky and curious and eager to find a mystery to solve. teachers are having sexual affairs, there are secret illegitimate children, people are murdered to cover up their sexual pasts and from passion and jealousy). These are young teenage characters, who may not know the mechanics of sex or have experienced sexual passion themselves, but they know of its existence, and the mystery turns on the social repercussions of violating the sexual norms of the period (i.e. Note: 3rd form in the UK is Not comparable to 3rd grade in the US. Parents should know that in addition to being an engaging mystery, there is a lot that is problematic with regards to how it depicts issues of race, sexuality, body-image, and that a lot of the content is for more mature readers. I know I was supposed to love this book- but. This is a great choice for families who like books featuring diverse characters. Being a Chinese girl in 1930s England (a smart and rich one), Hazel deals with a lot of casual prejudice and snobbery, and she holds her own.

Narrator Hazel is sometimes worldly and sometimes naive, matter-of-factly noting that her dad has a concubine but not knowing exactly what goes on when characters are 'canoodling' behind closed doors. Teachers turn up murdered, and a not-so-secret string of affairs (both same- and opposite-sex) may have something to do with it. edition), the first installment of a series by first-time author Robin Stevens, is an appealing whodunit set in a posh English boarding school in 1934, featuring 13-year-old detectives and BFFs Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong. Parents need to know that Murder Is Bad Manners (or Murder Most Unladylike in its original U.K. Daisy and Hazel down sickening doses of ipecac to further their sleuthing.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide. Adult characters smoke cigarettes, and one of the schoolgirls is said to have a stash of them. Veronal, an early barbiturate, is used to murder one victim. One of the teachers is constantly drunk, and others are taking lots of prescription drugs.

A murder most unladylike