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Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen #1
Aggie Morton reine du mystère (Tome 1) - L'affaire du grand piano
Aggie Morton lives in a small town on the coast of England in 1902. Adventurous and imaginative but deeply shy, Aggie hasn't got much to do since the death of her beloved father . . . until the fateful day when she crosses paths with twelve-year-old Belgian immigrant Hector Perot and discovers a dead body on the floor of the Mermaid Dance Room! As the number of suspects grows and the murder threatens to tear the town apart, Aggie and her new friend will need every tool at their disposal -- including their insatiable curiosity, deductive skills and not a little help from their friends -- to solve the case before Aggie's beloved dance instructor is charged with a crime Aggie is sure she didn't commit.
Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2020
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About the author
Marthe Jocelyn
57 books179 followersCanadian born
22 books published for young readers"
22 books published for young readers"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 454 reviews
December 9, 2019
I was obsessed with Agatha Christie when I was a kid. I have read everything she's ever written, but my favorite books of hers will always be the ones that have Hercule Poirot in them. So when I read the synopsis of The Body Under the Piano I was so excited to read it! A 12 year old girl called Agatha Morton befriends a Belgian refugee boy Hector Perot,and then they find themselves investigating a murder together. I mean,what's not to like? And thankfully I was not disappointed.
It turned out to be everything I wanted it to and more. I believe the adult fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy reading this book as they will see all the references to the queen herself and her famous character, and the young readers will have a great first introduction to Dame Agatha and her books.
I loved that this book went beyond the murder investigation and had interesting commentary on women's rights, on what it's like to be foreigners and refugees in a new country so far away from home,on poverty, on general treatment of women,on grief. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth that this book had.
The characters were a delight. I really liked that they made mistakes very often,as this is the first time they are solving a murder. Agatha in particular has a very vivid imagination and often goes on little tangents in her head, imagining all sorts of unlikely scenarios that I could not help but chuckle at.
I loved that the adults were very much present in the story and would try to stop the kids from meddling in dangerous affairs. That was a breath of fresh air.
Now I only hope that this was only the first entry in the series of Agatha and Hector's adventures.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It turned out to be everything I wanted it to and more. I believe the adult fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy reading this book as they will see all the references to the queen herself and her famous character, and the young readers will have a great first introduction to Dame Agatha and her books.
I loved that this book went beyond the murder investigation and had interesting commentary on women's rights, on what it's like to be foreigners and refugees in a new country so far away from home,on poverty, on general treatment of women,on grief. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth that this book had.
The characters were a delight. I really liked that they made mistakes very often,as this is the first time they are solving a murder. Agatha in particular has a very vivid imagination and often goes on little tangents in her head, imagining all sorts of unlikely scenarios that I could not help but chuckle at.
I loved that the adults were very much present in the story and would try to stop the kids from meddling in dangerous affairs. That was a breath of fresh air.
Now I only hope that this was only the first entry in the series of Agatha and Hector's adventures.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 27, 2021
espero que alguma editora traga pro Brasil :)
August 7, 2025
2 stars ⭐️ Secular Middle-Grade - Murder Mystery
I’ve only ever attempted to read one or two of Agatha Christie’s books, so I definitely wasn’t the right target market for a book inspired by Agatha as a young girl, solving murder mysteries. However, I do enjoy a good mystery and this why this series on been on my radar for years.
Based on what I know of Agatha Christie’s murder novels, I would say this was a fair game of it with the morbid details and a young Aggie who would later turn into the “Queen of Mystery” herself. The author in her note at the end shares how she became curious about what made Agatha Christie an expert on betrayal, suspicion and wickedness? What sort of family and community had populated her childhood? I actually had a discussion about this with my mom (who grew up an Agatha Christie fan albeit not reading her books for decades since) while reading this book and how some of Agatha Christie’s plots truly are morbid—so you have to wonder what made her that way. I do think this author did that part well because Aggie is a morbid little girl, to say the least.
That said, I wouldn’t personally give this book to a middle-grade reader for a few different reasons unless she’s read Agatha Christie books.
I may be reading a bit too much into this, but I didn’t care for a few different elements of this story:
1. Theres a few scenes of a disapproving vicar’s wife and she didn’t show Christianity in a positive light. The vicar was decent from what we see of him, but there is a note about him making a young woman volunteer for a church event after catching her taking the Lord’s name in vain at choir practice. Perhaps this was smart of him, but it doesn’t really set well with me.
2. During a conversation with her grandmother, Agatha is told to only believe in what she can see—in regards to overhearing gossip—but Agatha questions her grandmother about it saying, “No one can see God. Are we not meant to trust Him?” and her grandmother sighs and says they’ll address the matter of God on another day. That conversation never happens on page or from what the reader is told. While a curious thought from a child, I do wonder if there was ill-intent meant with this comment to cast a negative light on believing in God. As a Christian, I’m not thrilled about this comment.
