Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen

The Body Under the Piano / Marthe Jocelyn

TO: Tundra, c2020

325 p.

And now for some more middle grade mystery writing, this time by an author who is local to me & a delight to read. These books are similar to the Myrtle Hardcastle series, but set a little later (1902) and for a slightly younger crowd. The writing is pitched at about the 9-13 age range, and there are illustrations included which are pretty charming. 

The main character, Aggie Morton, is inspired by Agatha Christie; in the first book she stumbles across a young refugee from Belgium, Hector Perot, in a candy store, and they befriend one another since they are both slightly odd in comparison to other 12 year olds around. There has been been a murder in the room that Aggie's dance class meets in, and before they are all sent away she's able to dash in and get a good look at the dead body. She's the classic cerebral, socially awkward, gawky girl who is interested in poisons, death and other "morbid" things. 

There are references to people and places from Agatha Christie's life and her later novels throughout the series, which you'll only catch is you are yourself a big Christie fan -- fun for the adult readers but which will almost certainly be missed by younger readers. In this intro to the series, the action gets going a little slowly, but it's a credible and interesting set-up overall. I found the characters a little hard to handle in the beginning but by the end it felt like the reliance on Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot was loosening up a bit and these characters were becoming more themselves. I enjoyed it enough to immediately pick up the second book in the series, which was perfect because it is a Christmas themed novel! 

Peril at Owl Park / Marthe Jocelyn
TO: Tundra, c2020
256 p.

This second novel was just great! It's set at Owl Park, the manor house that Aggie's older sister Marjorie lives at now that she's Lady Greyson. Aggie and her grandmother have been invited to spend the Christmas holiday there, and Aggie manages to get Hector invited as well as a poor lonely refugee with no family. 

It's classic British country house mystery, and even better because it's so very Christmassy. The house is decorated up, they do Christmassy things, there's snow and a Christmas performance by a travelling theatre troupe, in addition to hidden passages, mysterious Indian jewels, and murder. Aggie and Hector investigate the crime, and here it feels likely that they are the only ones able to do so, since the adults are all running around concerned with adult things but the children are essentially invisible as they move around the house. Nobody pays any attention to them at all. A grave error...

This was a real delight. The enclosed space makes the plot tighter than the first, and Aggie is forced to face her own shortcomings as well as her cleverness; it adds more to her character. There are faint shades of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins in the theatricals and the jewel subplot, and so many great characters among the manor house staff and the theatre performers. The mystery is a solid one, and the book itself has a great atmosphere which I really enjoyed - all the elements of British Christmas closed room mystery here. The characters come into their own in this second book in the series and are very entertaining and more rounded somehow. A great Christmas read!