I enjoy reading the “Myrtle” mysteries. She’s a fun engaging character. Maybe a little too nosy for her own good, but it all seems to work out for her in the end. I like that we keep discovering new things about her mother. It brings her closer to Myrtle and I like that she feels like she is more like her mother than she thought. I enjoyed the mystery and it kept me guessing. Looking forward to the next installment.

As Christmas nears, Myrtle finds herself on the scene of another murder. When Mr. Leighton, the owner of Leighton’s Mercantile, is found dead, questions come up about a mysterious scandal in his past. Myrtle sets out to discover what happened those years before, how it’s related to what’s happening now, and how she can stop the killer from killing again. Another wonderful Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery! Myrtle and Miss Judson are both such strong, interesting, and fun characters! Looking forward to number four!

What a gem Myrtle Hardcastle is! Once again, Elizabeth Bunce has written a proper Victorian mystery, with clues, twists and turns, suspects, and, best of all, a quirky and likable detective. Three books into this series, Myrtle still surprises me with her witty inventiveness.

Big thanks to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had never read the series before, but I was pleasantly surprised that someone can read them out of order without getting too lost. Kids do this all the time in the classroom. I loved the character dynamic of Myrtle and her governess as almost a Holmes and Watson pairing. The crimes involved the character and we were rooting for her so much. I could see that young middle grade kids would stumble over terminology, so I would recommend this at a slightly higher level, and even into high school as a pairing with Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes.

I love this Victorian mystery series so much that we'll be hosting a three-book roundtable next Fall centering on the Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery Series. Myrtle is so clever and engaging kids can't help but get excited about the clues and guess each part of the mystery. This third book especially seems to have captured all our imaginations and I so hope that there will be more books in our future.

I was lucky enough to snag an early arc from @netgalley & @algonquinyr, and goodness me, this historical mystery series is just so fun!

I love Myrtle’s voice, her desire to solve investigations (proving that girls can!), & her deep love for her friends and family. Her newest case has me clamoring for Christmas, and this is a mystery that reminds me how much I love to curl up with cozies during the Christmas season.

In this newest adventure, Myrtle once again is thrust into a murder investigation, only this time it’s more dangerous as she’s on the trail of a serial killer in her hometown. And this killer has a calling card.

Along with her governess Miss Judson, and some new friends, Myrtle dives into the dangerous case, uncovering a secret society as well as some other secrets along the way, hoping to wrap it all up before Christmas morning.

If you haven’t discovered Myrtle Hardcastle yet, I highly recommend jumping in with book one PREMEDITATED MYRTLE (the titles ya’ll!!!) It will not disappoint, especially as it’s an Edgar Award winner! Myrtle is a really fun, adventurous, and SMART girl, and the perfect role model for young readers.

This is a great series for budding detectives, and a fabulous entry way into the world of mysteries.

I have really enjoyed the Myrtle Hardcastle mysteries. I find them really engaging and well thought out. I am quite a mystery fan and these hit a sweet spot for middle grade students - not too difficult or gory but just the right amount. Well done again.

Another delightful entry in the Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery. Myrtle is back in Swinburne, preparing for the Christmas season when she finds the body of Mr. Leighton, the owner of Leighton's Mercantile. As she begins to investigate, she realizes this is the her most personal case yet as Mr. Leighton had a relationship with Myrtle's deceased mother. While her mother was at university, a classmate fell off the bell tower - did Olive die or just disappear? The intrepid amateur detective does what she does best - follow the clues to find out who is behind Mr. Leighton's death as well as the other that follow. Again, her governess Miss Judson assists her in figuring out the clues and in this installment, Myrtle also has help from Caroline Munjal and even LaRue Spence-Hastings. Myrtle is a first-class protagonist and the supporting characters are also wonderful. Bunce does a great job creating the Victorian English village of Swinburne and the holiday traditions. I look forward to the next installment, as this series has become an auto-buy.

