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Murder Most Unladylike #0.5, 3.5, 4.5
Cream Buns and Crime
A collection of short stories for budding Detective Society members.
Daisy and Hazel invite you to discover their untold stories . . .
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are famous for the murder cases they have solved - but there are many other mysteries in the pages of Hazel's casebook.
From the macabre Case of the Deepdean Vampire, to the baffling Case of the Blue Violet, and their very first case of all: the Case of Lavinia's Missing Tie.
Just like Daisy and Hazel's cases, there's more to this book than meets the eye, including:
Brilliant mini-mysteries, including two brand-new and never seen before stories
Daisy and Hazel's own tips, tricks and facts.
This is the perfect book for Agatha Christies In Waiting and fans of the award-winning, bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series.
Cream Buns and Crime
Note: Cream Buns and Crime is a short story collection containing; #0.5, The Case of Lavinia's Missing Tie, #3.5 The Case of the Blue Violet and #4.5 The Case of the Deepdean Vampire.
Daisy and Hazel invite you to discover their untold stories . . .
Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are famous for the murder cases they have solved - but there are many other mysteries in the pages of Hazel's casebook.
From the macabre Case of the Deepdean Vampire, to the baffling Case of the Blue Violet, and their very first case of all: the Case of Lavinia's Missing Tie.
Just like Daisy and Hazel's cases, there's more to this book than meets the eye, including:
Brilliant mini-mysteries, including two brand-new and never seen before stories
Daisy and Hazel's own tips, tricks and facts.
This is the perfect book for Agatha Christies In Waiting and fans of the award-winning, bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series.
Cream Buns and Crime
Note: Cream Buns and Crime is a short story collection containing; #0.5, The Case of Lavinia's Missing Tie, #3.5 The Case of the Blue Violet and #4.5 The Case of the Deepdean Vampire.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 6, 2017
161 people are currently reading
3114 people want to read
About the author
Robin Stevens
55 books2,635 followersRobin's books are: Murder Most Unladylike (Murder is Bad Manners in the USA), Arsenic for Tea (Poison is Not Polite in the USA), First Class Murder, Jolly Foul Play, Mistletoe and Murder, Cream Buns and Crime, A Spoonful of Murder, Death in the Spotlight and Top Marks for Murder. She is also the author of The Guggenheim Mystery, the sequel to Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery.
Robin was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. She has been making up stories all her life.
When she was twelve, her father handed her a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and she realised that she wanted to be either Hercule Poirot or Agatha Christie when she grew up. When it occurred to her that she was never going to be able to grow her own spectacular walrus moustache, she decided that Agatha Christie was the more achieveable option.
She spent her teenage years at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she’d get the chance to do some detecting herself (she didn’t). She then went to university, where she studied crime fiction, and then worked at a children's publisher.
Robin lives in England with her husband and her pet bearded dragon, Watson.
Robin was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. She has been making up stories all her life.
When she was twelve, her father handed her a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and she realised that she wanted to be either Hercule Poirot or Agatha Christie when she grew up. When it occurred to her that she was never going to be able to grow her own spectacular walrus moustache, she decided that Agatha Christie was the more achieveable option.
She spent her teenage years at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she’d get the chance to do some detecting herself (she didn’t). She then went to university, where she studied crime fiction, and then worked at a children's publisher.
Robin lives in England with her husband and her pet bearded dragon, Watson.
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September 8, 2016AAAAHHHHH this had better be my birthday book next year, I am totally dropping hints now because AAAAHHHHH I need it.
I love Wells and Wong!
I love Wells and Wong!
November 25, 2019
Fun, but reading the things written from Daisy's POV made me feel even more strongly than I already did that this is not a healthy friendship for Hazel.
September 7, 2021
#1) Murder Most Unladylike ★★★☆☆
#2) Arsenic for Tea ★★★★☆
#3) First Class Murder ★★★★☆
#4) Jolly Foul Play ★★★★☆
#5) Mistletoe and Murder ★★★★☆
#6) A Spoonful of Murder ★★★★☆
▷ Representation: Hazel (mc) Chinese; Beanie (mc) dyslexia; George (mc) Indian-English & Hindu.
