Certain Death

Poppy Fields Mystery #6

by Tanya Landman

Sixth in the brilliantly addictive new series of murder mysteries by an acclaimed and popular writer. When the circus comes to town, Poppy Fields and best friend Graham soon discover that the 'certain death' promised on the posters is no joke. With one person dead and the circus performers still in grave danger, the pair will have to work fast to discover who's firing the shots...This title features Miss Marple for the younger reader.

Genres: Mystery

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2010

About the author

Carnegie Medal winning Tanya Landman is the author of more than thirty books for children and young adults.

Born and brought up in Kent, Tanya had no intention of becoming a writer until the idea for Waking Merlin popped into her head. "It came from nowhere. It was completely out of the blue."

Tanya now lives and works in Bideford and the nearby coastline was the inspiration for her Flotsam & Jetsam series.

Tanya's first books were "adventure stories with a sprinkling of magic and spoonful of humour." But then Tanya turned to crime, writing Mondays are Murder (winner of a Red House Book Award) - the first in a series of ten "Agatha-Christie-for-kids" featuring child sleuth Poppy Fields and her friend Graham. Her new highly illustrated books for younger children feature Sam Swann, an accident-prone boy sleuth and his faithful canine sidekick Watson.

Although she writes across a broad age range, Tanya is probably best known for her historical novels for young adults. 
Apache - set in 19th century America - was shortlisted for several UK awards including the Teenage Book Trust and the Carnegie Medal (where it was voted the Shadowing Groups favourite). The US edition won a Borders Original Voices prize and a Spur award from the Western Writers of America. 
The Goldsmith's Daughter - set in the Aztec empire during the Spanish invasion - was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction prize. Buffalo Soldier
 won the 2015 Carnegie Medal. Hell and High Water - a swashbuckling thriller set in 18th century Devon - was shortlisted for the 2016 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her latest book Beyond the Wall is set in Roman Britain. Passing for White comes out later this year.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Tanya Landman (and her publisher) made some very brave choices in this book. What starts out as the usual child detective story takes a couple of sharp turns partway through and tackles suicide, 'real-world' wars, religious persecution and even ethnic cleansing!

All this is handled tastefully and honestly, with no dumbing down for the kids, without ever feeling preachy. My respect for Landman as an author has gone up considerably. It really made this volume of the series stand out for me.

On top of all this, you still get Poppy and Graham's usual crime-solving antics, so regular fans of the series certainly won't be let down on that front. If you read this to or with your kids, though, expect some difficult questions!

Buddy read with Sunshine Seaspray

[_ Mhtb _ · Rating 2 out of 5]

دوتا میدم برای موضوعی که داره



هاوی اسپویل



ولی جدی چرا در طول کتاب یک معما هم طرح نکرد تا حدس بزنیم قاتل کیه؟
کسی قاتل شد که انگار یهو امده و هییییچ ربطی به کتاب ندارع
این جلد انتظار نداشتم اینطور باشه!
چون جلد قبلیش بهتر بود!
چرا کلی جای خالی و سوال گذاشت؟ شخصیت‌ها همین طور موندن انگار

[Sunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

No clowns please, I'm skittish!

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this, although it wasn't quite as good as some of the earlier books in the series.
* Poppy and Graham are intrigued when some circus posters are defaced, making them say that one performer (Irena) will face certain death.
* Poppy and Graham go along to the circus to take part in some juggling lessons which are being offered, and stay to see the show.
* During Irena's performance, a shot rings out and Irena and her co-star both nearly die as a result after falling from a trapeze. The woman sitting next to Poppy really does die though, as it seems the bullet ricocheted and hit her instead of Irena.
* The police arrest one woman, but Poppy and Graham decide to do their own investigation as they don't believe it was really her.
* Then when someone else dies and it looks like he was responsible for the shooting, and then killed himself, the police release the woman and assume the case is closed. But Poppy and Graham still don't think they've got the right culprit.
* Poppy and Graham work out that it must have been Yuri - a Yugoslavian man who fired the gun, but that he wasn't actually aiming for Irina, he was aiming for the old lady who died, because she was also from Yugoslavia.
* Unfortunately they're wrong, and it's actually Yuri's brother who did it, and now tries to kill them.

- I liked this, but it wasn't my favourite of the series so far. Poppy and Graham actually seemed younger in this than in the previous books. And how on earth do they keep getting themselves involved in these murder cases? I'm not surprised when Poppy's mum keeps getting annoyed with having to go to the station to sit in with them while they're interviewed!

[Foxglove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poppy and Graham are back! And this time, their voices are clearer than ever. I love how their dedication to each other was shown very clearly, in a way that a lot of other friendships in murder mysteries are often not. The characters were great in this book, which I felt was lacking a little in the last one. The plot was honestly excellent, and I like the fact that it dealt with difficult topics. I also love the fact that Graham (SPOILER) called out the killer for illogically explaining his master plan. Personally, I think this was one of the best of the Poppy Fields mysteries.

[a robinson]

A bit scary

[Sarah Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certain death

Interesting and well written
I would definitely recommend this book to older children who like detective novels. A great read.

[Zach Vaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 better than I was expecting! Enjoyed this book but it was a shame the ending was rushed short which definitely took away some points. Nice quick who dun it

[Emmivee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plot had more twists than my phone charger

[Marylou · Rating 4 out of 5]

00:36
1 August 2023

[Take.a.bite.of.a.b0ok-_- · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit confusing, but not unlike tanya landman's books it was pure entertainment and it was very enjoyable. :)

[Riverina Regional Library]

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