The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books have reviewed Murder is Bad Manners! They say:

‘Thirteen-year-old Hazel Wong and her best friend, Daisy Wells, students at Deepdean School in 1930s England, aspire to be detectives. To that end they have formed a secret Detective Society, practicing their observational skills by snooping on their peers and teachers and memorizing license plates. When Hazel discovers science teacher Miss Bell dead in the gym one evening, and the corpse then disap- pears before anyone else can witness it, the society has a real case at last (much to Daisy’s delight and Hazel’s trepidation). The pair put their deductive skills to work as they seek to solve the mystery of Miss Bell’s death, and gradually they begin to whittle down the suspect list, discovering a connection to a Deepdean student who “accidentally” died the previous year. Stevens’ story, narrated by Hazel, is a first-rate homage to English boarding school adventure and period murder-mystery tales. Hazel’s astute observations as a cultural outsider (she’s a native of Hong Kong) add an interesting layer of depth to the narrative while also making it more accessible to non-British audiences (a helpful “Guide to Deepdean,” provided by Daisy at book’s end, amusingly sheds more light on specific terminology). Spot art at the beginning of each chapter features Daisy and Hazel in silhouette and sporting flashlights, a satisfyingly correct period detail. Middle-schoolers with a taste for Agatha Christie (and perhaps PBS costume or mystery dramas) will eat this up and ask for more.’ JH