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June 29, 2023
3.5 ☆
Fajny dodatek do serii
Fajny dodatek do serii
October 2, 2021
It's quite hard to review this book as it's a collection of a million-and-one things and it's only fun if you've read at least the first 4 books in the series (although reading the fifth too doesn't hurt) and if you really enjoyed those first 4 books. Plot-wise it's not adding anything and the short stories are amusing, but not really delivering the same thrill as the other novels.
However, all the other chapters were quite a lot of fun and along the way also quite educational! There is a list of female detective authors, there is a set of rules to write your own story (and instructions on why some rules are nonsense and should be ignored), Hazel and Daisy give some tips to start your own society, what equipment you need and how to write your journals, there is a list of inspiring unsolved crimes and of course a list of famous detectives.
Along the way the author also explains why she wrote the stories and who her inspirations were. Especially the detailed breakdowns of which stories inspired which parts of her novels was quite nice! If you're really into this genre and didn't read too much yet, you will also walk away with loads of recommendations (and some nice recipes to make treats while reading all those recommendations).
However, all the other chapters were quite a lot of fun and along the way also quite educational! There is a list of female detective authors, there is a set of rules to write your own story (and instructions on why some rules are nonsense and should be ignored), Hazel and Daisy give some tips to start your own society, what equipment you need and how to write your journals, there is a list of inspiring unsolved crimes and of course a list of famous detectives.
Along the way the author also explains why she wrote the stories and who her inspirations were. Especially the detailed breakdowns of which stories inspired which parts of her novels was quite nice! If you're really into this genre and didn't read too much yet, you will also walk away with loads of recommendations (and some nice recipes to make treats while reading all those recommendations).
December 27, 2020
Funnily enough, this was the last book I read in the month of April and it was a great way to end the month: I cannot wait to talk to you about this fantastic, phenomenal, beautiful book!
Before I say anything, I need to let out a sudden exclamation because this review will be incredibly all over the place if I don't let this out: THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! OBVIOUSLY it got five stars! (Five star ratings are incredibly hard for me to give - to even scrape five stars, a book has to just be over the end of the universe amazing!)
So, as said, this book is the latest in the Murder Most Unladylike saga. First, I will explain what that saga actually is:
Murder Most Unladylike is a series of YA murder mysteries. People who know me well will be aware that YA, next to action, is my utter least favourite genre of all time because in a lot of YA books, there is barely any character development and the whole thing is very neutral.
The MMU books are the opposite of that! They are all set in the 1930s; they follow two secondary school girls named Daisy and Hazel; they go to a (fictional) all-girls school named Deepdean and they decide to set up the Wells & Wong Detective Society. (You remember when you were younger and you had that special little secret club with your best friend? It's like that…just with teenagers.)
The books in the series follow them as they come across real murders within their personal lives which they solve secretively. Obviously the adults don't want them to get involved and Daisy and Hazel really see it as their job to solve the mystery before the police and to bring the killer to justice…without getting caught.
Before I say anything more about this book in particular, it needs to be known that Daisy and Hazel are both absolutely fantastic characters. Daisy is very cocky; she has a bit of an ego; she calls herself the 'President' of the Detective Society: basically she thinks that she is the best detective in the world and she thinks she's destined to become the next Sherlock Holmes. Hazel is Chinese and so she obviously receives a bit of discrimination from some members of the public (this is the 1930s) yet she is just so humble and so lovely. In pretty much every possible way, she is less elegant than Daisy and obviously is aware of that and slightly self-conscious for that reason. The best way to illustrate this is that on the cover of Cream Buns, Daisy is standing up straight when writing and Hazel is slipping off and losing her footing. Deliberate or not deliberate, that illustrates their relationship perfectly. The poor girl has to endure Daisy's ego throughout every single one of these books and I completely admire her for that: Hazel Wong holds a very special place in my heart! That being said, I completely adore Daisy Wells as well and despite her being slightly cocky, I would love to see her grow up into the next Sherlock Holmes with Hazel being her companion. They are both superbly developed characters and whenever I read a book with either of them in it, it makes me so so happy!
That's what the series is (with its phenomenal character development), now let's discuss the actual book.