3. There a feminist undertone throughout the book with men commenting broad thoughts about the “gentler sex” that while are probably historically accurate, can cause for some ruffled feathers and make a female reader defensive alongside Aggie.
4. I’m not sure if Agatha’s schooling—or lack thereof—was supposed to be a jab a homeschoolers. Quotes below.
Honestly, I know I could be reaching on some of these thoughts, but they made me pause and take note about them all because it felt like slights.
As far as Agatha/Aggie goes, she’s a bit of a stinker. I mean that in the way she wiggles the truth or what she’ll do to get the information she wants. It’s sly and a bit devious. For one example, she promises a police officer she won’t sneak out at night again and she easily promises that because she plans to not be caught by him again. It goes further with Aggie crossing her fingers behind her back and lying about another promise she will not keep.
I have the next two books in the series, but I’m currently not sure about reading them. I’ve heard mixed thoughts and am not thrilled to hear about God’s name being taken in vain in a middle-grade series. We shall see, I suppose.
Main Content-
Spiritual:
Part of Aggie’s schooling includes going to All Saints Church every Sunday for “Bible stories and religious studies”; One Sunday morning, she goes and notes that while it was often a “pleasant diversion”, the reverend’s sermon that morning was not one of his better ones (Aggie thinks it’s because of him having to sooth his flock after the murder which must put “dreadful pressure on his pious creativity”; His sermon has a comment that a poor soul (the murderer) had taken the wrong turn, veered off the road to Heaven, and tumbled into a pit of vipers); Aggie thinks the prayer from the vicar about the murderer not being a foreigner is a wasted one because it doesn’t make sense for the murderer to be an unknown foreigner.
A vicar’s wife has an overall unpleasant personality & talks loudly to a young foreigner boy (another character does the same); One night, Aggie imagines the vicar’s wife smoking a cigar and saying curse words between puffs; A young woman is said to have been volunteered to help with a church event as a penance for using the Lord’s name in vain during a choir practice.
Aggie questions her grandmother about where the soul of the murder victim is since the body is at the morgue & her grandmother says that it’s “most distressing to have one’s earthly remains loitering about. The soul no doubt must linger with it”; Aggie also compares two women’s’ bickering/fighting to be like a battle between “God and the devil over a dying soul”; When her grandmother says that you can only trust what you see with your own eyes, Aggie questions, “No one can see God. Are we not meant to trust Him?” and her grandmother sighs and says they’ll address the matter of God on another day; Her grandmother later says “mourn unto others as you would have them mourn unto you” (a nod to a Scripture, but not quite); At one point, Aggie wonders if it’s “God in Heaven who had an eccentric sense of humor? Or the nature of humans to be entirely unpredictable?”.
Aggie sneaks out and goes to the vicarage and says a silent prayer of “forgive us our trespasses”; Aggie thanks the Heavens for a fortunate discovery.
Aggie wonders if her father can hear her from Heaven; She also wonders if her father’s ghost has remained a faithful companion to her mother; A woman admits to asking her late father’s spirit to “come and guide [her]” when in a distressing situation and when another asks what her father told her, the woman says he did not answer “of course”.
When a killer apologizes for murdering someone, a newspaper article says that “perhaps remorse is valued in the eyes of God, but it offers very little comfort to [the deceased or her family]”.
A handful of mentions of prayers/praying (but most are flippant and not said towards Whom); A few mentions of a vicar/reverend & Sunday services; A mention of a hymn; A mention of a Christian; A mention of some refugees fleeing religious persecution from Russia.
A few mentions of evil (in regards to a murder & murderer); A couple mentions of a man running like he was “fueled by demons” and is also called a demon himself; A mention of a poison having a “demonic purpose”.
Language & Lying/Deceit:
Hector says “Mon Dieu” (My God) once; “damnable” is used once by an adult as an adjective (pg.296); Other phrases like “for Heaven’s sake”, “Good Heavens”, “heavens”, “what the devil”, and “dash it” are all said; Minor words like blasted/blinking, stupid, idiot, and shut up are also used.
Aggie lies to her grandmother about how she knows a reporter (noting that lying came more easily than she expected); Aggie also lies/isn’t fully truthful to a police officer to gain information from him & at one point crosses her fingers when lying to him; When telling an officer what she saw, Aggie is concerned at his thought of who he thinks is the murderer, and thus tries to avoid telling him all the details (to not implicate her teacher); Later, Agatha wants to keep another piece of evidence to herself and Hector because the police would try to stop her from finding out more; She also lies to girls her age to be able to get away from them (to pursue evidence);
Aggie finds a clue and because her nursemaid was not an ally in the murder hunt before, Aggie hides it from her with the thought that “deceit was an energetic pastime! How did criminals manage to live their lives?”; Later, she thinks that “being naughty and deceitful certainly put clever thoughts out of one’s head.”; When blackmailing her nursemaid into keeping her secret, Aggie thinks that it’s “so easy to slip into a life of crime”; Agatha also snoops through someone’s valise.