Oh my! I thoroughly enjoy every Myrtle mystery, and this one is no different. Such a delightful, mind-bending mystery. A proper mystery with clues and murder and suspects. Excellent. The best way to put yourself in the Christmas spirit is to read this book. I love that Myrtle's father interacts with us more in this book. We're privy to a few more details about her mum, and are given glimpses into why her father is so protective (along with some instances where he encourages her crime-loving nature). So good. Highly recommend. Can't wait for the next book!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

The third book in the Myrtle Hardcastle series picks up just a few months after the conclusion of events in the previous volume. It is Christmastime in Swinborne and Myrtle and Miss Judson are eager to join in the festivities. Anticipation spikes as the local dry goods store is about to unveil their display for the season. However the unveil is more dramatic than anyone anticipated, and when the store proprietor, Mr. Leighton, is found dead minutes later with a note next to him, the festive mood is quickly soured. The murderer has rearranged the display in a way that gives the police, and Myrtle, a clue to the reasoning behind the dark deed and a way to predict the next murder. Over the course of the investigation into the victim's past academic years, Myrtle comes across a picture of students that includes her late mother. During her time in academia, a time period she shared with the late shop owner, a fellow classmate fell to her death but her body was never recovered. Myrtle must track down the other classmates in the picture in order to determine who, if anyone, might have sought out revenge on the shopkeeper. As Myrtle and the police piece the clues together it soon becomes evident that the key to solving the current murders lies in the past.

Cold Blooded Myrtle is the third in the delightful middle grade mystery series featuring our intrepid young sleuth, Myrtle Hardcastle. The story is set during Christmas at the cusp of the twentieth century, which was a thrilling time full of exciting new discoveries in the field of science, forensics, and detection. The inclusion of the fascinating footnotes allows readers to understand and appreciate the period details relating to detection during this time to the fullest. The mystery was compelling and I was fully invested in the story and the outcome from page one. The author has an uncanny ability to take a series of seemingly disparate clues and bring them together in the most clever manner to form a rational and satisfying conclusion. The series regulars are all accounted for and there is quite a bit of character development for each of them in terms of their personalities as well as their relationships with one another. Myrtle's bond with Miss Judson continues to grow as her relationship with Aunt Helena continues to evolve as well. I loved that the history of the town played a big part in the final unveiling of the murderer. Cold Blooded Myrtle is a clever and intricate mystery, with multiple layers, and a wonderfully diverse cast of secondary and main characters. I highly recommend Cold Blooded Myrtle for those looking for a witty Victorian mystery full of murder, adventure, archaeology, maps, poison, secret societies, and more.

I received an eARC in return for a fair review.

Myrtle is on the hunt for the perfect Christmas presents for her father and Miss Judson, but instead finds herself another murder case to solve. And this one may just bring with it information about Myrtle's mother that she isn't sure she likes.

As the bodies start to pile up and the danger grows, Myrtle finds herself with an unlikely companion on the hunt for the killer - her

Another wonderful mystery! Myrtle is a wonderful character, and her relationships with her father, Miss Judson, and the people in her township are realistic and well-written. Highly recommended for fans of cozy mysteries.

When it comes to the Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries, I can’t pretend objectivity. I adored the first, Premeditated Myrtle, and am predisposed to love the entire series.

Yes: corpses, clues, red herrings - they all accumulate with delicious opacity according to Elizabeth C. Bunce’s diabolical plan, but what I especially enjoyed here, is the emotional tension regarding Myrtle’s dead mother. To what extent was Jemima involved in the crime? Right from the start Myrtle is caught between wanting to detect, and fearing what she may discover. For Myrtle, and the reader, the emotional stakes have never been higher.

Cold-Blooded Myrtle is a delightful, erudite, middle-grade mystery with a cracking ending. There’s archaeology, maps, model-making, music, patchwork, poison, secret societies, and more helpings of Stansberry Pie - when are we going to get a recipe for this, Dear Author?

Once again Cold-Blooded Myrtle is stuffed full of literary heroes. Doctor Belden is a nod to the Trixie Belden books, and we have characters and place names called Maurier, Swinburne, Shelley, Hardy, Wodehouse, and Hobbes, among others. Socrates, Dickens, Sherlock Holmes, and Ann Radcliffe are also referenced as themselves.

