The Detention Detectives by Lis Jardine review – top-grade misbehaviour | Children’s books: 8-12 years
Detective stories for 9+ have boomed in the past decade, thanks to Robin Stevens’ bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series. They’ve also evolved from Enid Blyton-style cosiness to noir lite: these are morally complex stories, in which deadly violence has a lingering emotional impact. Young readers who devour Fleur Hitchcock’s Murder at Snowfall or Sharna Jackson’s High-Rise Mystery display an appetite both for satisfying puzzles and carefully gauged realism.Lis Jardine’s first novel is a compelling addition to the new…