Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats

Harriet Bean #2

by Alexander McCall Smith, Laura Rankin (Illustrator), Charlotte Parry

Harriet Bean loves nothing more than a good mystery. And together with her five extraordinary aunts (Veronica, Harmonica, Majolica, and twins Japonica and Thessalonika), she is always ready to take on a new case.

Harriet doesn't think twice when her mind-reading detective aunts Japonica and Thessalonika enlist her help in catching a cheat at the racetrack. After all, Harriet is just the right size to go undercover as a jockey. But when the plan takes an unexpected turn, Harriet finds herself in the saddle!

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Audiobook, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Alida · Rating 5 out of 5]

The grandkids and I really liked this book; so much that they have requested I take another Harriet Bean book when we visit them. :-) There's enough excitement and humour in this book to keep even adults interested.

[Suzanne Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harriet gets a call to come help her Private Detective aunts and finds herself at a stable as a jockey looking for a cheat.

Sweet but not as good sequel to the Lost Aunts. Found a story a bit muddled.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little series, perfect for the 2nd-3rd grade readers.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to read to children. Strong female characters.

[Tuly Huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun children's mystery book.

[Cruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Illustrator: Ian Bilbey
First Published: 1991

Quick and easy with a somewhat ridiculous scenario reminiscent of Roald Dahl.

Appeals comfortably to a young child or early reader.

Harriet Bean Trilogy:
The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean
Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats
The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean

References:
Author's website: http://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/
W'pedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexande...

Age:
Read aloud - 4+
Read yourself - 8+

(ISBN 9780747580454)

-CR-

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another fun book in the Harriet Bean series by Alexander McCall Smith. We listened to The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean on audio CD and our oldest loved it, so I wanted to check out the other books in the series. It appears there are only three books, though, so now that we've read all three, we'll just have to move on to a new series.

Still, we enjoyed this book and the mystery was fun, not too scary, and a bit silly. We love Harriet's fun aunts, and we especially liked Aunt Japonica and Aunt Thessalonika's abilities to disguise themselves. It was a short book and a quick read. Our oldest read this independently and then I read it after she did, so we could discuss the plot and characters.

[Penny McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I love Harriet Bean. If only she existed when I was little I would have read her and wanted to be her just as much as I ached to be another Harriet - Harriet M. Welsch. I wanted so much to be able to ride in a dumbwaiter, find a many who owned many cats, have someone who loved me as much as Ole Golly. Thank goodness Louise Fitzhugh saw fit to unleash her Harriet a few years before I was born (just a few)...

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. S'okay. I mean, wish fulfillment "mystery" for kiddies...but yeah. One gets tired of "clever" names pretty quickly, and this one pushes credulity to the very limit, even for a silliness yarn. Was McCall Smith writing for his grandchildren? If not, this one is self-indulgent to an extreme. As another reviewer has said, the characters are flat and lack warmth, and the story is superficial, even for a very short chapter book. (He got paid for this?) Two and a half stars.

[Johnsergeant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rented from Recorded Books. I highly recommend this audiobook for children, or parents looking to entertain their children.

Working my way through McCall Smith's complete works on audiobook.

[Suebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good easy reader/transitional chapter series

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was even sillier than the first book, not necessarily in a good way. It's a cute book for kids, but didn't excite me too much. I'm curious to see if the subsequent books will be as goofy.

[Inkheartfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but fun.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl solves mystery of fixed horse races—somewhat facile, but it’s for about 2nd grade and appropriate for that age; sequel to The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

MCL. I liked the part when two of her aunts dressed up as a horse.

[Ange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children't book. Book 2 cute. nice that Harriet is afraid to race the horse

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also very cute. I listened on my phone from my local library app.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has the twin aunts! Awesome! I loved that they were the ones who saved the day! /

[Enric]

I need to learn this book