Set at the cusp of the twentieth-century, with all its thrilling discoveries in science, forensics, and detection, the Myrtle Mysteries stand out for their strong female characters. Miss Judson the governess, Imogen Shelley the newshound, and Nora Carmichael the archaeologist are intelligent, brave, robust women exemplifying derring-do.

But it is twelve-year-old Myrtle who shines brightest. Her distinct, precocious voice, sharp mind, scientific vocabulary, and delightfully-morbid curiosity mark her as a winning and worthy heroine.

CHILDREN'S

Cold-Blooded Myrtle: Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery 3 by Elizabeth C. Bunce; Algonquin Young Readers, 368 pages, $17.95. Ages 10 to 18 ...

12-year-old sleuth Myrtle Hardcastle returns for her third outing – and her first cold case investigation – in what might be the most entertaining whodunit yet in this terrific series set in Victorian England.

Myrtle and her governess, Miss Judson, are among the Swinburne residents gathered outside Leighton's Mercantile awaiting the unveiling of the store's celebrated Christmas-theme miniature village when the proprietor is found dead in his armchair.

Basil Leighton had lost his post years before as a classics professor at local Schofield College over a scandal surrounding the disappearance of a student named Olive Blackwell, who is believed to have fallen from the college carillon tower, although a body was never found. Myrtle finds, and pockets, an old photo of Leighton with her late mother and other young people, seeing it as a clue to the suspects who may have wanted Olive dead. Myrtle's investigation takes on added poignancy as she wonders if her beloved mother, who died of cancer, might have done something terrible back in her college days.

Along with an intricate mystery, "Cold-Blooded Myrtle" features memorable characters, unhinged villains, clues written in Greek, threats written in Latin, a museum party celebrating a Saturnalia Chalice unearthed by Leighton and students in Cornwall, a series of steam tunnels under the village and murders staged in miniature ahead of time in a store Christmas display.

Narrated in Myrtle's smart, irreverent voice and peppered with amusing footnotes, the novel builds suspense as the body count rises right up to the dramatic finale.

Just a sample of Myrtle's voice, during a cooking lesson: "Today's lesson was the all-critical mincemeat, and I was stoning raisins. I am sorry to say, Dear Reader, this was not some Biblical torture, but simply the removal of their tiny pear-shaped seeds by rubbing them between my fingers, after soaking them (the raisins, not my fingers) in boiling water. 'Raisins are a terrible thing to do to perfectly innocent grapes,' I grumbled as the sticky heap before me grew."

I received an electronic ARC from Algonquin Young Readers through NetGalley.
Third in the series.
Myrtle is back in the midst of another murder investigation. Together with her governess, Miss Judson, she seeks clues to both the current tragedy and a past disappearance that seems directly connected to it. To the chagrin of her father, Myrtle manages to be a witness to most of the serious events that take place throughout the story. Bunce continues to develop these characters so readers see more of their backstory. Readers learn more about Myrtle's mother and see how her life was interwoven with the victims. In a realistic and sensitive way, readers see Myrtle grapple with what type of woman her mom may have been. She learns about her from others who knew her and figures out the truth for herself. In the end, she and her nemesis, solve Olive Blackwell's disappearance twenty years ago and figure out how this event triggered the current murders.
Myrtle continues to mature as a character and as an investigator. This series will capture middle grade readers as they, too, try to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

Elizabeth C. Bunce has done it again!

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this lovely book. I'd like to thank Elizabeth C. Bunce for bringing Myrtle into existence because clever Victorian girls solving crimes and committing capers is a niche genre I never knew I needed in my life.

I think of all the books in the series so far, this is my favorite. We learn more about Myrtle's mother, and we revisit with some of the characters from prior books, which even, when brief, is a delight. We meet some new ones too whom I hope show up in future installments.