Every single novel so far in this series has involved one murder case and that is the same murder case which is spanned over the whole book. Cream Buns is different: this is a short story collection which focuses on non-murder cases that they have had to solve in between each of the books (in between of each of the murders). Not all the short stories are written by them - some are written by George and Alexander who are a rival detective society called the Junior Pinkertons who go to an all boys school. Alexander's from the US; Hazel has a huge, unfortunately very obvious crush on him and we know that he often exchanges letters with Hazel so some of the stories in here are stories that George and Alexander have had to solve that they have explained to Hazel.
But as well as all the short stories, we also have intermissions between each short story which are narrated by either Daisy, Hazel, the Junior Pinkertons or Robin Stevens herself! In Robin's intermissions, we get some background knowledge on how she writes the books and what murder mysteries have inspired some of the previous novels. In Daisy and Hazel's intermissions, we get an insight into what detective fiction they like and what fictional detectives they like (we also get some of Daisy's tips to become almost as good a detective as her!) We also get intermissions written by the Junior Pinkertons and, apart from the short story that they write, they write about their favourite spy novels because they're both quite into that.
There is also a short story in this written by Beanie, a friend of Daisy and Hazel. Some of the girls' friends are Kitty, Beanie, Lavinia, Kitty's younger sister Binny and in the novels, we don't get much of an insight into them so it was great for me to find out more about these girls and what mysteries they get up to solving. The narrator of that story was Beanie who is also so incredibly humble and naïve and innocent: she is so adorable and I love her.
In summary, this book isn't really a novel: it's more of a behind-the-scenes exposé of what mysteries the characters solve in between the events of the novels, a behind-the-scenes look at their lives and personalities and a behind-the-scenes look at how the author herself writes the books.
I just adored it. I will read this book again and again. It was so refreshing to find out more and have more time with these characters that wasn't through a novel format.
Two hours after I bought this, it was finished. It was just absolutely fantastic and an essential read for any MMU fan.
However…
If you have not read any of the MMU books before, I would absolutely not recommend this book. You have to have read every single one of the previous five to fully get every possible shine from this book. This is because in this, there are references to every single one of the previous six that I relished because I was revisiting glorious literary moments but if you haven't read those previous six, you'll be thinking: "What's going on?"
So if you haven't read the Murder Most Unladylike series before, start with the first one and work your way up. They are all absolutely magnificent novels and if you finish all five and want more, then come back to Cream Buns And Crime. If you liked the books, you'll love this!
It is time to wrap it up because this review has gotten incredibly long! Great stories, great background information, great collection in general. This book is solid gold (solid purple gold!) and I would highly recommend this entire series to anyone. I absolutely adored Cream Buns And Crime and it is a must-have for any MMU fan. For the last book I read in April, this was a triumph by far!
Before I say anything, I need to let out a sudden exclamation because this review will be incredibly all over the place if I don't let this out: THIS BOOK IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! OBVIOUSLY it got five stars! (Five star ratings are incredibly hard for me to give - to even scrape five stars, a book has to just be over the end of the universe amazing!)
So, as said, this book is the latest in the Murder Most Unladylike saga. First, I will explain what that saga actually is:
Murder Most Unladylike is a series of YA murder mysteries. People who know me well will be aware that YA, next to action, is my utter least favourite genre of all time because in a lot of YA books, there is barely any character development and the whole thing is very neutral.
The MMU books are the opposite of that! They are all set in the 1930s; they follow two secondary school girls named Daisy and Hazel; they go to a (fictional) all-girls school named Deepdean and they decide to set up the Wells & Wong Detective Society. (You remember when you were younger and you had that special little secret club with your best friend? It's like that…just with teenagers.)
The books in the series follow them as they come across real murders within their personal lives which they solve secretively. Obviously the adults don't want them to get involved and Daisy and Hazel really see it as their job to solve the mystery before the police and to bring the killer to justice…without getting caught.
