Enjoy!

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse 

Series or standalone: Series

Case: Mycroft’s friend Douglas hears that children are dying back home in Trinidad. The douen (children with backwards feet) are calling them to play and when the children come the lougarou (a werewolf-like creature) kills them by draining all their blood. It’s only happening on one side of the island and whole villages have been abandoned. 

When Mycroft tells his fiancée Georgiana, also from Trinidad, she is horrified and immediately plans to return home to make sure all is well with her family. She insists on going alone, but Mycroft convinces Douglas to go and books passage on the same ship without telling Georgiana. 

Mycroft is swiftly felled by seasickness, but then it becomes apparent it is something much more serious. Attacks and threats continue through the voyage. It is obvious someone does not want them in Trinidad, but who and why? 

Type of Sherlock: Supporting character (Mycroft) as main character, prequel to original series

Evidence of similarities: Not much except that it’s in the Sherlock Holmes universe

Evidence of differences: Mycroft is the main character, much of the book takes place on a ship then in Trinidad, earlier time period when Sherlock is still at university and Mycroft is in his early 20s, the characters of Georgiana and Douglas 

Deduction: KA-J is a legit writer! I had no idea he majored in English and History at UCLA. He is an amateur historian who has written history books, an autobiography, kids’ books, and for the past 7 years, a series about Mycroft Holmes. He’s also a regular op-ed writer in newspapers across the country. He’s written an episode of the Veronica Mars reboot. He’s a nerd! I thoroughly enjoyed this story that’s not my usual cup of tea: two men adventuring across the sea and in the Caribbean in the 19th century. 

I’ve never been particularly interested in Mycroft, but I found his background interesting, as well as his similarities and differences to Sherlock. And I loved it when young university student Sherlock popped up a few times. 

This book was absorbing, compelling, full of interesting historical detail, and had a creepy mystery based in Caribbean lore. Specifically Trinidad, which is part of KA-J’s heritage. 

The story and solution were a bit convoluted and heavily based in the politics and legalities of the time, which might bore or confuse some. I had to go back and reread a few pages at least once to make sure I understood what was going on. It was worth it. 

I am so impressed with KA-J and hope to read more of the series. 

Cumberbatches: 5

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer

Series or standalone: Series

Case: Holmes’s cocaine addiction has worsened and Watson is at a loss as to how to help him. A man named Moriarty comes to see him and Watson is frightened at first, knowing Moriarty as a criminal kingpin from Holmes. He explains to Watson that Holmes only fears him when he is high. He was actually the math tutor to Mycroft and Sherlock when they were young. Sherlock has been harassing Moriarty while under the influence, sending threatening telegrams and keeping watch outside his house. When he isn’t high, Holmes has no clue who Moriarty is. 

Watson goes to Mycroft and they hatch a plan. Stamford, the doctor who introduced Holmes and Watson, has heard of a doctor who has come up with a cure for cocaine addiction. His name is Sigmund Freud. 

Mycroft reasons that if Sherlock is tracking Moriarty, they can get him to Freud in Vienna by getting Moriarty to go there. Moriarty resists at first, but Mycroft has some sort of hold on him and he gives in. 

Soon the game is afoot and, of course, there is more to the story than curing Holmes’s addiction. 

Type of Sherlock: New story including a real historical figure

Evidence of similarities: The main characters, the time period, Holmes’s drug problem, the writing style

Evidence of differences: The worsening of Holmes’s addiction, the depiction of Moriarty, the Vienna setting, and, uh, Freud. 

Deduction: This book was marvelous. I can see why it is a classic of Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The connections between Watson and Holmes as well as Holmes and Mycroft were incredibly well done and touching. 

The plot was excellent, partly thanks to the brilliant move of connecting Holmes and Watson with Freud. I don’t know much about Freud as a person, but I loved the portrayal of his family home and his treatment of Sherlock’s addiction. 

The setting—I know they’ve done a good job when I immediately want to travel there. Both the romantic and the darker sides of Vienna were portrayed beautifully. I want some of that Viennese coffee.

Cumberbatches: 5

Good Night, Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas

Series or standalone: Series

Case: Penelope Huxleigh’s father, a country parson, has died and she is left homeless and penniless. She is wandering the streets of London hopelessly when a red-headed, beautifully dressed woman swoops in to rescue her from a pickpocket. 

This woman is “the woman,” Irene Adler. She is the only woman ever to outsmart Sherlock Holmes. She discovers Nell’s (as she nicknames Penelope) situation and asks her to be her roommate. Penelope soon discovers that Irene supplements her income as a struggling opera singer with detective work. Penelope is eventually drawn into it. 

The book is episodic, dealing with different cases until Irene goes to Bohemia to perform and meets the future King, triggering the events known to Sherlock Holmes fans. 

Type of Sherlock: Supporting character as main character (sort of), Sherlock story from another point of view

Evidence of similarities: Holmes and Watson along with a supporting character from the canon, the storyline from A Scandal in Bohemia (as the ending part of an original narrative)

Evidence of differences: Irene Adler is the main character and her sidekick is a new character named Penelope Huxleigh (also the narrator), told the story of A Scandal in Bohemia from Penelope’s point of view

Deduction: It was fun seeing real life characters like Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and Charles and Louis Tiffany. 

The depiction of Irene did her some justice and I loved it when they got to the part where the King hired Sherlock to get the picture back and we saw the flip side of A Scandal in Bohemia. 

The book meandered in the first half, not uninterestingly, ultimately proving itself worth the journey. 

Cumberbatches: 3

IQ by Joe Ide

Series or standalone: Series

Case: Isaiah Quintabe (IQ) has lost his guardian, his older brother Marcus, and goes into a tailspin. He takes a neighborhood criminal named Dodson as a roommate and they begin robbing stores together. 

In the present-day timeline, Isaiah and Dodson are no longer roommates or friends and Isaiah now solves mysteries for neighbors and others who come to him with problems. Dodson has a famous friend with a big problem and Isaiah needs money, so they are thrown together again. 

Type of Sherlock: Modern-day Sherlock, Black Sherlock, American Sherlock

Evidence of similarities: IQ’s personality, intelligence, and deductive skills

Evidence of differences: Time period, setting, IQ’s race, IQ’s background, the culture of Black Americans living in 21st century Los Angeles

Deduction: There were very funny moments, sometimes in the middle of mayhem, and moments that broke your heart. The characters are complex and endearing. Ide finds at least a bit of humanity in all of them, even a vicious killer. 

The pacing was excellent with exciting scenes nicely balanced with calmer ones. The cerebral nature of IQ, the Sherlock of the story, helped with that balance. He is a lovely character, doing his best, just like most of the people struggling around him. I just wanted to give him a big hug, although I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like that. 

The language is rough and there is quite a bit of violence, minimally but vividly described. The opening case is a bit rough for more sensitive readers, but the main case and other events of the book go in a different direction. There are viscerally written action scenes and one of the craziest, most creative methods of attempted murder I’ve ever read. 

This book deserves every accolade it has received and more.

Cumberbatches: 5

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

Series or standalone: Series 

Case: Mary Jekyll’s mother died and she is left with little money. Her father Dr. Jekyll (yes, that Dr. Jekyll.) died when she was little. After going through her mother’s accounts and talking to her lawyer, Mary discovers that Mr. Hyde, her father’s assistant, is not dead and her mother has been paying a sum monthly for his upkeep at a Magdalen House of all places. 

Mary goes to Sherlock Holmes for help. Watson goes with her to the Magdalen House and discovers Hyde’s daughter Diana, not Hyde. Diana claims to be Mary’s sister and that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. 

They eventually find Beatrice Rappacini, whose breath and touch are poisonous and also doesn’t need food, Justine Frankenstein who was made to be a mate to Frankenstein’s monster, and Catherine “Cat” Moreau, a woman who used to be a puma. These women are not used to being treated well and are therefore slow to trust, particularly Catherine. But they find the strengths in what makes them “monstrous” and become a crime-fighting team as well as a family. 

Type of Sherlock: literary mash-up with characters from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Rappaccini’s Daughter (short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Evidence of similarities: Holmes and Watson, time period, London setting 

Evidence of differences: The women are the main characters 

Deduction: I have a strange feeling about this book. It was very good and I liked it, but something is missing. I think she put the exciting climax too early in the book and could have worked in Justine’s story earlier. I like the wrap-up part of books and they did need to get the group established, but a bit of momentum was lost. It was barely perceptible and still held my attention, but it was there. 

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to read more of the series. I fell in love with the concept and the characters and this initial entry confirmed the potential of this series. 

Cumberbatches: 4

Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone by G.S. Denning 

Series or standalone: Series

Case: Dr. John Watson, wounded and sickened by war, is destitute and living on the streets. His friend Stamford says he knows someone who needs a roommate. When Watson expresses interest despite Stamford’s cryptic warnings, Stamford immediately drags Watson to the morgue of St. Bartholomew’s hospital to meet Warlock Holmes. 

What follows are 6 short stories that poke fun at the Sherlock tropes and stories such as A Study in Scarlet and A Scandal in Bohemia. These stories are ridiculous and hilarious and turn everything you thought you knew about Holmes and Watson on its ear. 

Type of Sherlock: parody

Evidence of similarities: Holmes and Watson, the basic outline of the stories, time period, London setting, some of the supporting characters appear 

Evidence of differences: The familiar characters are rendered quite unfamiliar through the lens of parody and satire, the supernatural aspects 

Deduction: This is a funny, interesting collection of stories that are well worth the time of any fan of Sherlock pastiche. The dialogue and inversion of Sherlock story tropes is delightful. These parodies could only have been written by someone familiar with the originals who loves and respects them. 

Cumberbatches: 4

Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye 

Series or standalone: Standalone

Case: Women in London’s East End are being gruesomely killed and their bodies defiled. The killer leaves no trace that anyone can find, even Sherlock Holmes. The great Sherlock Holmes and the monstrous killer dubbed “Jack the Ripper” by the press are going head-to-head. 

Will this be the one case Sherlock can’t solve? Are the women of the East End doomed if he can’t?

Type of Sherlock: new story from different author, story involving a real historical figure, Sherlock meets Jack the Ripper

Evidence of similarities: Time period, setting, cast of characters 

Evidence of differences: Sherlock did not confront Jack the Ripper in the original stories (although there are several pastiches that pit them against each other)

Deduction: Faye’s Jane Steele was featured in my column about Jane Eyre adaptations and pastiche. She is an imaginative writer who did a superlative job capturing the time and flair of an original Holmes story while still slightly modernizing the language. 

