Synopsis
The body seemed to fall for a long time. There was no splash, or if there was it was lost in the waves. Isobel was frozen to the spot for a moment – and then her common sense caught up with her, and she stepped back quickly into the shadows.
When Isobel Petty is orphaned, she finds herself being taken away from her home in India and sent to live with a distant uncle in England. On board the S.S. Marianna, she witnesses a shocking act – somebody being thrown overboard in the middle in the night. But when the ship’s captain insists that nobody is missing, Isobel and her two new reluctant friends must solve two mysteries – the identities of both the murderer and the victim – before they reach England and the culprit has the chance to escape.
Review
It has been a long time since I have read a detective novel and so I was really happy to receive an e-arc copy of this book from NetGalley. I was really intrigued to read that this novel is inspired by the characters in the Secret Garden, and I could definitely feel the parallels, however you do not have to be familiar with the Secret Garden to read this.
I really like the setting of this book. I loved the descriptions of the ship and I could visualise the children running around on the decks and creating secret dens in the ships lifeboats.
The children discover a murder and spend their time on the ship trying to uncover the motive and the killer. They do so in a child-like way, which I really enjoyed. Sometimes they are messy and get things wrong and sometimes they over-look things. They have the advantage of being children which means they can get away with things that adults can not.
The children’s characters were really lovely, and they had such strong personalities. I could also visualise how they looked and acted. I particularly liked the character Sam who is very grown up and insightful. He gives Isobel such lovely advice and is very calm and kind. I loved it when he said ‘ you don’t have to like people more or less. You can just like them differently’. I found this really lovely. Sam helps bring Isobel and Lettie together and I really enjoyed them finding their friendships.
The charm to this book is the friendships which are discovered during the story. I really enjoyed coming along with them on their adventure. It would be lovely to find out what happened to the children after they disembark the ship!
ISBN: not available on review
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Publication date: 3rd June 2021
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