Middle Grade Murder - an interview with Robin Stevens.

As the fogs of autumn give way to the occasional crisp morning of frost, it’s time to settle down to a bit of seasonal mystery...

Robin Stevens, author of the bestselling, award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series, has just launched another Murder Most Unladylike Mystery – the fabulously titled MISTLETOE AND MURDER. It’s getting fantastic reviews and already topping the charts (just shows the importance of Middle Grade, people) But Robin wasn’t always a bestselling novelist, she was once an 11-year-old and that was the person I wanted to find out about:

Here she is, aged 9, having a bunbreak. 

 The 11 year old Robin Stevens was, by all reports, a bit of a bookworm – where and what would we have found her reading? 

Absolutely anything and everything! I raided the library, second-hand bookshops (my father used to take me to Hay-on-Wye every year, and standing in the specialist mystery shop Murder and Mayhem was the highlight of my life), my friends' book collections and my parents' shelves. Nothing was safe from me! I'm very lucky that no one ever told me that books were too 'young' for me to read. I happily read everything from picture books to adult books - I was definitely already reading Sherlock Holmes by then, but also re-reading my Blytons. Some of my favourite books at the time included Swallows and Amazons, Bunnicula, The Secret of Platform 13, Guards! Guards! and (bizarrely) Dave Barry Turns 50. As I say, nothing was safe from me ...

What a fabulously diverse reading list - I'm especially taken by Dave Barry (had to look that one up) But what do you think you were looking for in a book? Palpitations? Escape? Brain testing mystery?

I wanted books that taught me something and made me think (that's why I've always been so interested in puzzles and mystery - and that's what the Dave Barry was, a way of learning about history that also made me laugh) but mostly I was looking for a book that I could dive into, that made me feel part of its world and connected to its characters. I was an only child, and didn't have many neighbours my age, so I found most of my friends in books!

As a matter of interest - do you do crosswords or sudoku?

I had a phase of being a big cryptic crossword fan. I used to be pretty good! That reminds me that I should probably pick it up again. I found it really fascinating to learn, like a special coded language. Sudoku I can do, but I'm not as interested, as it's numbers or symbols, and my brain prefers word play!

So what came next? Did you hit the great Hollywood gumshoes?

I discovered Agatha Christie aged about 12 and fell in love with her plots. I loved Dorothy Sayers, too, and Ngaio Marsh and (a bit later) Josephine Tey - funnily enough I was never a big Raymond Chandler fan. His books are more thrillers than puzzles, and I think that disappointed me a bit. In terms of books I've never really wanted crime that's gory or dangerous, though I was an enormous CSI fan as a teenager!

You’re not alone with the CSI thing -  what other TV shows did/do you like - Murder she wrote?

I watched Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder, but my Big Loves were (and are) the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple with Geraldine McEwen and the Suchet Poirot. I love BBC's Sherlock too. I had a Silent Witness phase, and Criminal Minds, but that just got too scary. I'm a wuss! Then Veronica Mars, Supernatural, Jonathan Creek, Alias, Heroes, Firefly ... I love good stories with great characters, however they're presented. At this very moment my big obsessions are Westworld and Humans. Robots just want to be loved, guys.

I'm thinking that you're now writing the books that you couldn't find when you were 11? So what else is out there now that wasn't out there then that you would have liked? If that makes sense?

There are so many amazing stories that just hadn't been written yet - I would have loved Skulduggery Pleasant, Mortal Engines, Hunger Games and (in terms of crime) The London Eye Mystery and Katherine Woodfine's Clockwork Sparrow series. But I think that even since I was 11 (which was 1999, not so long ago really), there's been a massive expansion in what genres are available. I know I would have LOVED comics and graphic novels, but at the time I felt like Marvel and DC were only for Proper Fans and was too shy to pick them up. If anyone had given me Lumberjanes, or the Kamala Khan Ms Marvel, or Raina Telgemeier's books, I'd have been in heaven. And YA, too - I had Louise Rennison, but I wish I could have moved on to stuff like Nicola Yoon, Harriet Reuter Hapgood, Jennifer Niven. I'd have eaten them up.

And definitely the final question - the library is burning down - which book does the 11 year old Robin rescue?

Oh man! 11 year old Robin probably stands and cries in panic. But if my library burned down today, the book I would save is one I got when I was 15. Diana Wynne Jones came to speak at the Cheltenham Festival, and I went to see her. I got my copy of Dark Lord of Derkholm signed, and it was about one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I love her books beyond all reason, and I loved seeing what a good person she clearly was at that event. If I could grow up to be any author, it would be her!

Here are Robin and her dad enjoying Christmas when she was 11 (p.s. She made the Christmas crackers)

Thank you Robin Stevens. Mistletoe and Murder is out now from Puffin books priced £6.99 and is available from all good bookshops. 

Review: Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy's home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy's glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy's birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn't really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious.

Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill - and everything points to poison.

With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem - and everyone has a secret or two. And when someone very close to Daisy looks suspicious, the Detective Society must do everything they can to reveal the truth . . . no matter the consequences.

My reviewArsenic for tea was one of the books that I was most looking forward to in 2015. I loved the first book in the series and I'm so pleased to report it did not disappoint at all.

There are several things I love about this book and the series it is part of. I love that the series evokes the same feelings I had when I was 10 years old and reading my Enid Blyton boarding school and mystery stories. The setting and the language is spot on with the style and my inner child adores it. I almost squealed with joy at the use of the word Brick to describe someone. The characterisation is spot on. I love Daisy and Hazel and seeing their friendship in these books. It is so nice to see a positive girl relationships. I loved all the secondary characters. The dashing Uncle Felix and larger than life Aunt Saskia all made for brilliant reading. All the characters make the story, set almost 100 years ago, relevant to a modern age and modern readers. I loved the mystery element to this series. I love getting into the detective role myself and trying to work out whodunnit over the course of the book along with the girls of the detective society. It does make me think that maybe I ought to pick up some Agatha Christie stories at some point.

All in all a brilliant book and fabulous middle grade series that I adore. I cannot wait for book three.