I’m incredibly delighted to be finally able to tell you that Murder Most Unladylike is on the shortlist of this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

It’s up against five other phenomenal books in its 5-12 year old category, and seventeen other books overall (the Guardian‘s shortlist round-up is here) – it’s an incredibly strong shortlist and I am proud to be a part of it. The result will be announced on March 26th, and I am terrified and excited in equal measure.

Once again, I have to give huge thanks to all of the Waterstones booksellers who have championed the book and got it to this point – I am absolutely honoured.

Here’s the Guardian‘s round-up of the shortlist.

I’m also delighted that people are talking about the rise in detective fiction for children – as you know, I’m a massive fan of the genre, and I couldn’t be more pleased that it’s so well represented on this year’s list (six out of the eighteen books are detective stories!).

Here’s a BBC News article about how young detectives are killing off vampires (this does make me feel a bit sorry for vampires, poor things, they just want to live like the rest of us)

And a Daily Mail article about how children are falling for nostalgic fiction.

And finally, an article in the Independent about the rise of the detective novel – and Murder Most Unladylike in particular. It also appears in today’s i paper – of course I rushed out to buy two copies. The man at the till commented on this odd behaviour, and when I explained that it was my book on the front page he got very excited and made me sign my receipt for him. I felt very briefly almost famous.

So a huge thank you to everyone who has congratulated me today. You are all wonderful, and it means a huge amount to me. Hooray for Wells & Wong!