She lets her imagination go in a different way here than in Steele. She must stay within the confines of a Sherlock story’s conventions as well as historical fact concerning the Ripper killings, but the fact that Sherlock is fictional and he and the Ripper are such outsize characters (and the Ripper being so mysterious) gives her some room to make the case even creepier, if that’s possible. 

She also skillfully injects occasional humor through the supporting character of Mary Ann Monk and Sherlock’s ribbing of Watson. 

Cumberbatches: 5

Well, that brings us to the end! I admit to needing a break from Sherlock pastiche, yet being more interested than ever in the whole Sherlockian universe. Any suggestions for further reading?

Tell us in the comments: Which Sherlock Holmes pastiche is your favorite? Do you prefer the original stories or new ones?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: The Not-So-Elementary Universe of Sherlock Holmes, Part 2 appeared first on DIY MFA.

My Auto-Buy Authors

Rhys Bowen

When I started reading mysteries more often in the early 2010s, I turned to Bowen’s Molly Murphy mystery series. I was hooked and blew through the first dozen or so that were published at the time. I devoured her Royal Spyness series in a similar fashion a few years later. 

Whether it’s another entry in one of those series or a standalone, I always pre-order Bowen’s books. I can count on a thoroughly researched, witty, immersive story. Bowen’s depictions of other time periods and the characters she creates to inhabit them pull you in and keep you entranced. 

Favorite: Her Royal Spyness (Royal Spyness 1)

Latest: Wild Irish Rose (Molly Murphy Mysteries 18, co-written with Bowen’s daughter Clare Broyles)

Laura Lippman 

You can’t beat Lippman for the depth and complexity of the characters and their emotions. She also concocts gripping, dense plots. Her main characters are female, intelligent, and often hiding a secret past or leading a double life. They are resilient and strong and make the best out of their situations. 

Favorite: Sunburn

Latest: Dreamgirl

Megan Abbott 

When you enter a Megan Abbott book, the Modern Gothic atmosphere wraps around you. Abbott understands the dark side of being a woman and you identify with her characters even as you feel glad you aren’t them. 

She’s written everything from noir to dark drama about high school girls to books about adult women navigating a world that pits them against each other. She is quite simply one of the finest authors working today. Her books are dark, poetic, and deeply satisfying to those who relate to the darker side of identifying as female in this world. 

Favorite: Give Me Your Hand 

Latest: The Turnout

Gillian Flynn 

Flynn hasn’t published in a while, so she maybe technically doesn’t belong on an auto-buy authors list. But you better believe I would smash that pre-order button if she released something new. 

Her stories are horrifying, yet you melt into them and actually enjoy being there. They are so dark with amazing prose and thrilling plots. 

This woman single-handedly started the “Girl” trend in mystery and thriller novel titles. Gone Girl became the mark everyone aimed to surpass or at least circle. So many thriller writers tried to come up with a twist as good in the decade since. Many came close or even succeeded. But she was the first. She yanked the rug out from under us and spun the story in a different direction and we gleefully hung on for the ride. 

Favorite: Sharp Objects

Latest: Flynn hasn’t published a book since Gone Girl in 2012. She’s been busy with screen adaptations of her books and writing for TV and film. She is also writing a new book, but there is no release date yet. 

Lisa Jewell 

Jewell began her career writing romantic comedies and you can see that influence in her justifiably popular thrillers of recent years. She crafts intricate plots filled to the brim with emotion. She writes about families mostly from the female point of view. You become immersed in the worlds she creates, whether it’s a family dealing with the mother’s worsening hoarding issues or a family being infiltrated by a cult after their money. 

Her books are satisfying, intense, poignant, heartbreaking, and, at times, scary. They are a bit slow-burn to really be thrillers. They are just damn good books and there is a big back catalog to jump in and enjoy. 

Favorite: The Family Upstairs

Latest: The Night She Disappeared

Gilly MacMillan 

MacMillan is one of the rare authors who perfectly balances raw emotion with the pacing and tension so integral to the psychological thriller. Her stories usually revolve around the theme of facing uncomfortable truths in families, communities, and inside ourselves. You finish one of her books with that tingling sense of being changed by a new aspect of the human experience and its effect on the human psyche revealed. 

Favorite: The Nanny

Latest: The Long Weekend

Sophie Hannah 

When I read mysteries and thrillers, I sometimes try to figure out the ending. Quite a few times, my ending has been a lot more complicated than the real one. Hannah outdoes me in the intricate, too-muchness of my brain. I read one of her books for the first time and truly felt I had found a kindred spirit.

Her plots are meticulous, detail-oriented, wildly inventive, and dark. She comes up with crimes I never would have thought of. And literary references sometimes play a pivotal part in the plot. Swoon. 

Favorite: It’s a tie between Little Face and The Wrong Mother. 

Note: Hannah is British and some of her books have different titles in the US and the UK. It has made tracking them all down and reading them pretty confusing. I ended up making a list in my iPhone of ALL the titles from each country and matching them. Helped a lot.

Latest: The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (Hannah was chosen by Agatha Christie’s estate to write more Poirot novels. This is number 4.)

Ruth Ware 

Ware’s books are just so good. SO good. She seems able to handle any subgenre or setting while creating gripping, thoroughly interesting, dark, and complex women to navigate them. 

Whether it’s a glass house in a dark wood, a cruise ship, an old, creepy house, a ski chalet, or a hybrid new/old smart house, Ware beckons you into normal, even happy situations (bachelorette parties, cruises, reunions) and injects a jarring note that warns you to stay away. But you can’t resist seeing what’s hiding underneath the surface. 

Favorite: The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Latest: One by One

Tell us in the comments: Do you have any auto-buy authors?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: My Auto-Buy Authors appeared first on DIY MFA.

The original stories inspired others to create wonderful art. Sherlock Holmes contains endless possibilities. He is the type of character that opens up all sorts of avenues when cast into a different time period, age, race, or gender. There are even many series centering members of the supporting cast.

This will be a 2-part column, because of the volume of Sherlockiana. Even narrowed down to my favorites, it’s still a long list. Several excellent Sherlock pastiches are absent from this post since I’ve already spotlighted them. These are the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series by Vicki Delany, and the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer. 

I rated the entries between 1 and 5 Cumberbatches, 5 being the best. 

The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson 

Series or Standalone: Series 

Case: Solicitor Reggie Heath just wants his brother Nigel to get his life together. Nigel is also a solicitor but is suspended at the moment. He now works for Reggie at his law chambers on the second floor of a building that takes up the entire 200 block of Baker St. 

Nigel informs Reggie that they regularly receive letters written to Sherlock Holmes. This has been happening for decades. The lease requires every occupant of the second floor to answer the letters with a specific form and to never attempt to contact the writers. 

Nigel has discovered two recent letters written by a woman who also wrote twenty years before as a child to ask Sherlock to help find her father. Now she wants the enclosures sent back. But Nigel doesn’t think she wrote the new letters and he isn’t the type to ignore something fishy. 

Type of Sherlock: “Real” world where Sherlock is fictional, modern world 

Evidence of similarities: Baker St., brothers working together as Sherlock and Mycroft often did 

Evidence of differences: Set in 1997, Sherlock Holmes is not actually in the story, versions of other Sherlock characters don’t appear.  

Deduction: The mystery is interesting and intricate. It is well written and you care about the characters. The visceral descriptions of LA really painted a picture of the smog and the heat. 

Cumberbatches: 4

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Series or Standalone: Series 

Case: The great-great-great-granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes and the great-great-great-grandson of Dr. Watson have ended up at the same boarding school in Connecticut. Both Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson struggle with their familial legacy, as well as the problems and pressures of being teenagers. 

Charlotte, especially, has a rough history, starting with the fact that the Holmes family is very exacting and focused on excellence, unlike the more easygoing Watson clan. 

At first, they avoid each other but a murder on campus brings them together. It bears an eerie resemblance to one solved by their three times great-grandfathers. 

Type of Sherlock: Modern retelling, descendants of Sherlock and Watson, female Sherlock, teenage Holmes and Watson 

Evidence of similarities: Charlotte’s personality, intelligence, and vices. Jamie’s stability. Place names and cases pay homage to the original stories, as well as some of the non-canonical ones. 

Evidence of differences: Set in the 21st century, female Sherlock, teenage Holmes and Watson, Moriarty family has a truce with the Holmes and Watson families

Deduction: This is a kick-ass series, emblematic of the talent in children’s and YA literature these days. It is witty, fun, and at times heartbreaking. The mysteries and plot arcs in the books and the series as a whole are complex, emotional, and masterfully handled. 

Cumberbatches: 5

Sherlock Holmes and the Glad Game by Matt Ferraz

Series or Standalone: Standalone

Case: During the time that Holmes is presumed dead after his encounter with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls, Mrs. Hudson encounters a young woman walking home with a bag of oranges. The bag breaks and Mrs. Hudson invites the young woman with a strangely positive attitude back to 221 Baker St. 

The young woman is Pollyanna Whittier. THE Pollyanna. Her back pain from an old injury has returned and she is in London seeking treatment. Dr. Watson knows the doctor is a quack and convinces him to tell Pollyanna the treatment is done and to refund the rest of the sessions. 

Pollyanna returns to America and her aunt. But both she and Sherlock will be back and Pollyanna’s connection to the quack doctor will embroil her in a case that threatens her life and her positivity. 

Type of Sherlock: Literary mashup, female sidekick 

Evidence of similarities: Time period, supporting characters 

Evidence of differences: Just Pollyanna. But she is a big one. 

Deduction: This book is better than it has any right to be. Pollyanna and her game grew annoying at times and the author’s attempts at American dialect grated (Why was that even necessary?), but Pollyanna won me over.  

The book also explores some interesting psychological territory with Dr. Watson pondering if the Glad Game is always a healthy response. The relationships between characters ring true, especially when they admit annoyance with the Glad Game, while still loving Pollyanna.

Cumberbatches: 3

A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell

Series or Standalone: Series 

Case: Dr. Janet Watson served as a doctor in the New Civil War. She was wounded and lost her arm, which put an end to her career as a surgeon until she can get a new device. (The one supplied in the field belonged to a soldier who died and it had to be retrofitted. It’s also an older model.)

She returns to her hometown of Washington, D.C., and gets set up with the VA for counseling and job searching. She finds a job as a medical tech at the VA. And meets a mysterious woman named Sara Holmes who wants a roommate. She has a beautiful apartment. It’s a no-brainer for Watson to leave the hostel she has been living in. 

But then a former soldier dies suddenly. Then another. After Janet searches for info in the VA system, she is attacked on her way home. More soldiers die, all from the same unit. Janet discovers a dark conspiracy that someone will kill to keep from her … and that Sara Holmes knows just what to do about that. 

