In Myrtle Peril

In Myrtle Peril / Elizabeth C. Bunce
New York : Algonquin Young Readers, 2022.
362 p.

Book 4 of the Myrtle Hardcastle series brings more light Victorian murder and mystery to the expectant reader. I'm a big fan of this series and all its charming characters, and this one doesn't disappoint. This time Myrtle is not ranging abroad anywhere at all, in fact it's a rather circumscribed milieu in this volume. 

Mr. Hardcastle is experiencing some medical distress - tonsilitis to be precise. It's so bad that his doctor recommends surgery, never a good thing in those days. Myrtle is very worried, as is Miss Judson, her governess. But his stay in the hospital is made more nervewracking by the fact that he witnesses a murder across the courtyard on his first night. (a la Rear Window). 

His character is more like Myrtle's in this story; a little less controlled and more impulsive, though that's put down to the painkillers he's on. Still, he insists (in a garbled voice due to his throat, which continues throughout the book) that there was a murder, and Myrtle is on the case. 

She & Miss Judson are also on the case in regards to the work that her father, a lawyer, was working on prior to his admittance to the hospital. They're investigating the claims of a young girl from Australia that she is the lost heir to a wealthy family thought lost in a shipwreck. This is based on numerous 'false heir' cases of the time - it was harder to prove or disprove identity in those days, and money was going wanting. Myrtle befriends this young girl, Sally, & they find that all the threads of all the mysteries surrounding both Sally and Mr. Hardcastle and the hospital staff are tangled up in ways that are unexpected but eventually make sense. 

There are hijinks and explosions and Peony appearances; Cook has more of a role here, and there are hints of changes to Myrtle's home life. All in all, a rambunctious plot and lots of intrigue to entertain you. The only thing I wasn't as enamoured by was Mr. Hardcastle's adenoidal mumbling. However, this novel provides a great setup for the next and last book of the series, which I'm both looking forward to and dreading as the end of this delightful series.