I appreciate the research Bunce did to bring this book to life, the little nods to historical occurrences tickle my fancy.

I know if I were a little girl, I would have loved reading about Myrtle's adventures, and I'd be looking for mysteries to solve. Of course, hopefully I wouldn't come across a murder.

Myrtle's small English village is like many who seem to suffer from far too many murders, especially for the late 1890s! The latest unfortunate demise is that of local shop keeper and former professor Mr. Leighton, who is found deceased right before the unveiling of his shop window's Christmas display. While it seems that the poor man might well have had a stroke, Myrtle makes sure that the local constabulary doesn't entirely discount murder, and she's right. The tableau in the window has some alarming references, and there is something suspicious about the death. It seems to be involved in the long ago disappearance of a student named Olive Blackwell, who was a friend of Myrtle's mother, who died of cancer when Myrtle was younger. Along with her tutor, Miss Judson, Myrtle starts to investigate the incident at the university in which her mother and several others were involved. A secret society initiation went wrong, and Olive was assumed to have fallen from a bell tower, but her body was never found. Myrtle talks to Leah, the new carillonist who is planning a concert for the first time since the event, people at the museum who have a display of an artifact that Professor Leighton had donated to them, and even some newspaper reporters who seem overly interested in the story. English villages have many secrets, and this is the first time that Myrtle has a personal connection to one. Will she be able to figure out Olive's whereabouts, and learn more about her own mother's past?

Like Stevens' Wells and Wong mysteries, Bunce deftly channels the energy of British detective stories from the early part of the 1900s, although while Stevens' seems more aligned with Agatha Christie's style, Bunce works in feminist issues more frequently found in Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane novels. Myrtle is ahead of her time, and aided by Miss Judson, as well as Dr. Munjal and several other sympathetic adults, is able to forge ahead in ways that many girls during her time period would not have. Her father, a lawyer, plays a somewhat larger role in this book, and it's good to see him more involved in his daughter's life.

Young readers frequently want murder mysteries, and not only are several townspeople dispatched in this story, there is the historical mystery of Olive as well. This causes many people in the town to be suspects, and Myrtle doesn't spare anyone! Since British murder mysteries are popular with adults not only in novels, but also in television shows, this series is a great way to introduce younger readers to this genre. There are plenty of clues to file away and figure out, and the twists and turns end in a very satisfying way!

Readers who enjoyed mysteries like Souders' Coop Knows the Scoop, Gray's The Amelia Six, and the work of Stuart Gibbs will find Myrtle a great introduction to the Victorian era and a keen detective when it comes to figuring out murders!

I am completely in love with this series. This book is full of unbelievable adventures that aren't that hard to believe that Myrtle would get herself involved in. I hope this series keeps growing and I will be waiting with bated breath for the next adventure.

I continue to love Myrtle. Her inquisitive, intelligent, take-charge personality lead her right into the middle of another murder investigation. All of my other favorite characters are still there, from long-suffering, yet secretly supportive Miss Judson to her frenemy, LaRue and her best friend Caroline, representing a wonderfully diverse cast. This outing includes an important off-stage character, Myrtle's dead mother. Another fun story full of adventure, mystery and danger, set at Christmas time, which makes it perfect holiday reading. Recommended for middle grade (and older!) mystery lovers.

Just as fun, literate, and engaging as the previous 2 books in the series, Returning secondary characters, connections to Myrtle’s deceased mother, and an unsolved mystery from the past keep the action moving. This should be a popular title among Gr. 5 and up.

Bunce picks up Myrtle's story just a few months after the events of the previous volume, as the Christmas season is upon them, but nevertheless, that doesn't stop a murder from occurring. Determined not to investigate a new murder, Myrtle can't help herself from getting involved when it quickly appears to connect to a very old case that might involve Myrtle's mother. Fans will rejoice at being reunited with Myrtle, Miss Judson, and even Peony, a cat with attitude. The Myrtle Hardcastle mysterious have quickly become my favorite recent series and young readers will relish solving the crimes alongside a smart and determined young investigator. Review from e-galley.