Type of Sherlock: Alternate universe Sherlock, female Holmes and Watson, Black Holmes and Watson, LGBTQ+ Holmes and Watson, American Holmes and Watson, modern retelling 

Evidence of similarities: Character names and roles, Holmes’s off-putting behavior, Watson’s background as a soldier

Evidence of differences: Race, gender, time period, sexuality 

Deduction: The alternate universe fascinates, as does Sara Holmes’s mysterious role. The mystery is solid and emotional. I love Dr. Janet Watson with her grit and determination laced through with sympathy and compassion, as well as some pessimism and fear about her future and the world’s. 

Cumberbatches: 4

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Series or Standalone: Series

Case: Sherlock Holmes and teenager Mary Russell meet by chance on the Sussex Downs when she almost walks over him while reading. She is an orphan, having lost her parents and brother in a car crash. She lives on a farm with her aunt, with whom she doesn’t get along. 

Holmes has retired to a nearby farm and keeps bees. He occasionally does top-secret work, but he misses London and the chase. Mrs. Hudson lives with him as a housekeeper and cook. 

Mary is an exceptionally intelligent and rather odd young woman. She and Holmes quickly discover their similarities and become friends. He teaches her about detecting. They solve some petty crimes, like stolen money from a pub, before moving on to a kidnapped senator’s daughter and finally dealing with a personal enemy of Holmes who threatens his life and the lives of everyone he loves. 

Type of Sherlock: Continuation with new characters, new partner, older Sherlock, female partner

Evidence of similarities: Main characters, Sherlock’s personality

Evidence of differences: Smart, witty female partner. Sherlock lives on a farm and keeps bees. He is also older and feeling it a bit. 

Deduction: This book lives up to the hype. I instantly adored Mary Russell and her dynamic with Sherlock. King’s aging Sherlock is a knockout characterization and Mary Russell fits right in with the gang while remaining a completely original character. King’s depiction of the setting is vivid and evocative. 

Cumberbatches: 5

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

Series or Standalone: Standalone

Case: It is the 1940s, and World War II dominates life. One day, an old man looks out his window and sees a little boy with a parrot on his shoulder. The boy is a Jewish refugee from Germany and mute. The bird talks and sings, mostly in German, particularly the numbers 1-9 in German over and over in random order. 

The old man is Sherlock Holmes but is never addressed as such. He is in his 80s and retired with his bees on the South Sussex Downs. 

The boy and the bird live in the home of the vicar and his family. They keep a boarding house. One of the boarders is murdered and the bird goes missing. For the first time in decades, the game is afoot and Sherlock is overjoyed. The bird’s cryptic utterings might mean something very important and one side does not want the other to hear them. 

Type of Sherlock: Continuation with new characters, aged Sherlock 

Evidence of similarities: Sherlock himself 

Evidence of differences: Very old and infirm Sherlock, no other original characters, Sherlock never mentioned by name

Deduction: I really liked it. The writing was a pleasure to read with some beautiful and creative word choices and metaphors. Although a few of the sentences are so convoluted that by the time I got to the verb, I went back because I forgot the subject. So many clauses lay in between that I got lost again.

Cumberbatches: 5

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz 

Series or Standalone: Series

Case: A man named Carstairs visits Baker St with an extraordinary tale. He is an art dealer. A valuable shipment to Boston was interrupted by train robbers and the paintings were destroyed and two men killed. Carstairs and his customer united to capture the group responsible called the Flat Cap gang. The police managed to kill all but one. 

Right before Carstairs boarded the ship for his return to England, the customer was gunned down in his garden, presumably by the remaining gang member. 

A young woman befriended the distressed Carstairs on the ship. They married. Shortly after their return home, a man in a flat cap began appearing wherever Carstairs happened to be. Carstairs fears he is next. But there is more, oh so very much more, to the story. 

Type of Sherlock: Continuation with original characters, darker Sherlock

Evidence of similarities: Writing style, characterizations, time period, setting 

Evidence of differences: Darker story with more violence

Deduction: Anthony Horowitz was chosen by the Arthur Conan Doyle estate to write new Sherlock novels and is one of my favorite writers. I love his Susan Ryeland and Hawthorne and Horowitz series, both of which I covered in this column. He also adapted Midsomer Murders, a British police procedural/cozy mystery show, which has aired since 1997. 

All of which is to say, he knocked it out of the park. 

Like Chabon and King’s contributions to this list, his writing was pleasurable to read with a cracking good story contained within. 

Cumberbatches: 5

Lock and Mori by Heather W. Petty 

Series or Standalone: Series

Case: James “Mori” Moriarty and Sherlock “Lock” Holmes attend the same private school in modern-day London. They are also neighbors on Baker St. But they don’t formally meet until Mori tries to drag Sherlock out of his lab at the behest of a teacher during a fire drill. 

Sherlock soon attempts to draw Mori into his latest “game,” solving the murder of a man found stabbed in Regent’s Park. She resists, but finds herself meeting up with him anyway. They feel a connection beyond an interest in crime. 

But Mori begins keeping secrets as she discovers her late mother’s connection to the victim and delves into her mother’s past. Mori is trying to protect herself, but learning to trust Sherlock could change her life … and save it. 

Type of Sherlock: Modern retelling, darker Sherlock, YA Sherlock, romantic Sherlock 

Evidence of similarities: Living on Baker St., Sherlock’s intelligence and personality, Mori’s gift for math and dark side

Evidence of differences: Very dark story, female Moriarty, the nicknames, their ages, their friendship and attraction to each other, the modern time period 

Deduction: I enjoyed it very much, although the parts where Moriarty, Sr., abuses his kids were hard to take. I like Mori and really hope she doesn’t grow up to be an evil criminal mastermind. 

Cumberbatches: 5

Tell us in the comments: Which Sherlock Holmes pastiche is your favorite? Do you prefer the original stories or new ones?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: The Not-So-Elementary Universe of Sherlock Holmes, Part 1 appeared first on DIY MFA.

Who Is Anna Katharine Green?

Anna Katharine Green isn’t a household name anymore, but she probably should be. She is the first best-selling female writer of detective novels. She developed detective fiction into its classic form, created the series detective, popularized the genre a decade before Arthur Conan Doyle, and influenced writers like Agatha Christie and Doyle. She also invented plot devices like “bodies in libraries, newspaper clippings as ‘clews,’ the coroner’s inquest, and expert witnesses.” (Wikipedia) 

Her first novel, The Leavenworth Case, was hugely successful and admired by none other than Wilkie Collins, one of the greatest of the Victorian sensation fiction writers. Green’s books were known for their logic and their accurate knowledge of the law—her father was a lawyer. The Leavenworth Case was even used by Yale Law School to show the dangers of relying too much on circumstantial evidence. 

Literary Reputation

Even though Green was erroneously declared the “Mother of Detective Novels” within a decade of her death—that honor actually belongs to Metta Victor, writing under the name Seeley Regester, an ambiguous pseudonym that probably contributed to her being overlooked—Green’s literary star fell precipitously beginning in the 1920s, continuing until the latter decades of the 20th century. 

Her florid Victorian writing style proved distasteful to readers used to the modern style of writers like Fitzgerald and Hemingway and the logical puzzle mysteries of writers like S.S. Van Dine and Freeman Wills Crofts. (CrimeReads) Although the criticism of her writing style is fair (An essay for CrimeReads called it “cumbrous” and I agree), excellent stories are contained in her prose. Her plots are twisty and airtight. And a Victorian novel is going to sound Victorian. 

There is sexism in the critical analysis of her books at that time. Male writers and critics scorned her while female writers like Agatha Christie and Carolyn Wells sang her praises. The aforementioned Wilkie Collins was still held in high esteem by the same authors deriding Green, despite the similarity of their subject matter and style. 

Thankfully, in the 1980s and 90s and continuing into the current century, her work was seen with fresh eyes. Several critical works devoted chapters to her and a biography was released. Like so many female authors sidelined from the literary canon by the very male literary establishment, Green was reclaimed and given her due. 

Reading Anna Katharine Green’s Books

Due to this, all of her works are back in print. I read a representative sample for this column—an Amelia Butterworth, a Mr. Gryce, a Caleb Sweetwater, and a collection of Violet Strange short stories. (My favorite.) Her work is difficult to read at first. I could understand it fine, but it took a lot of focus. However, like my experience with Shakespeare, I got the hang of it and was able to read fairly quickly. The plots did the rest. 

She has been accused of sentimentalism. I don’t know if I agree about that, but her writing is very melodramatic at times. It fits with the genre and I enjoyed it. 

Below, I give you descriptions of the series and the books I read in the order I read them. I believe Green is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the mystery genre and sensation fiction. Once I became accustomed to reading Victorian literature again, I read them avidly. 

I think after reading this column you will agree that we are lucky Ralph Waldo Emerson reacted in a lukewarm fashion to her poetry and Green switched her focus to detective novels. 

That Affair Next Door (Amelia Butterworth 1 / Mr. Gryce 8, published 1897)

Spinster Amelia Butterworth joins forces with (really tries to compete with) Green’s detective Ebenezer Gryce in this installment. Miss Butterworth happens to look out her window around midnight and sees a young man and woman enter the Van Burnam house next door. This strikes her as odd, due to the late hour and because the house is closed for the summer. She notes this and that the man leaves soon after on his own, then goes to bed. 

The next morning, the house stays shut without signs of life for so long that Miss Butterworth accosts a passing police officer to check the house. No one answers the door, but the cleaning woman arrives and lets him in. Miss Butterworth barges in after the cleaning woman bursts out shouting murder. There is a body in the library, crushed beneath a piece of furniture. 

This begins an investigation into one of the strangest, most complicated murders I’ve ever read about, with an equally complicated solution. Green made it work and plugged any potential plot holes, but did depend on coincidence and luck a few times. There is a wonderfully dramatic scene at the end when the culprit is revealed. 

Miss Butterworth is a worthy sleuth and main character. She is considered to be the prototype for Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Miss Butterworth is smart, funny at times, and believes in herself. She is determined to beat Mr. Gryce to the punch, which leads to many funny scenes between the two. 

The Leavenworth Case (Mr. Gryce 1, published 1878)

Prominent philanthropist and businessman Horatio Leavenworth is found dead in his library. He was shot in the head. The death baffles for many reasons—Leavenworth was well-liked, plus the absence of a weapon nearby and the angle of the wound discourage a verdict of suicide. Not only the library but the house was completely locked from the inside. 

The culprit must be someone in the house. The suspects include Mr. Leavenworth’s two nieces Mary and Eleanore, his secretary Mr. Trueman Harwell, and the servants. Mary is his heiress, chosen by Mr. Leavenworth on a whim with Eleanore receiving nothing. Amazingly, Eleanore doesn’t seem to resent this and both women love him devotedly. Or do they? 

