The Super Sunny Murder Club: The Very Merry Murder Club, Book 2

Murder Club

by Abiola Bello

A collection of sizzling summer-themed crime and mystery stories by thirteen of the most popular, exciting and diverse children’s book authors!

Co-edited by Serena Patel, the award-winning author of the Accidental Detective series and by Robin Stevens, author of the bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series.

Read by Kirin Ali, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Loreece Harrison, Emma Kaler, Jay Lafette-Valentine, Michael Obiora, and Emma Tracey.

This gorgeous summery collection brings back together thirteen bestselling, award-winning and exciting Abiola Bello, Annabelle Sami, Benjamin Dean, E.L. Norry, Elle McNicoll, Dominique Valente, Maisie Chan, Nizrana Farook, Patrice Lawrence, Robin Stevens, Roopa Farooki, Serena Patel and Sharna Jackson. With stunning illustrations by Harry Woodgate.

Grab your sunnies and your magnifying glass, and join the Murder Club for more sensational short stories as they lead you on a journey of foul play and murderously magnificent mysteries! Including sun-thieves, fantastical creatures of the deep, airport mayhem, weddings gone wrong, tropical resort travesties, and a very sticky situation at a berry picking farm.

This is the prefectly entertaining collection to pack in every young reader’s summer holiday bag.

Serena Patel is the winner of the This Week Junior’s Young Fiction Book of the Year award. Her debut children’s series Anisha Accidental Detective won the fiction category of the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards, being shortlisted for a British Book Award and the Blue Peter Prize 2021 and selected for The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge. Serena lives in Walsall with her family.

Robin Stevens is the award winning and bestselling author of the Murder Most Unladylike mystery series. She was born in California and has been making up stories all her life. When she was twelve, her father handed her a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and she realised that she wanted to be either Hercule Poirot or Agatha Christie when she grew up. She spent her teenage years reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she'd get the chance to do some detecting herself (she didn't). Robin lives in Oxford.

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Crime, Childrens, Young Adult, Summer, Short Stories

Audible Audio

First published June 6, 2024

About the author

Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning children’s/YA author who was born and raised in London. She wrote her first novel at the age of eight and experienced her first taste of ‘being published’ after winning a school poetry competition at the age of 12.

Abiola is an advocate for diversity in books for young people. She’s the author of the award-winning fantasy series EMILY KNIGHT (EMILY KNIGHT I AM, EMILY KNIGHT I AM…AWAKENED and EMILY KNIGHT I AM BECOMING). EMILY KNIGHT I AM…AWAKENED was nominated for the CILIP’s Carnegie Award, won London’s BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book.

Abiola contributed to THE VERY MERRY MURDER CLUB, a collection of new mystery fiction from thirteen exciting and diverse children’s writers which published in October 2021 (Farshore/HarperCollins). It was Waterstones November Children's Book of the Month, Amazon Number 1 bestseller, The Bookseller One To Watch, The Guardian's Children's & Teens Best New Novels.

Her debut YA, LOVE IN WINTER WONDERLAND, published Winter 2022 (Simon & Schuster UK). It was an Amazon Number 1 bestseller, The Bookseller One To Watch, Amazon Editor's Choice for Black History Month 2022, featured in The Guardian Children's & Teens Best New Novels and was on an Amazon Billboard for Black History Month in Leicester Square. LOVE IN WINTER WONDERLAND was sold to the US, Germany and Poland. The US edition is a Junior Library Guild Pick and the German edition was shortlisted for Best YA and Best Cover for the Lovely Books Community Award 2023.

Abiola's latest book ONLY FOR THE HOLIDAYS published Autumn 2023 (Simon & Schuster UK). It was The Bookseller One To Watch, one of Waterstones Best Paperbacks of 2023 and featured in The Guardian Children's & Teens Best New Novels.

Abiola won The Black British Business Awards - Arts and Media 2023, The London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards 2018. She is the co-founder of Hashtag Press, Hashtag BLAK, The Diverse Book Awards and ink!

Abiola has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Female First Magazine, The Mirror, BBC1XTRA to name a few. As well as being a writer, Abiola is a professional dancer. She has performed for more than a decade in prestigious venues including The Royal Opera House, The Barbican, Sadler’s Wells, Hammersmith Apollo, Unicorn Theatre. Abiola has also appeared on BBC’s The Apprentice, “Got To Dance” and Street Dance AllStars The Movie.

