A Spoonful of Murder by Robin Stevens

Wildcard ~ December

spoonfulofmurder

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My opinion in three sentences:

From all the Wells & Wong mysteries so far, this is my favourite. The drama was set in an extremely well-researched, novel setting that was truly brought to life, and supported an intriguing insight into Hazel’s character (something we’ve not actually seen so much of before). I’ll admit that the pacing was a little out of kilter in the initial few chapters, but once the story was established, it flowed seamlessly.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

It’s never been alarmingly obvious before how little insight we as readers have had to Hazel’s character in comparison to Daisy’s through the previous books, until this. In A Spoonful of Murder, Stevens presents the opportunity to really examine Hazel’s character, from her roots to her current self, and it’s a really enjoyable character study. Not to mention how beautifully researched the setting is, which further strengthens and brings to life both protagonists. You’re tired of young detectives set in a boarding school? Well, this has something entirely new to bring to the table.

A warning for the book:

The weakest part for me was certainly the beginning. Everything happened both slowly and really quickly. Before I had time to blink, the duo were on the boat east (which I think would have worked better had we not had the few scenes prior, and had instead opened to them on the boat trip), and yet it took a considerably long time for the mystery-element to begin. Once it had kicked off, though, it was paced to perfection and very readable.

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