This is Green’s first novel and her most successful. Sales were huge and many luminaries read and praised it. It is considered a classic of the mystery genre. I found it to be compelling and well-plotted. No dependence on coincidence or luck this time. Her writing style is still a bit florid and convoluted, but I found it easier to read. I’m not sure if it actually is or if my brain has become accustomed to Victorian literature again. The dialogue is melodramatic, but again I enjoy that in these types of books. 

Mr. Gryce is a likable detective. It is notable to me that he does not narrate his mysteries. Amelia Butterworth is the only one of Green’s sleuths that does so far in my reading. He has some Poirot-like quirks (never looking at the person he’s speaking to but at nearby objects) and is considered the first series detective. He usually shares his cases with a character who narrates (like the young lawyer Everett Raymond in this book), but Amelia Butterworth was the only one to branch out into a series of her own, in which Gryce was still included. 

The House of the Whispering Pines (Caleb Sweetwater 3, published 1910)

Elwood Ranelagh sees smoke rising from the chimney of his club The Whispering Pines, which is shut for the winter. He is a caretaker of the place and goes to investigate. He finds the dead body of his fiancée Adelaide Cumberland in an upstairs room—the fiancée he spurned earlier that very evening for her younger sister Carmel, whom he sees descending the stairs of the club right before he goes upstairs and finds Adelaide. Carmel does not see him. 

The police arrive and soon charge him with the crime due to his presence at the scene, his connection to the victim, and the fact that a police spy saw him through the window with his hand on the strangled woman’s throat. 

At first, his main concern is to protect Carmel, the younger sister, and his new love, from suspicion, even though he assumes she is guilty. But as he sits in jail and Carmel lies in delirium, self-preservation begins to set in. 

All of Green’s books that I’ve read (except the Violet Strange collection described below) are divided into four sections called Books. Caleb Sweetwater, whose series this book belongs in, does not show up until the second Book in Whispering Pines. He is from New York and summoned to help with this strange mystery. 

Although quite awkward in appearance (the description reminded me a bit of Ichabod Crane), his intelligence and skill at his job quickly overshadow that. I don’t think he is considered the prototype for anyone, but he is an amiable and interesting sleuth. He also mentions Gryce occasionally and appears to be acquainted with him. 

This book was markedly easier for me to read. I think it is because of the Gothic atmosphere in the first chapter, but also the fact that Green adapted her style for the modern era. She made it simpler and more straightforward. And the chapters are shorter, thank goodness. 

As aforementioned, critics and readers eventually carped about her type of plot and style of writing, but she did adapt somewhat until the 1940s and their hardboiled detectives arrived. By then she was in her 80s, but there was also so much difference between that style and hers that it wouldn’t have been an adaptation, but a complete overhaul. She had her own style and voice and the time for it had unfortunately passed. 

The Golden Slipper, and Other Problems for Violet Strange (published 1915)

This is a collection of short stories featuring Green’s girl detective Violet Strange, a progenitor of Nancy Drew and the crop of girl detectives that hit the shelves later in the 20^th century. She is a young woman of society but secretly works for a private investigator. Over the course of this book, she moves from investigating non-violent crime to murders but does not reveal the reason she works until the end. 

The stories are all titled “Problem,” then a number 1-9 and connected by the thread of Violet’s secret motivation for her detective work. 

First of all, I love the name, Violet Strange. It’s perfect for a girl detective, indicating that she is more than the society girl the world knows her as. The stories play her as a reluctant sleuth, but I think part of her enjoys it or is at least drawn to it. For instance, her boss points out to a potential client that she will only work if she’s interested. If nothing else, she’s certainly good at it. 

Like Nancy Drew, she was raised by a widowed father. Unlike Nancy, she has siblings and hides her sleuthing from her father and society at large. Her brother knows about it and occasionally assists her when she needs a man along. 

Perhaps because of the earlier time period, Violet presents a certain type of personality to the world, hiding her talent for and interest in detection, even from herself. She tries to avoid murder cases, insisting they are unseemly (she refers to them as “sordid” and “befouled spider webs”) and insists that she has a good reason for the work, but she can’t reveal it yet. 

I can believe her squeamishness about murder, but why would she choose to do detective work? There were other, more socially acceptable, ways to make money, although, to be fair, any kind of work by someone of Violet’s station might have caused a scandal. She is of the type who debuts, finds a husband, marries, and has kids. In fact, her father already has a husband in mind for her. 

Violet delights and fascinates me. I love her style, independence, and the way she stands up for herself. Even in society, she is considered a tad quirky, but in an attractive, acceptable way. She does not narrate her stories, which surprised me at first. They are told from a third-person omniscient point of view. Now I wonder if this was yet another way Green made her young female sleuth acceptable to audiences: by withholding her inner monologue and refusing to let her tell her own story, perhaps even implying that Violet didn’t want to. 

These stories focus on howdunnit rather than who, putting even more focus on the young sleuth and giving us very clever modes of murder. Some of them do not even name the criminal, but end with Violet’s solution and saying the culprit was caught or would soon be. They were the easiest to read of all. The prose and dialogue are very straightforward. This lets Green’s talent at plotting really shine through.

A Complex Woman

Even though Violet is a feminist heroine for her time, Green’s status in that regard is more dubious. She opposed women’s suffrage, expressing particular abhorrence for violent demonstrations by suffragettes. 

However, she was a pioneering writer, who continued in her work after marrying in her late 30s and having three children. She and her husband also enjoyed a remarkably happy, egalitarian, and supportive marriage for the time, involving themselves in each other’s careers. 

Her husband was an actor who appeared in an adaptation of The Leavenworth Case, as well as a furniture and industrial designer. He even designed a chair for her with an extra-wide right arm for her notebook, which a famous photo shows her sitting in. He listed her as “co-designer” on his work and reviewed her new writing every night. 

She supported women’s right to work and have more power and independence, but her views became more complicated beyond that. She also opposed class distinctions, marrying a man who was her equal in intelligence and interests, rather than one of her social standing. He was younger than her, too.

Before reading and researching for this article, I had only read one Violet Strange story included in an anthology on Project Gutenberg. It left me wanting more. I’m glad I learned about this complex woman and read a few of her works. I plan to read more and hope I’ve inspired some of you to do so as well. 

References

https://www.criminalelement.com/ladies-first-groundbreaking-women-in-crime-fiction/

https://crimereads.com/the-rise-and-fall-and-restoration-of-anna-katharine-greens-the-leavenworth-case/

“The Art of Murder: Anna Katharine Green” in Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-Century Crime Fiction – The Mothers of the Mystery Genre by Lucy Sussex 

“Anna Katharine Green” on Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Katharine_Green

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anna-Katharine-Green

https://thrillingdetective.com/2019/01/22/miss-violet-strange/amp/

Tell us in the comments: Have you ever read anything by Anna Katharine Green?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: The Pioneering, Bestselling Anna Katharine Green appeared first on DIY MFA.

It turned out I had a much longer list of auto-buys than I thought. I ended up dividing it into series and authors. You get part 1 of my auto-buy series today. You will get part 2 in a couple of weeks and the authors another time and will probably be surprised at the different types of books.

Here are some of my auto-buy series:

The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series by Vicki Delany 

Premise: Transplanted Londoner Gemma Doyle (no relation to Sir Arthur) partially owns and runs the Sherlock Bookshop and Emporium at 222 Baker St. in West London, Massachusetts. Her globe-trotting Uncle Arthur is her co-owner in that business as well as the one next door Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, run by Gemma’s best friend Jayne, who has a stake in the Tea Room along with Gemma and Arthur.  But like Cabot Cove, West London has more than its fair share of murders and Gemma is there to help the police, sometimes under protest. 

No. in Series: 7

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Sherlock Easter eggs and references abound. The store cat named Moriarty is probably my favorite one. The main character, Gemma, is intelligent, fun, and struggles with relationships somewhat due to neurodiversity. I sympathize with that and always appreciate seeing neurodiversity in books. Plus, this falls firmly in the cozy category, despite having a bit of bite to it, and returning to the world of a well-loved cozy is comforting. 

Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas

Premise: In this intriguing and complex series, Charlotte Holmes takes unusual steps to avoid being married off. She doesn’t quite reckon with the consequences, but luckily finds her Watson, a Mrs. Watson in her case. Together, they set up Charlotte’s “brother,” Sherlock Holmes, as a detective. But he is ill and unable to receive visitors, so Charlotte acts as “intermediary.” 

No. in the series: 6

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Thomas is an award-winning romance writer and you can see why when a romance develops for Charlotte. Also, the series is an ingenious reimagining of the Sherlock stories, but very much its own creation. The world is rich with beautiful descriptions and imagery, the dialogue witty, and the mysteries twisty. Each book has its own mystery while continuing the overarching saga of the truly chilling Moriarty, whose fiendish plot gradually infiltrates Charlotte’s life and threatens those she loves. 

Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal 

Premise: British-born, American-raised Maggie finds herself in London at the beginning of World War II. Her grandmother has died and she moves into her old Victorian house while settling the estate. She discovers that she likes life in London and finds roommates to live with her in the house. She also finds a job at No. 10 as a typist through her friend David. Maggie, however, studied mathematics at MIT and soon discovers a coded message in a newspaper. After that, her life is never the same. 

No. in the series: 10

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Where do I begin? The meticulous without being overpowering historical detail? The intelligent, kick-ass main character? The well-plotted mysteries with WWII as the backdrop? Exciting, tension-filled denouements? You also get to learn about the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a team of undercover saboteurs Churchill sent to “set Europe ablaze!” 

Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear

Premise: After serving as a nurse in WWI, Maisie Dobbs turns to private investigation to support herself. Maisie has had both great luck and great pain in her life. She lost her mother and had to go out to service when she was a young teen. But her employer Lady Rowan Compton discovered her secretly reading books in the library at night and saw her potential, becoming her patron and friend. She hired Maisie’s tutor, Maurice Blanche, and paid for her college education. 

No. in the series: 17, plus one companion book

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Maisie is brilliant, kind, and empathetic, but unflinching about duty and responsibility. She has suffered and moves forward so bravely and determinedly. These books also really bring home the reality of the inter-war years in Britain. For instance, the treatment of the soldiers who came back with PTSD (known then as shell shock) and visible injuries was atrocious, with people anxious to hide away these living reminders of the war’s devastation. The two wars tend to overshadow this time and I never paid much attention to it before, but it is fascinating, heartrending, inspiring, and important. That, combined with Maisie’s epic journey, leaves me riveted every time. 

Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn

Premise: Veronica Speedwell is anything but the stereotypical Victorian lady. A spinster by choice and happy that way, she regularly takes lovers to satisfy what she considers to be natural needs. She is a scientist, a lepidopterist who travels the world studying butterflies. But her world is rocked when her aunt (who raised her) dies and a stranger attempts to kidnap her after the funeral. 

While on the run, Veronica takes refuge in a warehouse, the home of Stoker, a taxidermy artist and erstwhile gentleman. Sparks fly, but the forces pursuing Veronica haven’t given up. If they have any say in it, Veronica won’t live to see if she and Stoker will ever be anything but contentious allies. 

No. in the series: 6 (The next is due 2/15/22.)

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Veronica is a fascinating character with verve and courage to spare. The chemistry between her and Stoker sizzles, but doesn’t dominate the narrative. It adds to it in my opinion. As the series progresses, each book has its individual mystery with an overarching storyline about Veronica’s past and her identity. Reading these books is fun and absorbing. The pages fly by. 

Lady Hardcastle series by T.E. Kinsey 

Premise: Lady Emily Hardcastle and her companion and housekeeper Florence “Flo” Armstrong have decamped from London for a quiet life in the country. In fact, that’s the title of the first book. They retired from a mysterious career, the details of which come out over the run of the series. But Flo knows martial arts and Lady Hardcastle readily begins to investigate when a body is discovered in the woods near their new home. There is definitely more to these two ladies than meets the eye. 

No. in the series: 7, plus one novella (The next is due 6/7/22.) 

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: The relationship between Lady Hardcastle and Flo is an absolute joy. They tease and joke and seem much more like friends or even sisters than employer and employee. Their back and forth banter and seamless teamwork in dangerous situations is balanced by an obvious affection and deep bond between the two. 

The setting also has that charm peculiar to fictional English villages at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries. Like any good mystery series, that charm overlays a network of relationships and resentments sometimes going back generations. 

Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey

Premise: Perveen is based on the first woman lawyer in India. She works for her father’s law firm in Bombay and at first seems to be a spinster. But as her story unfolds through flashbacks, we discover her painful past and the risks it still poses to her happiness and independence. We also see her frustration at society’s reluctance to accept a female lawyer and her delight when she finds a niche helping women in purdah, who don’t leave their home or see strange men. The excitement and the mysteries start rolling from there. 

No. in the series: 3

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: I haven’t gotten to the third book yet, but it is next on my TBR. If it’s anything like the first two installments, it will be exciting and packed with fascinating details of 1920s India. The setting and characters in these books are so richly drawn and they navigate well-plotted narratives. I also loved exploring the social, political, and religious environment of the period. It was a whole aspect of the 1920s and the world that I never knew about before and I can’t get enough. 

Myrtle Hardcastle series by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Premise: Myrtle Hardcastle is a young girl living with her father and her governess, Miss Judson, in Victorian England. She loves science and is fascinated by crime. Starting with the first book, she gets plenty of opportunities to investigate the world around her. 

No. in the series: 3

Why It’s an Auto-Buy Series: Myrtle is one of my very favorite characters. She despises the rules for Young Ladies of Quality (her capitals!) and is desperate to dig into every crime that occurs around her. These books are witty, funny, and have elements of a cozy feel with the comfort evoked by Myrtle’s lovely home and relationships with her father and governess. 

Miss Judson is an intriguing character, being a woman of color from French Guiana, living in England with an upper crust white family during the Victorian era. She is well educated and proper, but holds her own with Myrtle’s father and relishes investigating with Myrtle, despite her initial protestations. She is wistful for her home at times, but loves Myrtle (and perhaps Myrtle’s father) fiercely.

These mysteries are adult caliber, despite being written to be appropriate for children. They strongly remind me of Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce (another favorite series that is sadly now defunct). The plots, Myrtle’s arch narration, the dialogue, and the characters are all top notch. 

Tell us in the comments: Do you have any auto-buy series?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: My Auto-Buy Series, Part 1 appeared first on DIY MFA.

Whether they influenced my childhood or made me smile during my latest hours of reading time, they gave me joy, wonder, and mental stimulation at some point. We all need those things no matter our age, especially right now.

Without further ado…

My Favorite Children’s Mysteries…

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

When Sam Westing dies and names most of the residents of Sunset Towers apartments as heirs, he sets them a task. They must solve a complicated set of clues with another heir as partner in order to win his fortune. They do not get to choose their partner. It turns out that Sam Westing knows exactly who needs whom in their life. 

This book contains problematic elements (such as the stereotypical portrayal of the Hoo family and the characters’ ableist treatment of Chris Theodorakis, who is physically disabled), but is also somewhat forward-thinking in terms of race (shown through the skewering of Grace Windsor Wexler’s bigotry) and feminism. 

It is one of the best children’s mysteries ever, maybe the best. TWG is smart, twisty, and has just enough danger to be exciting, but not too scary. I never tire of reading it. I sometimes even forget all the ins and outs of the very clever, twisty solution. If you’re a mystery lover and you haven’t read it, go do it now. Even if you’re not into children’s mysteries. 

There is a movie adaptation from 1997 called Get a Clue. It’s a decent adaptation (even though they changed a lot) and fun to watch. I’m super excited for the HBO Max series that is on the way. 

This is the first of many puzzle mysteries on this list. If you’ve read this column regularly, you know I love puzzles and code-cracking, especially if literary references are involved. 

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

Zoe Washington lives in Boston with her mom and dad, right next door to her best friend Trevor. Her dad is technically her stepdad, but he has raised her since she was 5. She doesn’t have a relationship with her biological dad, Marcus. 

This is because Marcus is in prison for murder. Her mother does not want them to have contact and Zoe has always been fine with this. Zoe also loves to bake and is very talented at it. Her summer would be shaping up well, except for two things. She and Trevor are on the outs and a letter from Marcus suddenly arrives on Zoe’s 12th birthday. Zoe decides to answer without telling her mother and soon finds out that Marcus says he is innocent. 

This is not exactly a mystery, but Zoe does some detecting to figure out if her biological dad really has an alibi witness for the time of the murder. Plus, it was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. If the Mystery Writers of America count it, I will, too. 

Zoe is an ambitious and determined character with her baking and even invents her own flavor of cupcake. Also, the book highlights the number of innocent people in jail, especially Black men, and the Innocence Project. This book warmed my heart and put a smile on my face. It also made me hungry. 

An adaptation is forthcoming with Kerry Washington producing. That sounds like a great combination to me. 

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (author and illustrator)

One of the most famous books on this list, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler probably needs no introduction or description. It won the Newbery Medal in 1968 and several generations have read and loved it and shared it with their kids. 

I first encountered it when one of my teachers read it to our class. During a recent reread with my kids, I was instantly hooked by Claudia and Jamie Kincaid and their repartee. Claudia is delightful and complex. She longs to be an individual, to be special and “different,” not realizing she already is. She sees the world a little differently and wants dreadfully for people to notice. One of my favorite scenes is where she tries to get Jamie to say the little Angel statue they’re researching looks like her. I’ve felt that before, longing to be special by being like something special. 

Jamie is a precocious child, keenly aware of money, but still quite naive about the world. Also ignorant of proper grammar and speech to Claudia’s never-ending frustration. Some of Claudia’s nitpicking is just plain silly, though.

The two come up with a remarkable plan to run away from their home in Greenwich, Connecticut, and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. Claudia thinks this will make her “different” and make her parents appreciate her. Jamie just wants an adventure. Claudia needs him for money and company. 

Soon after they move in, a special exhibit arrives—a little statue that might have been sculpted by Michelangelo. Claudia falls in love with the statue and determines to find out for sure whether it is one of Michelangelo’s works. 

One of the joys of this book is seeing the relationship between the two develop and deepen. They become a team as they learn more about Michelangelo and each other. 

There are two adaptations—one from 1973 starring Ingrid Bergman (called The Hideaways) and the other from 1995 starring Lauren Bacall. (Talk about A-list talent.) I hope they both do justice to that relationship. 

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

This book is so fun. I think practically any reader could enjoy it, but if you like games and are a book nerd, you are all set. I was in heaven. I so wish this library was real.

Kyle Keeley loves games. His favorites are by Luigi Lemoncello, who just happens to be from Kyle’s hometown of Alexandriaville, Ohio. Mr. Lemoncello funded and designed a fabulous new library to replace the old one torn down twelve years ago. Twelve 12-year-olds who write the best essays about what most excites them about the new library get to attend a lock-in and see the new library before anyone else. Kyle is determined to be one of them and meet his hero. 

Oh, my literary puzzle-loving heart. This book is jam-packed with literary references (mostly children’s books, but not all) and employs rebuses and several other kinds of codes to challenge the characters and readers. I read this book for the first time this week. I just finished a second reading, to my kids this time. It is that good. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. 

I just found out there is a Nickelodeon movie adaptation from 2017.  Heading off to watch that now.

Greystone Secrets #1: The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix and Anne Lambelet (illustrator)

This book was not what I expected, but I loved it. It is a page-turner, almost like a thriller for adults, but still appropriate for kids. It’s over 400 pages and I finished it in two days! 

The narrators are adorable, smart, and fun. They are the Greystone kids, siblings Chess (short for Rochester), Emma, and Finn. Their father is dead and they adore their mother Kate, a graphic designer who raised them on her own. 

But one day after school, everything is different. Three siblings with the same names and ages as the Greystones have been kidnapped. And Mom is not acting like Mom. 

You are plunged into this story in the very first chapter and it barely lets up. It is exciting, intriguing (more code-cracking, but getting into the hard stuff with Vigenère ciphers), heartwarming, and kept me guessing more than many books written for adults.

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson and Chloe Bristol (illustrator)

This is the most magical book I’ve read in a while. Between the amazing hotel, the snowy winter setting, and the Christmas celebrations, I wanted to move right in. 

Elizabeth Somers doesn’t know what to expect when she is invited to spend Christmas away from her aunt and uncle at the Winterhouse hotel, while her aunt and uncle vacation, thanks to a mysterious benefactor. Despite the unpleasantness of living with Aunt Purdy and Uncle Burlap, she would rather spend Christmas alone than brave this new place with strange people. 

But Winterhouse is a place of magic and fun. Puzzles (both word and jigsaw) abound, there is a huge library, and the intriguing Falls family, proprietors of the hotel, are full of mysterious secrets. Elizabeth even makes a friend named Freddy, who helps her discover the secret behind the sinister couple who seem to be stalking Elizabeth at the hotel. Between enjoying the snow and food, especially Flurschen, a special candy made only at Winterhouse.