Reviews

[Janneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of mystery stories. Some absolute hits and some misses, as is always the case with these types of anthologies. In general, I think I liked this one more than the previous winter one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Murder at Mystery and Mayhem- Robin Stevens
This was such a fun story. I absolutely adored it. I loved Gracie and Why and the humor in this one. The mystery was great too. Very impressive that the author managed to get a mystery that felt solvable by the reader, but also not completely obvious into such a short story

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Murder on the Dance Floor - Abiola Bella
I didn't like this one as much. It was fine, but it just didn't grip my attention. I didn't feel like there were many clues to follow and I wasn't speculating the way I was in the previous story

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Treetop Trials - Maisie Chan
This one was really fun. I loved the characters and the mystery. I would be interested in reading more of this.

⭐️⭐️ The Thief Who Stole Summer - Benjamin Dean
I really enjoyed the first half or so of this story, but very much disliked the second half. The thing I like most about mysteries is that it raises a lot of questions and makes you think, but also answers them before the end of the story. This one definitely did not do that. I also didn't like the horror-y twist or unhappy ending

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Poison Playtime: A Midsummer Night's Murder Mystery - Roopa Farooki
I liked this one a lot. The twins and their grandmother were my favorite in the Christmas anthology, so was very happy to see they were back in this one. I loved the set up of this story. My main issue was that the reveal felt very sudden and the twins didn't really end up doing any real sleuthing

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Window Pain - Sharna Jackson
This was a surprising stand out to me. At the beginning, I didn't think I was going to like it much, but it ended up being really amazing. This felt like a real detective. There were theories going around, sleuthing to be done, an interrogation and the main character outwitting the bad guy. I loved it

⭐️⭐️ Behind the Screams in the Museum - Patrice Lawrence
I appreciate that something different was tried for this story, but it just didn't really work for me

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Say I Dunnit - Elle McNicoll
I loved this story. I'm so glad Briar came back in this collection. I missed the little autistic detective. I still really want Elle McNicoll to write a full book about her. I did figure out the culprit almost immediately, but it was still really fun

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Summertime and the Killing is Easy - E.L. Norry
I'm a bit divided on how I feel about this story. I liked the mystery part of it, as well as Luca and his friends. I definitely feel like the characters that were picked to return from the Very Merry Murder Club book are some of my favorites, so I'm happy about that. I really dislike the parts where the camp leaders blame/judge Luca based on what his dad did though. It is made clear they're in the wrong, but at some parts it still just reads like an adult bullying a kid. I feel like the author could have (and should have) showed Marc having complicated feelings about being around Luca, without him being so nasty to Luca. Or at least included a scene at the end where Marc apologizes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Deadly Departure - Serena Patel
This was a fine story, but it just didn't stand out for me in any way

⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Berry Juicy Murder - Annabelle Sami
This was a fun one, though a bit predictable. I think it also suffers from its placing in this anthology. After a while, these stories start to feel a bit too similar and really need something special to make them stand out, which I think this one is lacking. If it was one of the first stories in the anthology, I would probably have rated it higher

DNF: Mistlight - Dominique Valente
A very sudden shift into a fantasy story that I feel doesn't fit into this collection at all. I only read a few pages of this, so can't judge the story itself. It's not what I am looking for in an anthology centered around murder mysteries

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Death in the Tropics - Nizrana Farook
A nice and very classic murder mystery. I loved the cast of characters in this. I also thought it was a nice way to end the collection

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirteen (well, eleven true ones) (murder) mystery stories set in the summer!


The newest Murder Mystery Club anthology book, sadly, I have to say that while I did have some good stories (and a couple of great) this one wasn’t as good as the first book which is set in winter.

1st: Star rating, 4.5 stars (This one is all about a bookstore full of crime/mystery books + more which I would love to visit so badly, just a shame the UK made it so hard to go ever since Brexit (I am not in the mood to get a passport), but what happens when a murder takes place? Fun characters to follow though Why confused me, mostly because of their name, I had to re-read at times because I wasn’t sure if we were talking about the character or asking something. The mystery was a delight though. At the end there was an error with the names, a mix-up of the guy who was murdered and the guy who owns a store across the street.)
2nd: Star rating, 4.5 stars (In this one there is a big event, our MCs can do a dance before the program of a big superstar dancer, I loved that this one took place at a themepark, and while I could already deduce what happened to the guy and also a possibly who, it was still a lot of fun to see our MC and her friends try to figure it out.)
3rd: Star rating, 4 stars (This kind of place with climbing and all sounds like a dream, yes I have a fear of heights but I would still want to at least give it a shot, not sure about the jump though, but haha, who knows. The mystery was fairly simple, at the point of the dog barking and the owner telling why, I knew the culprit. The why though that was much more interesting. I wasn’t such a fan of the sister, yes, I loved her bookish ways but she was just so inappropriate at times.)
4th: DNF (Sorry, but I skipped this one after a couple of pages, it just didn’t feel like the story fitted in this anthology, also I flipped through it and the dog talks? Worst thing to happen so I am even more glad I stopped reading.)
5th: Star rating, 3 stars(This one felt like I had to know everyone already, maybe they were in the other book, but seriously, that has been almost 3 years, haha. Ali was such an ass at times with her attitude and I just wanted her gone from the story. But I did like the theatre parts and the mystery was fun. Also confused about Evelyn being a guy????)
6th: Star rating, 3.5 stars (The MC wasn’t entirely fun, also I can tell you that as someone with hayfever and such, we had hot summers when I was a kid, which sucked, but thankfully there are things like pools in the neighbourhood and medicines that do work. I did like the mystery though and loved that it took place almost literally in the MC’s backyard. His best friend was the best character in the book and I love how he supported his friend even though his friend was like this. The illustration wasn’t right, in the story it is mentioned there is a car park but in the illustration there is just grass, and in the story the building sounds like a proper big one whereas in the illustration it was just more of a garage type (if that makes sense).)
7th: Star rating, 3.5 stars (Two siblings in a museum and we get the POV of both which I just adored. Fun BTS references which I absolutely loved. And a great mystery, which sadly wasn’t a murder one, but more someone trying to take over the world with a flute.)
8th: Star rating, 4 stars (Not a murder mystery again, but an attempt I guess? It took place at a wedding, there was a cute dog, a kid who already solved a mystery once and is eager to solve this one as well. The mystery was a delight and I loved seeing our MC figure things out and confront the culprit.)
9th: Star rating, 2.5 stars(This was a good mystery (and terrifying for someone like me who has a peanut + nut allergy) but I hated how everyone treated Luca and how NO ONE said sorry to him. I am sorry, he is not responsible for his dad, and this really made me hate the story, if there had been an apology or people treating him better I would have just like this one so much more.)
10th: Star rating, 3 stars (What happens when you are stuck at the airport and a murder happens (to a very unfriendly guy who is even more unfriendly when we learn the whys), the mystery was just such a fun one (and it was fab how it all came together) and I love that it takes place in a place you don’t generally see a murder mystery happen in. But our MC was not nice at times, like how she reacted to that woman complimenting her headphones, RUDE, and this comes from an ADHD person who can get that some questions get annoying but she only just HAD those headphones, strangely her mom didn’t even care???)
11th: Star rating, 4 stars (This was a really fun mystery taking place at a farm, but once again no murder . But I did like seeing things happen and see the mystery thicken but also get more clear, there is a whole plan. I liked the MCs, though I found it incredibly rude they just entered someone’s home.)
12th: DNF (The fuck we go to a fantasy story all of the sudden??? My mood was definitely not into puberty and boys changing into sea serpents and all that so bye.)
13th: Star rating, 4 stars (This was fun and I also love the tropical theme (it made me want to go and step inside the story), the mystery was a bit too easily solved, but still a fun one to follow/see what is going to happen. The illustrations were once again not correct, because in the story it is mentioned that there is just a small window in the coconuts, enough to allow a straw, but in the illustrations the coconuts are almost completely open in the top.)

All in all, sadly, this was an OK anthology, but it won’t be staying on my shelves. I did enjoy this one, or well the stories that I liked, and I liked the illustrations even if they weren’t always correct/matched the descriptions in the stories. I do hope that there will be another anthology because I definitely want more mystery stories.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[daj.nura.w.ksiazki · Rating 4 out of 5]

🕵🏼‍♂️👣

Lubicie mroczne zagadki i tajemnice? Uwielbiacie lato, słońce i wakacje? Jeśli tak, ta książka jest dla Was.

,,Klub gorących zbrodni" to zbiór trzynastu opowiadań detektywistycznych dla najmłodszych czytelników, choć nie tylko. Odkryjcie, co tak naprawdę stało się z zaginioną nauczycielką, kto stoi za nagłym zgonem na lotnisku i dlaczego ktoś postanowił upuścić żyrandol na pannę młodą podczas ceremonii ślubnej.

🏖️🌞

Świetnie się bawiłam, czytając te opowiadania. Oczywiście jak to w przypadku zbiorów bywa, miałam swoje mniej i bardziej ulubione. Do tych najlepszych zaliczam: Ból okienny, Powiedzmy, że to zrobiłam i Śmiertelny odlot.

Oprócz ciekawych zagadek i zaskakujących rozwiązań, doceniam ten zbiór za to, że jest pełen barwnych charakterów. Autorzy wykreowali naprawdę wspaniałą galerię różnorodnych postaci, z którymi można się utożsamić i którym aż chce się kibicować.

Bardzo polecam, a zimową porą zachęcam Was też do sięgnięcia po pierwszy zbiór opowiadań z tej serii - ,,Klub świątecznych zbrodni".

📝🔎

[współpraca reklamowa z @wydawnictwo_dwukropek]

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s summer and upon my jaunt around Waterstones, I stumbled across the centre aisle middle grade book table and this one immediately jumped into my hands and ended up at the till! I was looking for some short mystery stories and this fit the bill perfectly.

I also got the audiobook to read alongside and they were a great accompaniment to each other. I really enjoyed pretty much all the stories and looked forward to starting each new chapter.

Made up for on a mix of a whole host of absolutely amazing authors, they compose some absolutely brilliant stories with some awesome illustrations that joins them.

The audiobook is also narrated by a whole cast of great actors who all did great jobs at providing life to the stories. Glad I picked this one up!

[Gracie:) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This bumper collection of 13 short stories by the modern Kings & Queens of Crime was exciting for me. Despite my age, I still love going back and reading some of my old favourites!
I will admit, this collection was a disappointment. Every story felt like it was making a political statement. Of course, this is fine if sincere, but this felt so fake and as if it were just "tick boxes". A couple of the crime's denouements also didn't make much sense.
However, I loved many of the characters created in this anthology and it was a super light read. Perfect for kids aged 9-12 looking for some light holiday reading.

[Kirsten Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder, mystery and summer!
These short stories brought me back to my childhood books - adventures with Nancy Drew, the Famous Five and Point Crime!

However the biggest difference is these stories are modern and relevant - with a wonderful selection of characters that our young people can relate too and learn from.

As it's a combination of different authors it means you have a whole selection of different writing styles, themes and. viewpoints.

As a teacher if you struggle to share a novel with your class then short stories are a fabulous alternative.

[Helen Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect summer read - especially good for children in years 5 & 6 approaching the end of the school year and/or to enjoy over the school holidays. Easy to read, short and fun stories written by top current children's authors including Abiola Bello (if you've not read her Emily Knight series you've got to check it out!). The vibrant illustrations by the fabulous Harry Woodgate bring each author's stories to life. Other amazing authors who have contributed to this anthology include Benjamin Dean, Serena Patel, J.T. Williams, and E.L. Norry.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

the title is a bit misleading because not all of these are actually murder mysteries, but I actually liked some of the ones that weren't murder mysteries so I'm not too bothered about that.
my favourites were The Murder at Mystery and Mayhem, Window Pain, Behind the Screams in the Museum, Summertime and the Killing is Easy, and Mistlight.
the one thing I really didn't like is that in one of the stories, the illustration gives away the mystery before you actually read that part

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a brilliant short story anthology! I think I’ve experienced the most emotions ever: terror, love, delight, joy! There’s a few proper stand outs in this. And now I’m excited to read the other one! Love the illustrations for each story too - add so much!

[Vonprice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous selection of 13 cosy crime short stories written for the middle grade audience. You can read my review here: http://vsviewfromthebookshelves.home....

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed collection of short stories but, on the whole, I quite enjoyed it. Despite the title, several of the stories don't involve murder. Most are crime/mystery/whodunnit stories but two are fantasy (one of those verging on horror, though still suitable for children).

[Trudy]

I decided not to rate this book since I'm not the target audience. There were a couple of the stories that I thought were cute; along the lines of Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo (my era). I also enjoyed the one story that was really a fantasy rather than murder/mystery.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library copy

Perfectly fine stories, but the book looks longer than I expected. Will my students pick it up, since they always are asking for murderous tales? We'll see. The Christmas title does decently, but then my students ask for a lot of holiday tales as well.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of summer mysteries!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read it kept me on the edge of my bed for every story would highly recommend 👍😊

[Elianah Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that it was amazing and I really enjoyed how it was not one story but lots of different short stories! Highly recommended!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is a series of short stories all revolving around a mystery of sorts to be solved

[Katie 📚 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars!

[Lacie Fitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely DELIGHTFUL collection of mysteries and thrilles for middle grade audiences.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

another great installment by so many great authors.Every single story was absolutely amazing.i loved this book just as much as the Christmas/winter stories.

[Alice magical library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book of short stories! they were amazing! This book is a collection of short murder or crime stories written by 13 different authors. They were all amazing, however, my favourite ones were:
Say I Dunnit by @ellemcnicollofficial
Death in the Tropics by @nizrite
Behind the Scream in the Museum by @lawrencepatrice Murder on the Dancefloor by @abiolabello and The Treetop Trials by @maisiechanwrites .

[maahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

*+*⭐️4.5⭐️*+* I ✨LOVED✨ this book! :) this was one of the best books I’ve ever read! 📚 I personally think this is a great book for children who want to read murder mystery!🩷 all the stories are easy to understand and are super *+*interesting*+* and *+*exciting*+*!! 😁 and a lot of them have plot twists which make the story super engaging and you will definitely not get bored!📕