Before I say anything more about this book in particular, it needs to be known that Daisy and Hazel are both absolutely fantastic characters. Daisy is very cocky; she has a bit of an ego; she calls herself the 'President' of the Detective Society: basically she thinks that she is the best detective in the world and she thinks she's destined to become the next Sherlock Holmes. Hazel is Chinese and so she obviously receives a bit of discrimination from some members of the public (this is the 1930s) yet she is just so humble and so lovely. In pretty much every possible way, she is less elegant than Daisy and obviously is aware of that and slightly self-conscious for that reason. The best way to illustrate this is that on the cover of Cream Buns, Daisy is standing up straight when writing and Hazel is slipping off and losing her footing. Deliberate or not deliberate, that illustrates their relationship perfectly. The poor girl has to endure Daisy's ego throughout every single one of these books and I completely admire her for that: Hazel Wong holds a very special place in my heart! That being said, I completely adore Daisy Wells as well and despite her being slightly cocky, I would love to see her grow up into the next Sherlock Holmes with Hazel being her companion. They are both superbly developed characters and whenever I read a book with either of them in it, it makes me so so happy!
That's what the series is (with its phenomenal character development), now let's discuss the actual book.
Every single novel so far in this series has involved one murder case and that is the same murder case which is spanned over the whole book. Cream Buns is different: this is a short story collection which focuses on non-murder cases that they have had to solve in between each of the books (in between of each of the murders). Not all the short stories are written by them - some are written by George and Alexander who are a rival detective society called the Junior Pinkertons who go to an all boys school. Alexander's from the US; Hazel has a huge, unfortunately very obvious crush on him and we know that he often exchanges letters with Hazel so some of the stories in here are stories that George and Alexander have had to solve that they have explained to Hazel.
But as well as all the short stories, we also have intermissions between each short story which are narrated by either Daisy, Hazel, the Junior Pinkertons or Robin Stevens herself! In Robin's intermissions, we get some background knowledge on how she writes the books and what murder mysteries have inspired some of the previous novels. In Daisy and Hazel's intermissions, we get an insight into what detective fiction they like and what fictional detectives they like (we also get some of Daisy's tips to become almost as good a detective as her!) We also get intermissions written by the Junior Pinkertons and, apart from the short story that they write, they write about their favourite spy novels because they're both quite into that.
There is also a short story in this written by Beanie, a friend of Daisy and Hazel. Some of the girls' friends are Kitty, Beanie, Lavinia, Kitty's younger sister Binny and in the novels, we don't get much of an insight into them so it was great for me to find out more about these girls and what mysteries they get up to solving. The narrator of that story was Beanie who is also so incredibly humble and naïve and innocent: she is so adorable and I love her.
In summary, this book isn't really a novel: it's more of a behind-the-scenes exposé of what mysteries the characters solve in between the events of the novels, a behind-the-scenes look at their lives and personalities and a behind-the-scenes look at how the author herself writes the books.
I just adored it. I will read this book again and again. It was so refreshing to find out more and have more time with these characters that wasn't through a novel format.
Two hours after I bought this, it was finished. It was just absolutely fantastic and an essential read for any MMU fan.
However…
If you have not read any of the MMU books before, I would absolutely not recommend this book. You have to have read every single one of the previous five to fully get every possible shine from this book. This is because in this, there are references to every single one of the previous six that I relished because I was revisiting glorious literary moments but if you haven't read those previous six, you'll be thinking: "What's going on?"
So if you haven't read the Murder Most Unladylike series before, start with the first one and work your way up. They are all absolutely magnificent novels and if you finish all five and want more, then come back to Cream Buns And Crime. If you liked the books, you'll love this!
It is time to wrap it up because this review has gotten incredibly long! Great stories, great background information, great collection in general. This book is solid gold (solid purple gold!) and I would highly recommend this entire series to anyone. I absolutely adored Cream Buns And Crime and it is a must-have for any MMU fan. For the last book I read in April, this was a triumph by far!
April 8, 2024
➳ 5 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚
this was so much fun, i loved the mini mysteries and the other little gems that robin put in here. so glad i read this and it’s a great companion to the murder most unladylike series ✨
୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆
this was so much fun, i loved the mini mysteries and the other little gems that robin put in here. so glad i read this and it’s a great companion to the murder most unladylike series ✨
୧ ‧₊˚ 🍓 ⋅ ☆
March 29, 2017
What a lovely little collection of things.
