Death Sets Sail (A Murder Most Unladylike #9) by Robin Stevens

"I swear to be a good and clever member of the Detective Society, and to logically detect the crimes presented to me using all the cleverness I have, not placing reliance on grown-ups, especially the police."

Death Sets Sail (A Murder Most Unladylike #9) by Robin Stevens

Paperback 400 pages - first published 2020

2020 has not given us much but at least it didn't halt the last Wells and Wong book from being released. I, like many others, have been reading these from the very beginning and honestly I'm not sure if I'm ready for the series to be over.

For anyone who hasn't read these delightful books, if you enjoy cosy murder books then don't be fooled into thinking these are for children alone. They have everything you need:

*A 1930s all-girls boarding school setting reminiscent of both Enid Blyton and any Agatha Christie novel - Check

*A racially and body type diverse cast - Check

*A character both beautiful and lacking in social awareness similar to Sherlock Holmes - Check

*Murder that aren't too gruesome for children, but are still interesting enough for adults to enjoy the story - Check

Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells have been best friends ever since Hazel's father sent her from Hong Kong to receive a proper English lady's education. The problem is that Daisy rather sees herself as a female Sherlock Holmes and always drags her best friend along for the ride. Gradually Hazel has built up her confidence over their many cases, allowing herself to be pulled into many dangerous and possibly illegal situations. The girls have solved many mysteries together and this final one takes place in Egypt.

As you might imagine with such a setting, it isn't hard to remember Poirot's own adventures there. Stevens, as usual, makes her readers feel as though they were in fact present with her descriptions of sights and smells.

'There was dust in the air, a stampede of porters and a bewildering press of men all trying to make us buy things. Woven scarves in bright colours, cups of water, fly whisks, clattering strings of beads, carved stone statuettes.'

It's currently the heigh of summer so I found it even easier to picture myself in Luxor with Daisy and Hazel.

The story is a typical murder that follows from the rest of the series but this time they only have one day to figure out who the killer is. As usual, Hazel is the sweet, sensitive one who still squirms a little when viewing a corpse, but we, as the reader, also start to see a much more confident side to the character as she manages to refuse Daisy take over (as she usually does).

The ending was sadly a little predictable, despite it being the last book in the series (when you read it you'll know what I mean - no spoilers here). I'll be sad to see these go as they are extremely enjoyable and easy to read (I read this in a day as I couldn't put it down). I have faith that the next book Robin Stevens writes will be a fantastic read, but I'm sure she will forgive me for saying that nothing will ever be as good as A Murder Most Unladylike.

A tremendous 5 stars!