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This gave me the feel of an old fashioned murder mystery without any of the horrible outdated stereotypes, meaning it also felt modern and fresh.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