Edna (girl) and Charles Darwin (tortoise) are with her parents at the huge country pile the family calls home – well, Edna's aunt and grandad do, as nobody else can cope with the freezing cold mansion and its population of thousands of dead, stuffed animals. Following a bizarre summons out of the blue, Edna, parents, tortoise, sister, black sheep of a step-uncle, his new flooze, aunt, the woman who combines roles of aunt's lover and granddad's doctor, and the old man's unexpected new Italian secretary – they all assemble, with a couple of others besides. And then one dies.

This really pleasantly ramps up the old country house murder plot for the tweenaged audience. And even though Edna is much removed from the expected reader, in poshness, heritage, knowing what a newel post is and so on, she's still incredibly likeable as our guide to all of this, telling us in first person what she can of the plot. There's a lot for her to work out, or as the parents say stick her nose into, as prior capital-I Incidents have happened and new relationships formed that she is still too young to be told about.

But at the same time, while Edna is kind of a knowing little madam, the book isn't an arch, knowing read. It's certainly got a levity to it, but it's not playing this purely for laughs. It does bear comparisons that the blurb has made with "Knives Out", although fortunately is a far superior product. The chapter titles can be great, some metaphors pretty cool, and the whole thing reads very nicely and briskly – there are a lot of short chapters here, with mixed fonts and illustrations and grey sections to spruce things up too.

OK, it's not a fabulous crime for the adult – two mahoosively important things related to the end reveal were easily guessable, I found, but this is for those yet to have their GCSEs. And they get a really witty and clever introduction to the mystery genre. I loved the way adults are both allowed to commit (exceedingly PG-friendly) murder and have both exceedingly PG and exceedingly inappropriate sexual shenanigans. Well, one of them clearly thinks she is, anyway.

This proved to be clever in a slightly different way to the Montgomery Bonbon books, and they deserve to be shelved together, in genre, wit and quality. They both feature a young girl who just easily declares she is an ace detective – and then over the course of the books easily proves why. Oh, and also easily proves why you should be a fan of her series. Which I'm admitting to here – this is a strong four-star effort and I'd happily see much more.

Fun murder mystery book with a great main character and an eclectic family. I know my class will really enjoy this.

A great murder mystery centred around an eccentric and brilliantly flawed family. Having read a lot of Alex T Smith's work, it wasn't as funny as I was expecting but there was a lightheartedness to the voice and the characters leaped off the page. The plot was brilliantly done with some great red herrings and a satisfying twist at the end. The stand-out concept of 'Murder by Narwhal' will keep readers gripped and the setting feels both traditional and modern.
This is perfect for fans of The Swifts, Montgomery BonBon and Robin Stevens and could be described as 'Knives Out' for kids.

What an absolute joy of a book. The main character Edna is tenacious, funny and totally endearing. We get to meet her extended family when her nasty piece of work for a grandpa gets the family together unexpectedly at his grand home Grimacres. The snow traps eveyone there and a murder leaves them all trying to figure it all out, with Edna uncovering lots of clues.

This gave me the feel of an old fashioned murder mystery without any of the horrible outdated stereotypes, meaning it also felt modern and fresh.

The book is funny, the mystery feels possible to figure out, not that I did even though I thought I had, but it wasnt so complex that noone could. Which I always like in a mystery. Ill be recommending this to my own children and the childre at school. I am definitely a fan of Alex T Smith's work!

This is a perfect book to entice younger readers into murder mystery books! Although aimed at younger readers, adults will still find it quite funny with lots of twists and turns, which kept you guessing all the way to the end.
Edna is the main character who at 13, along with her pet tortoise Charles Darwin, set off to investigate her Grandads murder. I loved how she found clues, and she eventually piece it all together. It definitely has Enola Homes or Knifes out vibes! I'm looking forward to the next adventure with Edna!
Read via @NetGalley_UK.

Just in time for spooky season, this murder mystery will have you on tenterhooks reading by torchlight! Alex T. Smith's customary humour is sprinkled throughout as Edna tracks down the culprit of her grandfather's untimely demise. With multiple suspects, the short chapters are a breeze to race through with each one linking seamlessly to the next. The multiple clues and red herrings will keep the reader guessing throughout until the big reveal right at the end. One final plot twist will leave you excited for book two in the series! Slightly on the longer side, this whodunnit is ideal for UKS2 classrooms.

I love Alex Smith - The Grumpus is my absolute favourite Christmas book, and Claude is in my top easy readers but I just could not get into this story.

Fabulous! I love Alex's other books and was really excited to read something for a slightly older audience. This fantastic mystery had me gripped from the outset with lots of interesting and complicated family dynamics. There are clues a plenty and lots of red herrings too which make for a fascinating reveal at the end. There are plenty of humerous moments too and the names of the characters perfectly fit their owners. I hope there will be further adventures for Edna and Charles Darwin.

A fantastic twisty mystery with a most excellent and quirky cast of characters. Absolutely adore Alex T. Smith and this brilliant book did not disappoint. So excited to share it with my kids and can't wait to read more in this fabulous series. I think it's going to be a big hit!

This was such a fun locked door mystery for middle grade readers. Even though it was aimed at a younger audience I had a great time reading and actually laughed out loud a few times at Edna’s antics. I did figure out who the killer was very early on, I figured out what 13 meant and I knew what was just scratching her brain. However there was still lots I didn’t figure out so plenty to be unveiled at the end. I loved the cast of characters, with fun names like mrs crumpet, and also diversity. I hope there will be more mysteries with Edna as detective, I would certainly read more

This is brilliant! A proper great murder mystery with more twists, turns, suspects and questions than anything! Edna is a gorgeous main character and I loved all of her strange family! This gave me proper Knives Out vibes. It’s funny and charming; I hope there’s more! I just loved it!

I was thrilled to be gifted an ARC of Alex T Smith's new book- Murder! By Narwhal! As a parent and teacher, Alex's books have always been a go-to, and he is definitely an auto-buy children's author for me! This was a different genre it still had all of the quirky characters (Love Mrs Crumpet and Gappy!) and fun writing style that I have come to expect. I love how Alex writes for children but adds entertainment and hidden jokes for the adult readers too.
Murder! By Narwhal! is a 'locked door'/ 'whodoneit'/'and then there was one' mystery but for children! I loved it! I was hooked from the start, trying to follow the twists and turns and of course the detailed clues that were dropped along the way. I was fully invested in helping Edna to crack the case and was still guessing at the end.
Thank you #netgalley for the ARC