March 28, 2021
An entertaining and satisfying collection of Murder Most Unladylike short stories, detective lore, and codebreaking guidance by various characters in the beloved series. Daisy actually writes a couple of her own detecting adventures, with the usual snarky references to Hazel's meticulous note-taking and insistence that Hazel is the able Watson to her Sherlock Holmes-style leadership as President of the Wells and Wong Detective Agency. Although quirky as always and grudging with her compliments as usual, her deep admiration for Hazel's skills and her appreciation of their friendship is never in question.
The Junior Pinkertons, rivals from Weston Boys' School and sometimes collaborators with Daisy and Hazel on their cases, join in the fun. Hazel's friend Alexander Arkady, who featured in the wonderful homage to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express in First Class Murder, contributes a story about the Pinkertons' first case, while his co-president George Mukherjee shares a "Guide to Unsolved Mysteries" including brief overviews of Jack the Ripper and other less-familiar still-puzzling crimes like "The Cheapside Hoard", "The Road Hill House Murder" and the surprising "The Disappearance of Agatha Christie."
Robin Stevens presents as herself and series author with some fun details about "The Golden Age of Detective Stories" and "The Books that Made Murder Most Unladylike" which point her readers to the talented writers and their detectives that inspired her to create her young characters and structure her boarding-school centered mysteries. She includes an important overview of how mystery writers can rely on and yet choose to break from time to time the "rules" of what a crime writer "should and shouldn't put in their books" (71). There is a particularly insightful moment where Stevens refers to the crime writing rules by Ronald Knox that she has in mind while writing her stories, and she outlines how Knos, who had a pretty flat-out racist rule 5 that Stevens absolutely had to break "No Chinese person must figure in the story", needs to be revised, pointing out how important it is not to allow those kinds of prejudices to continue to restrict and marginalize characters and stories.
A glorious romp of voices, tales, and trivia to keep the pages flying for all Stevens' legions of fans. Highly recommended for ages 10+, and really is best enjoyed after reading books 1-5 in the series.
The Junior Pinkertons, rivals from Weston Boys' School and sometimes collaborators with Daisy and Hazel on their cases, join in the fun. Hazel's friend Alexander Arkady, who featured in the wonderful homage to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express in First Class Murder, contributes a story about the Pinkertons' first case, while his co-president George Mukherjee shares a "Guide to Unsolved Mysteries" including brief overviews of Jack the Ripper and other less-familiar still-puzzling crimes like "The Cheapside Hoard", "The Road Hill House Murder" and the surprising "The Disappearance of Agatha Christie."
Robin Stevens presents as herself and series author with some fun details about "The Golden Age of Detective Stories" and "The Books that Made Murder Most Unladylike" which point her readers to the talented writers and their detectives that inspired her to create her young characters and structure her boarding-school centered mysteries. She includes an important overview of how mystery writers can rely on and yet choose to break from time to time the "rules" of what a crime writer "should and shouldn't put in their books" (71). There is a particularly insightful moment where Stevens refers to the crime writing rules by Ronald Knox that she has in mind while writing her stories, and she outlines how Knos, who had a pretty flat-out racist rule 5 that Stevens absolutely had to break "No Chinese person must figure in the story", needs to be revised, pointing out how important it is not to allow those kinds of prejudices to continue to restrict and marginalize characters and stories.
A glorious romp of voices, tales, and trivia to keep the pages flying for all Stevens' legions of fans. Highly recommended for ages 10+, and really is best enjoyed after reading books 1-5 in the series.
August 6, 2022
Bawiłam się świetnie jak zawsze. Ta seria przynosi mi niesamowicie dużo ciepła! Kocham moje dziewczyny i z radością czytam o ich przygodach.
July 2, 2018
Like 3.75*
So i looked up antisocial personality disorder, or sociopathy, because I definitely feel like Daisy has this.
Her extreme possessiveness to Hazel, Daisy also thinking about Hazel as if she were a child every time she achieves because no one can possibly be smarter than, her ridiculous title, her secretiveness, her lying (okay we all lie), her impulsiveness...I fear for her later in life.
Thankfully this is fiction, but I am concerned that young readers might emulate these habits Daisy displays, that it’s okay to treat your friends possessively or spy or ignore adults. It makes Daisy an unlikeable character, so Im thankful the author chooses Hazel as the main character for the majority of the books. Reading Daisy’s inner thoughts in this book makes me want to take her to a psychologist immediately.
So i looked up antisocial personality disorder, or sociopathy, because I definitely feel like Daisy has this.
Her extreme possessiveness to Hazel, Daisy also thinking about Hazel as if she were a child every time she achieves because no one can possibly be smarter than, her ridiculous title, her secretiveness, her lying (okay we all lie), her impulsiveness...I fear for her later in life.
Thankfully this is fiction, but I am concerned that young readers might emulate these habits Daisy displays, that it’s okay to treat your friends possessively or spy or ignore adults. It makes Daisy an unlikeable character, so Im thankful the author chooses Hazel as the main character for the majority of the books. Reading Daisy’s inner thoughts in this book makes me want to take her to a psychologist immediately.
August 19, 2017
I enjoyed reading mini murder stories as well as getting to know more information about the other books and about Hazel and Daisy. It was almost like a behind the scenes of the book and how it's laid out correctly. I really enjoyed it and will definitely enjoy the other books in the series now I know what to expect!
July 11, 2023
(Czytałam bardzo dawno,po prostu chce mieć cała serie na gr wpisana)
July 25, 2023
Fajny dodatek do serii, ale podobało mi się o wiele mniej niż reszta książek.
November 8, 2019
Una raccolta carina che però non ha aggiunto nulla alla serie principale, almeno per me. Forse sono troppo vecchia, da ragazzina avrei apprezzato molto di più anche le "regole" per una buona società investigativa
August 6, 2021
Very enjoyable! This series is awesome😄🎉
April 22, 2017
I am constantly and wildly enthusiastic for the world of Hazel and Daisy and their Detective Society. This is a delightful book of 'extras', just the sort of book I have always loved - notes from the characters, short stories, a few recipes, and notes from the author, too. Glimpses behind the scenes, insides and outs, further reading lists and tips, historic inspiration as well as suggestions for practical mystery-solving and codework.
This collects some of the one-short short stories previously separately released on Amazon, but I found I really enjoyed re-reading them in solid form more than I usually do such things - the nice thing, when you know the twist/whodunnit, is to take the time to go back and participate in the pleasantry of the text itself. It also includes an episode written by the Junior Pinkertons, and the distinctions therein are also fascinating. Note to the author: would VERY much read a Junior Pinkertons novel...
Robin Stevens is a writer sent specifically, I feel, to delight me (she is also marvellous at social media - do follow her all around), but, moreover, I hope she delights her intended audience, too. Whilst we eagerly await the further adventures of two of the best schoolgirl characters I've ever even imagined, this is a very rewarding in-between read which makes me nostalgic for a time and environment I wasn't in, and for the reader I have always been.
March 27, 2017
This book - a collection of short mystery stories set in Hazel & Daisy's world, interspersed with short notes on mystery novels, real-life mysteries, detecting, and more, from the PoVs of various characters from the books - is just full of delight and joy. I love good mystery short stories - I've always loved Agatha Christie's short stories even more than her novels - and these are just deliciously clever, full of wit and character, heart and fun.
I adored the whole book, and the very best part is that reading it made me realize I somehow hadn't yet read all the earlier novels in this series, so I'm now going back to catch up on all the rest. (I'm already 50 pages into her delicious Cambridge-set novel Mistletoe and Murder, which I started immediately afterward because I couldn't bear to leave Hazel and Daisy behind, and ohhhh, I am full of all the Gaudy Night feels! Love love love. I enjoyed the first book in this series, but everything since then has gotten better and better.)
SO much fun, and I'm keeping this book in the shelf by my bed for comfort re-reads of the short stories!
I adored the whole book, and the very best part is that reading it made me realize I somehow hadn't yet read all the earlier novels in this series, so I'm now going back to catch up on all the rest. (I'm already 50 pages into her delicious Cambridge-set novel Mistletoe and Murder, which I started immediately afterward because I couldn't bear to leave Hazel and Daisy behind, and ohhhh, I am full of all the Gaudy Night feels! Love love love. I enjoyed the first book in this series, but everything since then has gotten better and better.)
SO much fun, and I'm keeping this book in the shelf by my bed for comfort re-reads of the short stories!
August 12, 2018
A perfectly charming companion book to the Wells & Wong series. Not quite as engrossing or delightful, since this isn't a full-fledged novel but a patchwork of short stories, brief lessons in code-cracking and spies and detective fiction, and recipes. The four short stories are decent - my favourite being The Mystery of the Missing Bunbreak, as it's told from the point of view of Beanie Martineau, one of Stevens' loveliest supporting characters. The tale is short but truly sweet - and even a little bittersweet, adding layers and colouring darkness into Beanie's genuinely sweet demeanour. Otherwise, picked up some fun recommendations re crime fiction, courtesy of the chapter Stevens dedicates to explaining the inspirations and influences behind each of her novels to date.
February 5, 2022
Była na prawdę spoko, ale te biografie na przykład Agaty Christie albo jakieś historyczne opowieści można było sobie darować.
May 9, 2022
łamanie szyfrów, wampir z deepdean i tajemnica zaginionych łakoci to najlepsze części z tej książki, a po tajemnicy zaginionych łakoci pokochałam fasolkę
December 18, 2022
The individual stories felt about a 4-star for me, but (and I guess I'm not the target market) the intervening bits weren't as captivating ... by the time Stevens' began providing recipes, I stopped reading and simply turned pages until that section was over. I don't think it's possible to get all these short stories any other way, though (or at least, not easy), so it's worth it for them. As an adult I don't need to read the non-fiction bits, I learned nothing new—as a child, they would have been more compelling—but I can only react to how much I enjoy something, not try to imagine a hypothetical child's enjoyment and rating it based on a guess.
Oh, and Stevens experiments with writing with different narrators (Daisy, Beanie, and George? [one of the boys, at any rate]) but they all sound like Hazel, essentially. They say different things (Daisy is more arrogant about her abilities) but the tone is identical, and so long as they're not talking about themselves and describing a room, event, or situation, you would not be able to tell one from the other, or from Hazel. I love her writing—but I couldn't help but notice this deficiency.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
Oh, and Stevens experiments with writing with different narrators (Daisy, Beanie, and George? [one of the boys, at any rate]) but they all sound like Hazel, essentially. They say different things (Daisy is more arrogant about her abilities) but the tone is identical, and so long as they're not talking about themselves and describing a room, event, or situation, you would not be able to tell one from the other, or from Hazel. I love her writing—but I couldn't help but notice this deficiency.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
August 21, 2024
I’m slowly making my way through this series and I started somewhat backwards by starting The Ministry of Unladylike Activity and I loved that one so much, I went back in time and started reading the series before this one.
This one, pre to the A Murder Most Unladylike, and a companion to their case notes, details some of the smaller cases before the first book. I loved these! It showcased Hazel and Daisy’s cunning genius and how they solves their most early cases. From disappearing ties to people who are not who they say they are, the duo begin their detective agency and help their fellow Deepdean students along the way.
The book is peppered with entries from Robin Steven’s herself, with how she comes up with the stories, to her muses, inspirations, previous queens and kings of crime and the rules ahead follows for her books. It was super entertaining and a great addition to the books.
The audiobook was fab too and I recommend all the books in this format, as well as a physical to add to your shelf! Can’t wait to carry on with the series now.
This one, pre to the A Murder Most Unladylike, and a companion to their case notes, details some of the smaller cases before the first book. I loved these! It showcased Hazel and Daisy’s cunning genius and how they solves their most early cases. From disappearing ties to people who are not who they say they are, the duo begin their detective agency and help their fellow Deepdean students along the way.
The book is peppered with entries from Robin Steven’s herself, with how she comes up with the stories, to her muses, inspirations, previous queens and kings of crime and the rules ahead follows for her books. It was super entertaining and a great addition to the books.
The audiobook was fab too and I recommend all the books in this format, as well as a physical to add to your shelf! Can’t wait to carry on with the series now.
July 11, 2018
A fun, easy-read book. Although it is aimed at a much younger audience, I still enjoy this series of books. It is Mallory Towers meets the Famous Five - and makes a nice, light read. The characters are not as fully developed as in adult books - but you know that is going to be the case when you pick up a book aimed at younger people.
This book is a compilation aimed at filling in the gaps in other books - describing cases solved that are alluded to in the rest of the series. You can either read it in sequence (as I did) or dip in and out of the stories you want to read. There are also recipes, unsolved crimes and favourite authors. All-in-all, an interesting read.
This book is a compilation aimed at filling in the gaps in other books - describing cases solved that are alluded to in the rest of the series. You can either read it in sequence (as I did) or dip in and out of the stories you want to read. There are also recipes, unsolved crimes and favourite authors. All-in-all, an interesting read.
July 28, 2017
I just adore the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens! Yes, technically they are aimed at younger readers but I don’t care they are jolly good fun and hold great enjoyment for me. Over the five books (so far) Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong have become my very good friends and setting out on a crime busting adventure with them is something I always look forward to.
In ‘Cream Buns and Crime’ Daisy and Hazel have set about collecting together some of their smaller cases and alongside lots of tips, have created the most wonderful guide to creating your own Detective Society (although you won’t be able to use that name – it’s taken!)
My nine-year old self would have just lapped this book up especially as I was a budding detective! Not only are there handy hints and tips, Robin Steven has also included some of the history of detective novels, looks at some of the greats of detective writing and there are also some tricky questions to test your detective brain.
This is a superb addition to my Wells and Wong collection and any young detectives will thoroughly enjoy this. I could bleat on for ages about how much I love these books, they are just wonderful and I am constantly recommending them to people (young and old!) I am eagerly awaiting book six now! Wells and Wong forever!
In ‘Cream Buns and Crime’ Daisy and Hazel have set about collecting together some of their smaller cases and alongside lots of tips, have created the most wonderful guide to creating your own Detective Society (although you won’t be able to use that name – it’s taken!)
My nine-year old self would have just lapped this book up especially as I was a budding detective! Not only are there handy hints and tips, Robin Steven has also included some of the history of detective novels, looks at some of the greats of detective writing and there are also some tricky questions to test your detective brain.
This is a superb addition to my Wells and Wong collection and any young detectives will thoroughly enjoy this. I could bleat on for ages about how much I love these books, they are just wonderful and I am constantly recommending them to people (young and old!) I am eagerly awaiting book six now! Wells and Wong forever!
May 9, 2017
A charming little addition to the series. I'm thrilled to finally have the short stories collected; two of them from Daisy's perspective, which was delightfully snotty; one from Alex; and one from Beanie (!!!! I wept, oh Beanie, you're so lovely!). The chapters about the Golden Age of Crime and the writers, as well as their detectives, were quite nice. I'm very much looking forward to the next novel, though; these are by far my favourite detective novels!
July 10, 2019
I haven’t read the actual series of Murder Most Unladylike but I was given the book by a friend and I enjoyed it! I read this quite quickly- although I actually started it in June I didn’t actually sit and read the book until July, but it took me a few days and I found this a quick, easy to read good book that a lot of people can enjoy, and although quite young some of the stories actually scared me!
Anna
Anna
October 16, 2025
3 and half stars out of 5, Some fun in between stories set between/after four of the books, Also some fun activities for children to do such as code making, and some fun sounding recipes to try, There is also information on some real mysterious told by both the characters and Robin Stevens herself, along with reading the book I listened to the audiobook which had Robin Stevens as one of the readers which was lovely.
Honestly I should probably have read this book after the 4th book Jolly Foul Play as there are some spoilers to that book in this one.
Honestly I should probably have read this book after the 4th book Jolly Foul Play as there are some spoilers to that book in this one.
April 10, 2021
I absolutely adored this book! I think it might be joined first with ‘Arsenic For Tea!’ This book had code crackers, little mysteries, SUPER interesting facts, and different perspectives (which I was really excited for!). I loved that also Robin Stevens talked about how the wrote the books. Any 12+ year old should read this book series.
*TW: real life murder stories!*
*TW: real life murder stories!*
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