In addition to the magical environment, this book is also full of word games and ciphers. Elizabeth and Freddy initially bond over their mutual love of word ladders, one of which starts off every chapter, connecting both to the chapter title and its events. I never thought much about word ladders before I read this book, but I think I’m a fan now. 

The cover and illustrations are gorgeous, definitely adding to the magic of the storyline. I first wanted to read this book because the beautiful cover caught my eye. I don’t usually care if a book has pictures (although I do buy beautiful picture books at times, even with my kids outgrowing them), but I wouldn’t want this book to be without them. 

The writing is vivid with some unique turns of phrase. The beauty and the menace leap off the page. As soon as I finished the first one, I bought the next one to read. 

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (author and illustrator) 

WARNING:  I don’t usually include spoilers, but there are some mild ones in this entry. I needed them to make a point and the book has been out for decades. You have been warned. 

We don’t see books like Harriet the Spy anymore. In some ways that’s good. Talk about fat phobia. Every unpleasant person in this book is described as fat and it’s not meant as a compliment. 

But people seem to have forgotten that the world of children can be ruthless and unforgiving. That children themselves can be ruthless and unforgiving. And that back when parents were a little less involved, kids learned to work things out. Obviously, it’s good for parents to be involved, but I regret that kids don’t have their own world to learn to navigate as much anymore.

This is a much darker story than I remembered from reading it as a child. Harriet M. Welsch wants to be a writer. Her nanny Ole Golly told her she needs to observe people and write down everything. Harriet takes this to a bit of an extreme by developing a regular “spy route” where she watches people in her neighborhood and writes down her thoughts about them. 

She also does that with her friends and classmates at school. They find her notebook. And read it. And they are not happy. Harriet suffers the consequences of her actions, but she is one against many, who, by the way, haven’t paid for reading her private notebook. Except in embarrassment maybe.

Harriet rallies and fights back. She learns what she did wrong, apologizes, and fixes it. That’s why I love her. I think that’s why people still love her. She stands up for herself and learns to admit when she’s wrong and change. 

Harriet is a very compelling book. The writing is smart and nuanced and the characters very realistic. Fitzhugh isn’t trying to make these kids lovable or even likable. She wanted to show what life could be like for all kids, but especially kids who are different. Especially kids whose parents are indifferent or caught up in their own lives. This is one of those books where the sheer act of reading it is satisfying. It’s not a mystery, but I think it works to call it a spy novel for kids. It’s also more than that, though. 

I was surprised to find out that Harriet the Spy is the first book in a series. There are 4 books, including Harriet. The second, The Long Secret, is a mystery. This is a very strange book that couldn’t be more different than its predecessor. It’s worth a read and could probably fill a whole column on its own. The story is told from Harriet’s classmate Beth Ellen’s point of view. The third is about her best friend Sport. And the fourth is another mystery. There are also several companion books.

If you want even more Harriet, there is a new Harriet the Spy cartoon series on AppleTV+. I’m very excited to try it. The Michelle Trachtenberg movie from 1996 is cute, maybe a little too cute at times. I do think it is a better adaptation than it is given credit for. The film stayed true to Harriet’s rebel spirit and the dark parts of her conflict with her friends and classmates. 

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Like Greystone, this book was very different than I expected. It has an apocalyptic, 1984 aspect to it. The characters are complex and heartbreaking. I expected them to stay at Mr. Benedict’s house and be detectives. I didn’t realize there is an astounding worldwide threat (the “Emergency”) or that the kids would be undercover alone on such a dangerous mission.

Reynard “Reynie” Muldoon has spent his entire life at the Stonetown Orphanage, without close connections, except his teacher Miss Perumal. One day she tells him about a notice in the paper looking for gifted children to take a test to be eligible for “special opportunities.” She wants him to take it and Reynie agrees. 

The tests are weird and difficult, but Reynie makes it through, along with three other special kids—George “Sticky” Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire. Together, they meet the mysterious Nicholas Benedict, along with his colleagues Number Two, Rhonda Kazembe, and Milligan. They discover that the “Emergency” that has all the adults worried is more serious than any of them realize and it’s up to them to stop it. 

Besides the interesting plot and excellent writing, the strength of this book is the team of four children. Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance are tough, intelligent, resourceful, and able to trust each other and become a team, despite all of the abandonment and solitude in their lives up to this point. They work through their trauma to become this team, so they can hopefully save the world. In the process, they save themselves, which sounds very cliché, but Stewart renders it in a way that most definitely is not. 

I liked the first season of the TV show on Disney+. Everyone was well cast, despite the fact that Kristen Schaal is older than Number Two is in the book and I pictured Mr. Benedict as an older man. Now that I’ve seen Tony Hale play him, I can’t imagine anyone else in the part. 

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

This is a wonderful, intricate puzzle mystery bound up with the history of the house and its previous occupants. The house itself is a character and part of the mystery. Many of the clues are hidden in and around it, some actually built into it. I loved the descriptions of the beautiful stained glass.

Twelve-year-old Milo is excited for winter break to begin. During the holiday, there are usually no guests at the old smuggler’s inn in which he and his parents live and work called Greenglass House. But on the first night, the arrival bell begins to ring and doesn’t stop until five guests are ensconced in Milo’s living room telling stories, all of which end up connecting to the history of his home. 

Milo doesn’t appreciate this intrusion into his family holiday. He does end up befriending Meddy, the daughter of the cook, and they work together to solve the mystery when guests’ possessions disappear, which causes trouble for Milo’s parents. 

I appreciated that Milo is Chinese-American and the adoptive child of white parents (I am white and have a son adopted from China). Both the joys and difficulties of this situation were portrayed from Milo’s point of view. He loves his parents very much but still struggles with identity, belonging, and curiosity about his past. He is solving the mystery of himself as much as the one in the narrative. 

As a person who is neurodivergent, I appreciated the portrayal of Milo and his parents coping with that as well. It is difficult for them all, but he’s not stigmatized or criticized for it. He seems to have sensory sensitivities and anxiety, two conditions that really don’t mix with encountering strangers in your space all the time, especially when you weren’t expecting them. This is handled with sensitivity and realism. Milo isn’t put under a burden to change. He and his parents work to accommodate each other in the conditions of their lives. 

Greenglass House has been optioned by Paramount, but no adaptation has appeared as yet.

While we’re waiting, let me know—what are your favorite children’s mysteries?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: My Favorite Children’s Mysteries (So Far) appeared first on DIY MFA.

The girl detectives from the late 20th-early 21st century comprise a much more diverse group. But they share with each other and their predecessors the qualities of intelligence, bravery, and grit. 

Some of you might notice some notable exceptions on this list. Here are my criteria:

• Detective under 20 years old 
• Female main detective  
• Primarily a mystery novel
• Published between the 1970s and the present day
• Categorized as Children’s or YA literature 

(NOTE: The plot descriptions are based on the first book in the series unless otherwise noted.) 

Here are my favorite modern girl detectives. 

Born at the Wrong Time (but published in the right one)

Sally Lockhart in the Sally Lockhart series by Philip Pullman 

Many people think of the His Dark Materials series when they hear Philip Pullman. To me, he is beloved as the creator of Sally Lockhart, a 16-year-old girl in Victorian England who loses her father and gains a priceless ruby, as well as all of the murderous troubles that go with it. 

When I first read The Ruby in the Smoke and its sequels in 1991, heroines like Sally Lockhart were quite rare, especially in children’s and YA literature. She is beautiful, but her most compelling traits are intelligence, strength, bravery, and daring. She is also reserved in her interactions, foregoing flirtation and the societal obligation to be charming unless it serves her purposes. Marriage is the last thing on her mind. She even carries a small Belgian pistol her father taught her to use. She wasn’t like any other literary heroine I encountered before and she deserves to be better known today. 

Enola Holmes in the Enola Holmes mystery series by Nancy Springer

Enola is a 14-year-old girl who lives with her mother and a few servants in the crumbling family estate in the English countryside. She awakens on her birthday to find her mother left gifts for her and disappeared. She soon finds out that there is more to these gifts than meets the eye. 

She’s also the little sister of Sherlock Holmes, who, along with their brother Mycroft, descends from London to decide what to do with Enola and the estate. Enola has different ideas, but they brush her aside. They underestimate Enola, but they learn not to do that again. 

I love mysteries involving puzzles and ciphers. Enola is witty, intelligent, and resilient. I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie on Netflix and her first book adventure searching for the missing marquess and look forward to reading the others in the future, as well as seeing the next movie, recently confirmed by Netflix. 

Myrtle Hardcastle in the Myrtle Hardcastle series by Elizabeth C. Bunce 

I’ve read the first two books in this series and can’t wait for the third next month. Myrtle strongly reminds me of Flavia de Luce, Alan Bradley’s girl detective (in books written for adults, so not on this list), who is also fascinated by science and murder. 

The daughter of a lawyer and a scientist (Her mother, who is deceased.), Myrtle enjoys access to professional materials for both disciplines. Her governess Ada Judson is a fairly willing accomplice, but cautious about jumping to conclusions and calling the police. (To be fair, Myrtle has a history of doing just that.) But Myrtle persists until she finds out who murdered her elderly neighbor and how (first book) and clears her Aunt Helena of a murder charge (second book).

Myrtle’s arch narration is hilarious as she rails against rules for Young Ladies of Quality (her capitals) and rebuffs the efforts of adults to help her befriend girls her age. She is brave and loving and has moments that remind us she is a little girl dealing with dangerous situations. 

Goldie Vance in Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams (illustrator) 

Marigold (Goldie) Vance is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives and works at the Florida hotel her father manages. Goldie parks cars, but helps the hotel detective in her spare time. In the first of the four volumes in the graphic novel series—there are also two novels inspired by the graphic novels— a hotel guest’s priceless necklace disappears and the hotel detective needs help finding it. (Although he doesn’t want the help.) The necklace’s owner disappears and the race is on to find both.  

Goldie is Black and queer. She crushes on a girl in the story, but it’s treated as the normal teenage crush it is. Goldie doesn’t agonize about it and no one bullies her or even talks about it, despite the fact that the story is set in 1962. I thought it was cute and a timely part of the storyline. The artwork is bright and bold and Goldie is a fun, smart, brave character. The mystery is interesting and twisty. I loved this book so much on Kindle that I bought the paperback for my kids and to fully enjoy the artwork. 

21st Century Modern Girl Detectives

Kazuko (Kazu) Jones in the Kazu Jones series by Shauna Holyoak

Kazu Jones is a Japanese-American girl living in Denver, CO. She wants so much to be a detective and doesn’t see why she can’t start now. Since she is in fifth grade, her parents and the police disagree. But dogs are disappearing at an alarming rate and Kazu can’t hold back when the dognappings get closer to home. 

