The fireworks end, the girls turn back towards school, and someone stumbles upon the body of Elizabeth with her head bashed in… ~ JJ: Given that the appeal of this book is its laying the groundwork of classic detective tropes – clues, logic, rigour, fair play, etc – it’s worth commending it at the very start for how soundly and securely Stevens introduces the key concepts at the heart of classic detective fiction. With everyone gathered on the field for the fireworks display - the school is “trying to make everything new for us this year, as though can erase Miss Bell and what happened to her” - and unpopular new Head Girl Elizabeth Hurst and her five prefects ruling everyone with an iron rod as has become typical this term, the plethora of gazes directed skyward manage to overlook the murder happening right behind them. First, though, so plot: It’s been quite a year for the Wells and Wong Detective Society, and Jolly Foul Play (2016) finds the girls back at Deepdean and deep into the Winter term: Bonfire Night, to be precise. No spoilers, just some discussion, so anyone wishing to remain pure on this one is free to read on with impunity.

And this time around Christian, who blogs over at Mysteries, Short and Sweet when he’s not translating Carter Dickson novels into Swedish, has stepped in to help me tackle this one as a fellow fan of Robin Stevens’ work. The fourth entry in Robin Stevens’ Murder Most Unladylike series finds us returning to a very different Deepdean School for Girls to the one we last saw at the end of the opening of this series.

Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens