Il club del crimine

by Katherine Woodfine

Nove "Signore del giallo" raccontano storie di crimini apparentemente inspiegabili, dove viene messa alla prova la capacità deduttiva di giovani investigatrici e investigatori. Dall'Ottocento ai giorni nostri, dall'Inghilterra all'America, ogni mistero invita i lettori a risolvere un enigma insieme ai detective. Ma la domanda è uguale per tutti: chi è il colpevole? Età di lettura: da 11 anni.

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

142 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2016

About the author

Katherine Woodfine is the author of more than 15 books for children, including the Sinclair’s Mysteries and Taylor & Rose Secret Agents series. Her first published novel, The Clockwork Sparrow, was a Sunday Times bestseller and was nominated for numerous awards. A champion of children’s literature, she has previously worked on projects including the Children’s Laureate, YALC (the UK’s first young adult literature convention) and children’s books podcast Down the Rabbit Hole. She now combines writing with reviewing children’s books. She lives in Lancashire, UK in an old house near a castle, with her family and two black cats. Find out more at katherinewoodfine.co.uk

Reviews

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Words: Mystery, murder, detectives, investigations, fun.

This was a fantastically fun read, which I enjoyed overall.

Now, I love anthologies. I love being able to delve into a short story, discover new authors, revisit favourites. I love that I can have a casual affair with a theme, never being tied to a longer story yet still being able to come back again and again.

There are twelve stories and I only skipped past one (I just didn't gel with the writing style) so I call that a definite win! The authors were a mix of those I had previously read and loved, some on my TBR and others I had never heard of. Needless to say, my TBR is now longer.

And, smarty pants that I am, I guessed a lot of the culprits. I think this is due to me reading an awful lot of crime/mysteries. It wasn't easy to guess whodunnit, but it was super enjoyable. I probably spent more time pondering than I did reading!

I'd recommend this to anyone who has an open enough mind to read middle-grade (never too old!!) and enjoys a good mystery (or twelve). This was perfect for dipping in and out of, picking up during my breaks, and reading just before bed.

I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes.

[Stacey | prettybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to see Egmont publish a collection of crime short stories by some of my favourite children's authors, such as Clementine Beauvais and Katherine Woodfine. In Mystery & Mayhem, we solve baffling crimes occurring in locked rooms, encounter a whole host of canine capers, and more; it's a fun and varied collection of stories.

I'm sadly not a short story convert (still!) because more often than not, the stories end just as I start getting into them. However, the young detectives are a delight. We get to solve The Mystery of the Purloined Pearls with Lil from The Clockwork Sparrow series, and help Minnie from Marsh Road Mysteries track down which dastardly character destroyed the feathery carnival costume. I might stick to full-length stories, but I'm looking forward to reading more from The Crime Club.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this book for review!

I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.

[Harj D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought I would give this book a try, especially since I've thoroughly enjoyed Katherine Woodfine's books so far and although this was a collaborative book of short stories by various authors, it was very enjoyable. A nice, quick read with some interesting tales and puzzles to make you think a little. I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others and it was quite an exciting feeling when I managed to solve a crime before a story had ended, but a couple of stories did fall a little flat for me. Generally though, for a collection of stories, I found it a good read, especially when you just want someone fairly straightforward but still retaining some intrigue.

[julka ⋆˚꩜｡⋆˙⟡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

szczerze na poczatku ta ksiazka byla straszna meczarnia ale z czasem zaczela mi sie podobac. wielkim minusem bylo dla mnie to, ze kazda z historii miala po ok 30 stron i bardzo trudno mi bylo ogarnac kto jest kim itp. ale zaczelam sie powoli przyzwyczajac i kazda z historii czytalo mi sie co raz latwiej, ale zaliczam to do minusow, bo to nie bylo przyjemne czytanie. co do tych 30 stron to po hakims czasie bylo to takim lekkim plusem bo to taka zagadka na szybko ze tak powiem. i moja najwiksza motywacja do czytania tej ksiazki bylo ze autorka jednej z opowiadan byla robin stevens, autorka ksiazki zbrodnia nie przystoi damie ktora po prostu pokochalam. i faktycznie, jej historia mnie najbardziej pociagnela. moja ocena to 3.5 🌟🌟🌟

[Sigourney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received from NetGalley for review.

3.5 stars

I loved this concept – a collection of twelve mystery stories with a wild variety of settings, characters, and time periods by twelve authors (all women, woo!), some of whom I have read before and loved. This is an incredibly fun collection as it challenges the reader to figure out the mysteries before the characters, something that I thoroughly enjoyed trying to do and succeeded in a few times – some of the characters are from a full novel or series, so you can delve further into their world if you wish. So many people are going to love this collection – regardless of age – as the mystery genre is so popular, and probably always will be, although there stories largely employ humour rather than darkness. I know that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the different stories (although not all of them particularly stood out to me).

My favourites were: The Mystery of the Green Room by Clémentine Beauvais, Mel Foster and the Hound of the Baskervilles by Julia Golding, God’s Eye by Frances Hardinge, and The Murder of Monsieur Pierre by Harriet Whitehorn.

Emily and the Detectives by Susie Day – 3/5 stars

Rain on my Parade by Elen Caldecott – 3/5 stars

The Mystery of the Green Room by Clémentine Beauvais – 4/5 stars. Absolutely hilarious! Accidental canary deaths, a dead yet sneaky Uncle, and his conveniently murdered brother? Golden.

The Mystery of Diablo Canyon Circle by Caroline Lawrence – 3.5/5 stars

Mel Foster and the Hound of the Baskervilles by Julia Golding – 4/5 stars. Monster Resistance? Hell yes! Sherlock, the Baskerville story re-done, monstrous detectives.

Dazzle, Dog Biscuits and Disaster by Kate Pankhurst – 2/5 stars

God’s Eye by Frances Hardinge – 4/5 stars. Spies, artists, poison, hidden agendas. Frances Hardinge is a literary goddess and this short story is no different – she has a way of crafting words into vivid pictures with ease.

The Mystery of the Pineapple Plot by Helen Moss – 3/5 stars. Very silly, but clever nonetheless.

The Murder of Monsieur Pierre by Harriet Whitehorn – 4/5 stars. Quarrelling French hairdressers, jealous wives, secret children, belladonna. Another fantastic story.

Safe-Keeping by Sally Nicholls – 1/5 stars. The only story I didn’t finish. I couldn’t get past the use of ‘was’ and ‘what’ instead of ‘were’ and ‘that’; I’m sure it works in the story but I can’t read it from a first person narrative without cringing.

The Mystery of the Purloined Pearls by Katherine Woodfine – 3/5 stars

The Mystery of Room 12 by Robin Stevens – 3/5 stars

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the stories in this. The stand out ones for me had to be those by Susie Day, Harriet Whitehorn and Robin Stevens.

Emily and the detectives by Susie Day Fab little story. I loved Emily as a character and her determination to not let Victorian sexist attitudes hold her back.

Rain on my parade by Elen Caldecott I think Elen's series is one I'm going to have to puck up now based on that short story.

The mystery of the green room by Clementine Beaumais Blimey that was a bit dark.

The mystery of Diablo Canyon Circle by Caroline Lawrence I really liked the characters in the one. Not so much the mystery because it made me sad."

Mel Foster and the Hound of the Baskerville by Julia Golding Not really my sort of read as it has fantasy element to it

Dazzle, Dog Biscuits and Disaster by Kate Pankhurst A nice enough little story.

God's Eye by Frances Hardinge Really enjoyed the historical detail in this story.

The Mystery of the Pineapple Plot by Helen Moss Ok but found myself skimming

The Murder of Monsieur Pierre by Harriet Whitehorn Really loved this story. I want more stories with this character.

Safe-Keeping by Sally Nichols Enjoyed this story.

The Mystery of the Purloined Pearls by Katherine Woodfine Loved hearing from Lil in this story

The Mystery of Room 12 by Robin Stevens Really enjoyed this one

[Daphne (Illumicrate) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of fun short mysteries and the perfect middle grade book for children to read over the summer! The stories were delightful and there were definitely some stand out ones that made me want to read their author's long-form fiction (Frances Hardinge, Sally Nicholls, I'm looking at you). Like any collection, I enjoyed some stories more than others. I'm happy to admit that I did end up solving more than one of the stories, which makes me feel prouder than I should be. If there's a book you want to give to a reluctant reader, this is the one.

[Juliaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dobra książka dla dzieci które są zafascynowane z tematyką kriminalna. Myślę że dwa rozdziały są trochę mocniejsze, bardziej poważne dla takich mało letnich jak historia o tajemnicy zielonego pokoju i tajemnica pokoju numer 12. Na przykład w historii o pokoju nr 12, ciało czy ciała już nie pamiętam są znalezione w walizce itd. Ale tak to wszystko jest ok, dla mnie te dwa historię właśnie były najlepsze ale trzeba pamiętać że takie historię też mogą być za mocne dla dzieci. Ale i tak rekomenduję ta książkę!

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

My eyes were glued to the book.

[Greta Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid

[aladyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bardzo fajny koncept!! Jednak jestem fanem dłuższych historii i po pewnym czasie mi się już nieprzyjemnie czytało. Still bardzo dobry pomysł dla młodszych!!

[Majorka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Czytałam jak byłam dzieckiem i nawet mi się podobało :))

[AriAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Racconti brevi e molti carini.
Questo tipo di libro mi piace molto perché risulta leggero e se come me vivete in periodi tra esami e lavoro questo è perfetto.
Storie interessanti e intriganti.

[John Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery & Mayhem, from Egmont Publishing, is a collection of twelve short stories featuring sabotage, missing dogs, purloined jewels – and murder.

I like a good mystery. My first book, The Wreck of the Argyll, is often described as a “WWI spy thriller”, but for me it’s just as much a mystery, with my plucky young Dundonian detectives Nancy Caird and Jamie Balfour trying to get to the bottom of the enigma of Mr Simpson and his night-time perambulations. The (probably never-to-be-published) sequel, Murder at Eaglecrest, takes this a lot further – it begins with Nancy and Jamie attempting to solve a locked-room murder at a country house (before ending up in a WWI submarine chase involving deadly spies).

So this collection is right up my street, and features lots of writers I already follow – and indeed, have already included on my blog, like Caroline Lawrence, Katherine Woodfine and Robin Stevens.

The twelve stories are divided into four sections – Impossible Mysteries (locked-room cases, one of my favourite types of mystery), Canine Capers (involving dogs in the great tradition of Conan Doyle, whose monstrous hounds and curious incidents of dogs in the night-time provide inspiration), Poison Plots (involving a diverse array of poison-related cases), and Closed-System Crimes (where no-one but a limited selection of suspects can get in or out to commit the dastardly deed).

The settings range from the late 18th century through Victorian times, right up to the present day. We even have a trip to an alternative world where monsters are real courtesy of Julia Golding’s story about Mel Foster and the Monster Resistance. One thing remains constant across all the stories – the kids are smart, determined, and brave, and solve the crimes before the adults can. I approve!

Every story is worth reading, but if I had to pick out some stand-outs, I’d choose Mel Foster and the Hound of the Baskervilles by Julia Golding, purely because the inclusion of monsters in this resolutely real world-based anthology came as such a pleasant surprise; God’s Eye by Frances Hardinge for the depiction of London from the air (every time I read Ms Hardinge I despair for the leaden nature of my own prose); and Safe-Keeping by Sally Nicholls for the brilliantly engaging voice of her narrator Stanley. But they’re all great. Robin Stevens’ first foray away from posh 1930s girl detectives is worthy of Agatha Christie; Caroline Lawrence’s trip across the Atlantic for her cowboy-influenced tale provides a counterweight to the Eurocentric (and primarily British) setting for the rest of the volume; and Katherine Woodfine’s story of Lil from The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow and The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth will delight anyone who’s read those books.

There’s a lot of fun to be had trying to guess the solution to the mysteries before the kid detectives do; I wasn’t keeping score, so I don’t need to embarrass myself by telling you how many I got right. Let’s just say I got some of them, but nowhere near all of them – this is a devious collection of authors!

So if you like a good mystery, here are twelve of the best.

Review copy of Mystery & Mayhem provided by Egmont through NetGalley.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this! So much fun and a great a fiery of stories. This is so perfect for reluctant or less confident readers.

Full review to come.

[Serendipity Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fabulous collection of clever plottings!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was the only book "by" Katherine Woodfine that my library system had available, and I wanted to check out her writing before committing to buying any of her books (based initially off the pretty cover art, let's be real). This one's actually a compilation of twelve stories by twelve different authors, including one by Woodfine.

The quality varies a bit, as with any collection, but it's actually a pretty solid anthology. It combines two of my favorites genres - children's lit and mysteries - and provides excellent introductions to some new authors I'll probably be checking out when I get a chance.

For me, some stumbles came in Susie Day's and Helen Moss's selections. Although the stories themselves were cute and playfully told, I feel a little weird about how they described their non-white main characters. It's possible to accurately portray societal racism in a thoughtful and critical way, but their methods felt...off. Is there really a solid reason to name your main character "Quality Fruit" because he arrived from Jamaica in a box of pineapple cuttings?

High points were Caroline Lawrence, Frances Hardinge, Harriet Whitehorn, Katherine Woodfine, and Robin Stevens. Whitehorn, Woodfine, and Stevens, in particular, had characters I'd be interested in spending more time with. Mysteries, particularly ones written with a younger audience in mind, don't necessarily have to come up with the most clever twist - and it didn't take much to guess the endings for all of these. At the same time, writing for children doesn't mean you should dumb down your plot or thin out your characterizations, and these writers found a nice balance, creating stories that are approachable enough for younger audiences but equally enjoyable for adults to read.

[Briar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ordered Mystery & Mayhem because I’ve enjoyed novels by a few of the authors before and thought it’d be fun to see what they did with a short story. I love Robin Stevens’ Murder Most Unladylike series, and Katherine Woodfine’s Sinclair’s Mysteries too. I also read Sally Nicholls’ Things a Bright Girl Can Do recently and enjoyed it very much. It must be said that these three were among my favourites in the collection, too. This collection of short stories is a lot of fun, and I recommend it to children and adults who enjoy a good mystery. There’ll be bound to be something you love!

The rest of my review can be found at my blog https://thewearybookcase.home.blog/20...

[Il Filo di Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ci ho messo un po' a terminare questa raccolta di racconti mystery per ragazzi, mi sono presa il mio tempo per godermi ciascun racconto, inframezzando con altri libri in lettura.
Il voto finale è: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️
Mi piace che siano tutte autrici donne, e che il target dei racconti sia middle grade (in tutto, sono 12 misteri).
L'ho letto un po' in italiano, un po' in inglese, perchè 3 racconti non sono stati tradotti e non capisco il perchè 🤷‍♀️
I miei preferiti sono stati quelli, ovviamente, scritti da Robin Steven e Katherine Woodfine, due autrici che conoscevo già, ma anche i 3 racconti con un cane come focus e quello scritto da Harriet Whitehorn (devo approfondire).

In compenso, molto consigliata!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like reading these kind of books where it is many short stories written by different authors. Because, it gives me a way of finding new authors and seeing which ones I like best and exploring the new styles of writing the different authors use. It gives me opportunities to read the work of authors I didn't know of before. I also really liked this book because I love the mystery genre and I found it really nice to go back to reading mystery books, for I haven't in a while, and I found this book a nice way to ease myself back into this genre while also discovering new writers. 4/5

[Martyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Przekrój czasem totalnie różnych pod względem warsztatu skutkuje tym, że opowiadania są momentami nierówne. Było kilka całkiem fajnych, ale część była po prostu rozczarowująca. Jako zachęta do sięgnięcia po samodzielne publikacje autorek sprawdzi się, ale utrzymuję swoje zdanie, iż jednak zagadki kryminalne wypadają lepiej, gdy są dopieszczone i poświęcona im jest osobna książka. Te tutaj były spłycone, z powtarzalnym, mało rozbudowanym zakończeniem. Miały one jednakże wyjątkowy klimat, co dodawało im dużo w skali wartości.

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t normally read short stories, but this collection has made me want to read more. I loved all the stories and, however much I love murder mysteries, it was nice that they didn’t all have murder - it made a change from the mysteries I usually read. Although it’s all one genre, this book has something for everyone - monsters solving mysteries, dogs, historical fiction. I would recommend to anyone.

[Marlana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are always a bit of a mix bag.

Most of the mysteries in Mystery & Mayhem were fun, full of colorful characters, and kept you guessing until near the end.

There were some stories that were a bit anticlimactic and a couple had characters I didn't care for, but overall, it was a good anthology and one I would recommend to middle grade readers or lovers of middle grade fiction.

I really wish we could give half stars because Mystery & Mayhem definitely deserves 3.5 stars.

[Vanessa]

Didn’t finish. 😔 Normally I love reading juvenile fiction and anthologies, and mystery is one of my favorite genes, so I thought this collection would be perfect for me, but it seems like 30-50 pages just isn’t enough to create a compelling enough mystery. I only made it to page 122 and then gave up because I kept falling asleep almost immediately when I picked it up. It’s entirely possible that some of the stories toward the end were amazing, but I just couldn’t continue.

[Seawood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of short story compilations, but SURPRISE! this is the first one where I've enjoyed every story. It's a fantastic collection of stellar writers with a range of mysteries through different historical periods. I knew some of the series already, but delightfully it's also given me some to pursue. Looking forward to passing this on to the school library; recommended for Y5-6.

[K & B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but sweet! I particularly enjoyed The Mystery of Room 12 (Robin Stevens) and God's Eye (Frances Hardinge). Although some were a tad boring, with more difficult words used, they were all mysteries solved by clever young children, who never seem to be daunted by how adutls perceive them. So pick this book up and dive into a sea of mystery!

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad mystery anthology. I think that me being so much older than the target demographic really affected my enjoyment of it. I am also not a huge fan of short stories so that affected it as well. Overall the stories were decent and well written I think this is just a case of this book just not being for me. I am sure it was enjoyable for many others.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to individually rate them, but 4 stars is a collective rating. Of course some I enjoyed more than others, but overall, most were 4 or 5 stars, and I enjoyed this collection. It was good to be back reading short stories, something I don't do too much of - especially as I've been so busy lately.

[Pili · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of mysteries that is well worth the read, even if not all stories are equally intriguing and not all mysteries are equally as challenging. Some are easier to solve than others, but all have a certain charm if not on their mysteriousness, in their characters or setting.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining collection of short mystery stories for children. Very varied in tone, style and setting (which is part of the attraction of the collection) but all well-written, though some of the mysteries were rather easy for an adult to figure out.