The characters and the evolutions of their relationships are realistic, yet heartwarming. I find it hard to take when animals are in peril, but the narrative handles this topic sparingly and sensitively. Only the most sensitive might need to steer clear or try to skip those parts. I think getting through them is worth it. This book is well written, timely, and exciting. I’m delighted there is a second in the series.

Shirley Bones and Jamila Waheed in the Shirley and Jamila series, written and illustrated by Gillian Goerz 

In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, Shirley and Jamila are two tweens who want freedom to be different. Shirley is very smart and socially awkward, and is similar to modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, even in her name. Jamila is one of very few Indian kids in her part of their Canadian town. Jamila just wants to shoot hoops at the local court all day while Shirley helps neighborhood kids solve their problems with her investigative skills. But their moms want them to go to science camp (Jamila) and dance camp (Shirley). They connect at a garage sale and hatch a plan to spend their summer differently. 

The resemblances between Shirley Bones and Sherlock Holmes are a little on the nose, but watching the girls solve a mystery and build a friendship is wonderful. The book touches on the difficulties for Jamila and her brothers as immigrants to Canada, as well as Shirley’s difficulties making friends. In solving the mystery, they discover other kids who need friends, leading to an ending that’s heartwarming, but not in a schmaltzy way. One bit at the ending I especially love; one of the kids’ pets is named Uncle Feather, like Fudge Hatcher’s myna bird in Judy Blume’s Fudge series. A new installment arrives in November and I’ve pre-ordered it. 

Candice Miller in The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson 

This is one of the books where I immediately want the whole world to read it. Candice Miller doesn’t want to spend the summer away from her dad and her friends in Atlanta. She and her mother go to her grandmother’s old house in Lambert, South Carolina, while their home is being remodeled for sale due to her parents’ divorce. 

Candice meets a boy who lives across the street named Brandon. Together, they discover the mysterious letter that inspired the actions that got Candice’s grandmother fired from her job as city manager in 2007. 

Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game is a vital influence on this book. From the theme of a businessman trying to make up for the past to the types of clues in the letter, author Varian Johnson’s love for that story shines through. The characters in the book also love TWG and reference it frequently. 

This book unflinchingly portrays life at different periods of time for Black people in the South without getting too shocking for middle grade readers. (Candice, Brandon, and their families are Black.) All of the characters are nuanced and complex. This is a very important book for kids to read both for the visceral portrayal of our nation’s shameful history with racism and introducing them to the joys of complex mysteries. (The Westing Game, too, if they haven’t read it.)

Paloma Márquez in Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring by Angela Cervantes

Paloma Márquez is spending the summer in Mexico City with her mother, far from her familiar world of Kansas. Her late father was born in Mexico City and Paloma hopes to trigger more memories of him while her mother works on a literature fellowship. Otherwise, she isn’t happy about the trip. 

But she soon becomes intrigued by Mexico City’s beauty and culture, particularly Frida Kahlo, whose home La Casa Azul is the first spot she visits. There she meets Lizzie and Gael, two siblings who tell her the story of Frida’s beautiful peacock ring, which is missing from her home. The three quickly become friends and set out to find this priceless piece of Mexico’s heritage before it disappears forever. 

Paloma drew me in instantly. She is smart, funny, and realistically snarky. She is also caring. She worries about her mom and records every memory she discovers about her dad on index cards she keeps in her pocket. She likes boys, but they’re not her whole life. She also loves detective stories, especially the Lulu Pennywhistle series, which is, unfortunately, not a real series.

There is just enough danger and intricacy to interest older readers, but still be appropriate for middle grade. Spanish phrases pop up throughout the text, but most are commonly known or fairly easy to figure out from context. There isn’t enough to be discouraging to a young reader who is unfamiliar with Spanish. I absolutely loved it. 

Who are your favorite modern girl detectives?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: Modern Girl Detectives appeared first on DIY MFA.

I tried to locate the first in each series to read. If that wasn’t possible, I took the earliest available. I also got an overview of each series through The Girl Sleuth by Bobbie Ann Mason and Jennifer’s Series Books website, series-books.com. (I highly recommend those resources and Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women who Created Her by Melanie Rehak.) 

I chose my favorite classic girl detectives from the series I read and divided them into categories based on their popularity among readers and personality characteristics/career. Warning: these books all date from the early- to mid-20^th century and reflect the racial and gender attitudes of their time, some more obviously than others. 

The Queen

Nancy Drew in her debut The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene 

(written by Mildred Wirt Benson, revised and abridged by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams) 

It’s hard not to like Nancy. (Unless you instantly hate her.) She’s intelligent, helpful, beautiful, and good at everything she does. She drives a cool car, lives in a lovely house in River Heights, and has a supportive father, Carson Drew, who is a lawyer. Nancy’s mother died when she was small, but housekeeper Hannah Gruen is a good mother figure without the authority to curtail Nancy’s freedom. Plus, the books are often interesting and action-packed. Nancy usually ends up in some type of danger, but always finds a way out. 

Plot synopsis: Nancy helps Josiah Crowley’s friends and family search for his missing will before rich, unkind relatives steal the whole estate. 

The Girl Next Door

Judy Bolton in her debut The Vanishing Shadow by Margaret Sutton 

Judy is more realistic both in character and plot than Nancy Drew. She has red hair and a temper and butts heads with her grandmother. She fights with her brother, Horace, and sometimes runs and hides when she is upset. Most notably, she grows up and solves mysteries into adulthood, even after marriage, unlike the perennially teenage Nancy. 

Plot synopsis: Judy overhears a strange conversation between two men about the new dam at Roulsville (her hometown). She doesn’t understand what she hears, but the strange men threaten her anyway. Judy promises to keep quiet and actually tries to keep that promise, while still untangling the mystery and trying to save Roulsville from destruction. 

The Kid

Trixie Belden in her debut The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell 

This is the best written of all the books I read for this article. The sole child among this group, Trixie, has the bravery and smarts to go toe-to-toe with anyone else on this list. Trixie is a wonderful character, realistic and energetic, making mistakes and learning from them. She is loyal and kind and loving, but a regular kid and far from perfect. For instance, she gets annoyed with her little brother tagging along and becomes distracted while watching him, but mostly willingly does her chores, including extra ones to earn money for a horse. She also rides a spirited horse after the Wheelers’ stable hand tells her not to and finds herself in a tight spot. (One of several.)

Plot synopsis: Mr. Frayne, the elderly gentleman who lives in the crumbling mansion on the hill next door to Trixie, is found unconscious at the end of his driveway. While he is in the hospital, Trixie and best friend Honey Wheeler realize someone is living in the house. It’s Jim, Mr. Frayne’s nephew, who is on the run from his abusive stepfather. There is supposedly a hidden will and money in the house and the girls promise to help Jim find it. (A missing will and a long-lost heir. Very popular tropes in children’s mysteries. Not being able to write about murder or anything too scary narrows your options quite a bit.)

Nancy Drew’s Fun Kid Sister 

Penny Parker in her debut Tale of the Witch Doll by Mildred A. Wirt 

I liked this girl, despite her outer trappings being practically a clone of Nancy Drew’s. This series was written by Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene. Penny lives with her father and a housekeeper in a town called Riverview. (Wirt couldn’t have changed it more from River Heights?) Penny is smart and fun. Her father publishes the local paper and sometimes lets her write for it. 

But Penny isn’t perfect like Nancy. She drives a clunker that is frequently in the shop. She has to consider her allowance before buying things. She just isn’t as polished somehow. But that’s part of the reason I like her. She is impulsive, a bit reckless, and always dragging her best friend, Louise, on her adventures.

Plot synopsis: Penny and Louise find out that their friend Nellie’s doll shop has been vandalized and an old woman is pressuring her to sell it. They then find a stranded actress on the road and help her get to the theater on time. The actress starts receiving creepy witch dolls that seem to be from Nellie’s shop. Every time she tries to get rid of it, it reappears. Penny determines to find out why both Nellie and Miss Harmon (the actress) are under threat and prove that the witch doll isn’t actually reappearing by itself.

The Nurse

Cherry Ames in her debut Cherry Ames, Student Nurse by Helen Wells 

I cheated a bit with this one. Cherry does solve mysteries, but not until later books in the series. I didn’t know this at first and kept wondering when the mystery was going to start! Apparently, it was not uncommon for series to become mystery series in order to sell better. But I liked Cherry and her story, so I’m including her on this list. 

Cherry is a first-year student nurse. She is so excited to become a nurse and make a difference. This sounds saccharine, but Cherry’s earnestness works for her. She is entirely sincere, hard-working, and kind. She wants very much to “get her cap” and become a nurse, but does what is best for her patients, even if it means breaking a rule. You can’t help but root for her. 

Plot synopsis: This book is basically an account of a girl’s first year in nursing school. Cherry makes friends, including winning over an unpleasant loner, and develops a crush on a young doctor. She studies hard and rotates through the wards learning about different kinds of nursing. She also deals with an unpleasant doctor who keeps insisting she remove her rouge, although she keeps telling him she isn’t wearing any. (I just found this so outrageous I had to mention it.)

The Flight Attendant

Vicki Barr in The Silver Ring Mystery by Helen Wells (who also wrote Cherry Ames) 

Vicki is a flight attendant, who solves mysteries between flights. (She knows how to fly a plane, too!) This book was very enjoyable, but there isn’t much to differentiate Vicki from the other classic girl detectives apart from her career. The mystery was well plotted and interesting, and I enjoyed the info given about flying and the work of a flight attendant. 

Plot Synopsis: Vicki helps a man having a heart episode on one of her flights. He and his wife are so grateful that they invite her to their home in New York City. Mrs. Bryant (the wife) confides to Vicki that they are searching for their estranged granddaughter, Lucy Rowe. When she learns that Vicki is often in San Francisco, she asks that Vicki make some inquiries about Lucy, because that is where she grew up and is currently living. 

There you have it, my favorites of the classic girl detectives. (So far. There are a lot of them.) Who are your favorite classic girl detectives?

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: Classic Girl Detectives appeared first on DIY MFA.

In light of this, it is not surprising that Jane Eyre is an ur-text for not only other Gothic and domestic suspense novels, but for a sub-genre of Jane Eyre-inspired stories. In recent years, writers moved from retelling to reimagining, particularly with the characters of Jane and Bertha Rochester. 

This list comprises some of the most intriguing and imaginative offerings, ones that crack open the liminal spaces in the original text or show it in conversation with its cultural and social legacy. Each one represents a reader response to aspects of the novel that have intrigued, inspired, or even irritated decades of readers. 

