Premeditated Myrtle (Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery 1) by Bunce, Elizabeth C.

A 2021 Edgar(R) Award Winner, Best Juvenile
A BookPage Best Book of 2020: Middle Grade
A Mighty Girl's 2020 Books of the Year

Introducing Myrtle Hardcastle, your favorite new amateur detective: a wickedly smart twelve-year-old with a keen interest in criminology and a nose for murder in Victorian England.

Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle has a passion for justice and a Highly Unconventional obsession with criminal science. Armed with her father's law books and her mum's microscope, Myrtle studies toxicology, keeps abreast of the latest developments in crime scene analysis, and Observes her neighbors in the quiet village of Swinburne, England.

When her next-door neighbor, a wealthy spinster and eccentric breeder of rare flowers, dies under Mysterious Circumstances, Myrtle seizes her chance. With her unflappable governess, Miss Ada Judson, by her side, Myrtle takes it upon herself to prove Miss Wodehouse was murdered and find the killer, even if nobody else believes he --not even her father, the town prosecutor.

With sparkling wit and a tight, twisty plot, Premeditated Myrtle, the first in a series from an award-winning author, introduces a brilliant young investigator ready to take on hard cases and maddening Victorian rules for Young Ladies of Quality in order to earn her place among the most daring and acclaimed amateur detectives of her time or any other.

Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Published: 10/06/2020
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781616209186
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.5
Point Value: 11
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 509670 / Premeditated Myrtle

Award: Edgar Allan Poe Awards - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2020
School Library Journal 04/17/2020 pg. 1
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2020
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2020 pg. 120
Booklist 05/01/2020 pg. 67
Publishers Weekly 09/14/2020
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2020 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Elizabeth C. Bunce grew up on a steady diet of Sherlock Holmes, Trixie Belden, and Quincy, M.E., and always played the lead prosecutor in mock trial. She has never had a governess, and no one has ever accused her of being irrepressible, but a teacher did once call her "argumentative"--which was entirely untrue, and she can prove it. She was the inaugural winner of the ALA's William C. Morris Award for a debut work written for young adults, for A Curse As Dark As Gold. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and their cats. Premeditated Myrtle is her first book for middle-grade readers. You can find her online at elizabethcbunce.com.