Reader Response—Bertha Got a Bad Rap: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 

A classic of feminist literature, Rhys’s novel was published in 1966, long before the other texts under discussion in this column. It is a hauntingly beautiful prequel told from the alternating points of view of Antoinette (short for Antoinetta, Bertha’s other name) and Rochester (who is not named at all in the text.) It describes Antoinette’s childhood in Jamaica marred by prejudice and tragedy, her honeymoon in a remote home, and her time in the attic at Thornfield. The longest section concerns the honeymoon and shows Antoinette’s unraveling due to past trauma and ill treatment by her new husband. It interrogates and shatters the trope of the nineteenth century madwoman, by showing the very human origins of Antoinette’s “madness.” The Jane Eyre section is the briefest (only 8 pages). This is Antoinette’s story, reclaimed from the problematic narration of Rochester, Jane, and the patriarchy. 

Reader Response—We Jane Eyre: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

This charming detective novel, published in 2001, is also one of the older books on this list. It is the first in a series about a literary detective named Thursday Next, who lives in an alternate universe England in 1985, where literature and crimes against it are very serious business. Acheron Hades, a villain with whom Thursday has a personal connection, figures out how to get into books and kidnap characters, thereby marring and even destroying narratives. He starts with Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit, but soon moves on to Jane Eyre. Although the text and characters of Eyre are sprinkled throughout the text and Thursday’s life, it doesn’t become the story (literally the story as Thursday enters is to find Hades) until the last few chapters. But it’s worth the wait and Thursday and her world are worth reading for their own sake. This combination of slapstick, satire, hard-boiled detective fiction, and sci-fi/fantasy demonstrates, through the outrage over the desecration of Bronte’s text, just how deep the love of this novel and its main character run. There is also a bit of redemption for Bertha at the end, while remaining true to the original text. I adored this book and can’t wait to read the rest of the series. 

Reader Response—We Need To Help Jane Find Her Inner Badass: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye 

Now we come to the books from the last five years that are in conversation with the text rather than retelling it. I classify this as a YA/NA serial killer thriller. Intrigued? I sure was. This is an alternate universe Jane Eyre, except that the book exists in this world and the main character, Jane Steele, is a huge fan with a life strangely similar to the fictional Jane’s. Except that she is a serial killer. But there is so much more to her than that. The Bertha character doesn’t really exist in this interpretation, but she’s not needed. Every character is rich and complex. Jane Steele’s relationship to Jane Eyre is ambivalent. She loves her and reads the book constantly. But she is also frustrated by Jane’s morality derailing her happiness and allowing her to accept ill treatment from so many. I can relate to that frustration with Jane and I bet many other readers over the centuries have felt it, too. This book is fanciful, funny, fascinating, thrilling, and even heartwarming. 

Reader Response—What If Jane Eyre Was Based On Real Life?: My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows 

This is the second in the “Lady Janies” trilogy about famous Janes, both historical and fictional. They start off sticking closely to the narrative, then veer off to a better ending. In Plain Jane, the characters inhabit an alternate universe where Jane Eyre is a teacher and former student at Lowood school. The Bronte sisters are students and Charlotte is Jane’s best friend. But even Charlotte doesn’t know that Jane can see ghosts. The narrative kicks off with a ghost troubling a local pub. Jane goes to see for herself and runs into Alexander Blackwood, a Seer for the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits, in the midst of relocating the ghost with the help of his assistant. Jane is horrified by the process of trapping the ghost and Blackwood is intrigued by the fact that Jane can not only see ghosts, but seems to have power over them. He pursues her to join the Society. Jane flees to a job at Thornfield. Charlotte, desperate to work for the Society, pursues Blackwood. The rest is wacky, funny, literary reference-filled fun, where Bertha, Jane, and Charlotte have agency. And don’t worry: it isn’t a spoiler to reassure you that Charlotte will still write her most famous work with the “real” Jane’s stamp of approval. 

Reader Response—What If Jane Lived In Modern Times?: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins 

This is the book that inspired this topic. (Besides Jane Eyre itself, that is.) In this domestic thriller, loner Jane Eyre works as a dog walker in the neighborhood, Thornfield Estates. She meets Eddie Rochester when he almost runs her over with his sports car and becomes dog walker to his dog, Adele. She finds out his wife, Bertha (Bea) Rochester, founder of the successful lifestyle company Southern Manors, recently died. Soon, Jane moves out of the nasty apartment she shares with her equally nasty foster brother John Rivers and moves in with Eddie in his huge house that was lovingly decorated by Bea. This seems too good to be true. And what are those strange noises she keeps hearing? This is a twisty book which makes you question what you know about every character. The characters and plot points of Jane Eyre slide right into this very 21st century domestic thriller. 

Not only did it embody one genre and inspire another, Jane Eyre itself continues to resonate and fascinate. Each generation claims her as their own, even as they question the racial, cultural, and gender biases of her story. Only a truly amazing character from a fiercely intelligent and talented author could remain accepted as her true self while inspiring so many others to protect and elevate her through new narratives. I suspect that, a hundred years from now, maybe even more, stories about Jane Eyre and her creator will continue to proliferate.

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

The post Cozy to Cold-Blooded: An Eyre for Every Era appeared first on DIY MFA.

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie, the bestselling author ever with sales of over 2 billion books, disappeared for eleven days in 1926. On December 3, she kissed her daughter Rosalind good night, then left her in the care of her nanny. The next morning Christie’s car was found abandoned near a lake: empty with headlights blazing. 

Shortly before these events, she learned of her husband Archie’s affair and his wish to divorce. After a nationwide search and media frenzy, (including fellow mystery authors Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers), she surfaced in a spa in Harrogate claiming no memory of where she had been and why. She never spoke about this subsequently and did not include the incident in either of her autobiographies. The two most popular theories are amnesia from a car crash and a fugue state brought on by stress. Although several authors concocted reconstructions of her missing days and motivation, the truth is still unknown.

Ann Rule

Ann Rule, the true crime writer credited with reinventing the genre, is best known for The Stranger Beside Me, the story of her friendship with a co-volunteer at a suicide hotline. His name was Ted Bundy. 

At the time, Rule, a former cop turned crime reporter, adored Bundy. But she was investigating the murders of young women in the area and found out one witness heard the killer referred to as “Ted.” He also fit the physical description. 

Although reluctant, Rule phoned in a tip. Despite the discovery that Bundy drove the same type of car as the killer, nothing came of Rule’s tip. 

Rule once asked him if he knew about the missing women, but he didn’t give a definite answer. She remained his friend, despite being unconvinced of his innocence. She didn’t free herself from his spell until a decade after his 1989 execution, when she wrote about his ability to fool her despite all her experience as a cop and a reporter. 

Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan was a pioneer of YA suspense, publishing over 50 books, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, which spawned the film franchise. She lost her daughter Kaitlyn (Kait) Arquette in July 1989. Driving near downtown Albuquerque late one night, Kait was shot twice in the head by someone in a passing car.

The case remains unsolved. The investigation first centered around Kait’s boyfriend Dung (pronounced YOON) Nguyen, who was involved in insurance fraud scams. Despite hints he knew something, he did not seem to be involved. He was questioned by Albuquerque PD about the gangs that ran the insurance fraud scheme, then left town. 

Duncan grew frustrated when the police seemed unwilling to follow up on the gang connection. They arrested two other men, but the charges didn’t stick. So, Duncan began investigating, even when it was risky to do so. 

Duncan, who died in 2016, believed there was deliberate obstruction by the Albuquerque PD. She stopped writing YA suspense, unable to bear creating stories with young women in danger anymore. But she did pen Who Killed My Daughter? (1992) and a follow-up One to the Wolves (2013) about the case. 

Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar

Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar were married crime novelists. Millar experienced success (once beating Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley for the best novel Edgar Award) first with Macdonald going on to become a crime writer many consider to be the finest.

But they were not successful parents. Their daughter Linda endured a strange life where expressions of love were withheld. Her parents also used her as fodder for their novels. 

As a teenager, Linda was involved in a serious car accident. She drove drunk and hit three boys who were walking home in the dark. One died. The second boy was injured, but survived. The third was hardly touched and ran for help. She left the scene, but was found after crashing into another car shortly after. 

She received eight years’ probation, lost her drivers’ license, was ordered to psychiatric care, and ordered to abstain from alcohol. The outcry over this sentence caused the Millar family to leave Santa Barbara for Northern California. 

One night, Linda didn’t return to her dorm before lock-in. This happened before, so the house mother didn’t raise the alarm until morning. 

Her father made public pleas for her return and personally followed up on tips. After missing a week and a half, Linda called her mother from a bar. She had violated probation, but after explaining the events (which included being held captive in a cabin in the woods and confused wandering) was given a suspended sentence and allowed to move to L.A., where she worked as a hospital aide and continued counseling. She married and had a son soon after, but suffered from trauma and needed sleep medication for the rest of her life. She died of a drug overdose when she was 31. 

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was involved in several real crimes. The first involved the murder of a wealthy woman named Marion Gilchrist and Oscar Slater’s conviction for the crime. Doyle worked to prove Slater’s innocence. He failed, but a police officer’s wife later provided proof of evidence suppression. Doyle’s fame proved useful in reopening the case. Slater was released, but Gilchrist’s murder remained unsolved. 

Doyle also fought for the release of an Indian man named George Edalji who was accused of animal cruelty. Despite weak evidence (The animals were attacked at night and Edalji had bad vision; another attack occurred after Edalji’s arrest.), Edalji was convicted, resulting in the loss of his law license and three years of hard labor. Doyle suspected racism. 

Doyle repeatedly spoke out about the case, despite death threats, making it a national story. The case was reopened and Edalji set free. The British government found this so embarrassing that the Court of Criminal Appeal was created in 1907. 

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe, one of the greatest horror writers and the father of modern detective fiction, vowed to solve the murder of a young woman named Mary Rogers. She worked in a New York City cigar shop frequented by famous writers. Her body turned up in the river and the media became obsessed with the case. Poe wrote the short story The Mystery of Marie Roget based on this case, claiming it contained the solution. But the story is vague and not based on any known evidence. A court case later claimed that Poe was paid to write the story by the real murderer as a coverup. But nothing was ever proven and the case never solved. 

I am indebted to several great articles for much of the above information. Any of them are excellent choices for further reading. Here are a few for extra reading:

Mystery Writers Who Got Mixed Up in Real-Life Crimes

Strangest Real-Life Mysteries in Literature

Sara Farmer lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, three kids, and two cats. When she’s not chasing kids and cats, she reads and writes mysteries. You can find her at www.kittymomma.com and on Twitter @avonlea79.

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