Other Notes:
Aggie’s father passed away prior to the book starting (around a year ago) and she misses him with every breath; Her mind does stray to wonder what her father looks like in his coffin or if he hadn’t been buried, would he be a skeleton thanks to helpful carrion (her mother is very impatient with Aggie’s “Morbid Preoccupation”); She realizes that the rest of her life will unfold without her Papa and isn’t sure how she’ll bear it; Aggie weeps for all the lost parents and left-behind children, along with witnessing a friend’s dead mother.
Aggie thinks that the two girls are “soft in the head” and they easily peeve her.
A drawing of a very realistic spider (chapter 20); Skulls and crossbones are drawn for the chapter breaks.
Agatha shares that “My sister, Marjorie, had gone to proper schools, but by the time it was my turn, seven years later, Mummy had developed certain notions about the education of children not like those of other parents. Children should roam free, she felt, though always close to home and under the steadily watchful eye of a nursemaid. Free-roaming bodies and brains would result in greater wisdom and well-being. This meant no school, no governess and no friends.”; Aggie’s older sister says in a letter that Aggie’s spelling is still atrocious and a drawback of their mum thinking she shouldn’t go to school.
Sensitivity Note for Animal Lovers:
Aggie finds a dead rabbit with it’s head torn open (she comments on the brain’s appearance and tries to keep her dog away from it; this is mentioned again a few times); Hector comments that rabbits are “born expecting to die” and Aggie quips back “aren’t we all?”; At a museum, Aggie stares at the scene of a taxidermy lynx attacking a baby deer (with red paint that she calls “deliciously gruesome”).
A few mentions of mouse traps being like a guillotine for the mouse; A couple mentions of horses being turned into glue; A few mentions of someone gambling on dogs who rip apart rats for entertainment.
Negative:
Agatha finds a murdered body and it is described as “Her head seemed crooked, mouth agape. Her legs- sticking out in a most unladylike way from beneath her skirts--were short and thick-ankled, encased in knitted stockings. Her feet lay at odd angles, as if they'd been kicking in protest. Nothing was kicking now. The contorted body was eerily still. I stepped closer and regarded the face, swollen and bluish-gray in color. One glazed eye stared sideways and a lace of foam ringed the open lips.”; The vision of the victim’s bloated face stays with Aggie for a while afterwards; Agatha thinks of all the possible culprits, their motivations, & how it could have happened.
She imagines another death by poison with someone’s tongue changing colors and foam bubbling around the victim’s mouth.
Aggie sometimes takes “a certain pleasure in imagining misfortunes” that could happen to two (annoying and mean) girls in her dance class such as one of the girls’ toe being crushed (with a gush of blood), the whole foot being amputated, being imprisoned in a cellar with large spiders; Later she imagines a man’s head rolling off with a “geyser of blood” erupting and spurting (pg.25); She also imagines the possible dual-murder (stabbings); When thinking of ways to dispose of a murdered body, Aggie thinks of “chopped up in a suitcase, shoveled into a well, hurled from a clifftop, locked in a cupboard…”; Later still, she imagines a body being found after drowning “the girl’s hair floated up around her face as pale as cold ashes, but no less beautiful in death…”.
Agatha is trapped and locked in a swimming hut in the ocean (which makes her realize that had she had an adult with her, she wouldn’t be in that situation and should have listened to Hector).
One young woman is gossiped about because of her being seen with multiple men, walking away rudely from her mother when being scolded, enjoys when her mother gets a taste of her own medicine, & later comments that at least once a day, she finds herself wishing that her mother was dead (another comments that life would be smoother if she wasn’t in their city); Aggie wonders if either of these women could be the murderer.
Aggie gets giggly at sneaking out of the house at night to deliver a note to someone (just outside her home) & wonders how she waited twelve years to go outdoors at night; She then borrows a bike and delivers her letter herself (at night and not properly dressed); *Spoilers* .
*Spoilers* .
Aggie’s grandmother gives her mother a cup of brandy after a shock (which she drinks in two gulps); She also gives another young woman a glass of brandy after a shocking event, but the woman can barely drink it.
All about many mentions of deaths (natural and murder), bodies, & grief; Mentions of murderers & how murders could happen (including stabbing, falling and breaking a neck, tampering with medication, poisons, & strangulation), & the side effects of poison; Mentions of the crime & crime scenes; Mentions of prison, arrests, & a possible hanging; Mentions of stolen money & gambling; A few mentions of a story about a women who poisoned three of her husbands and eleven of her children/step-children (for the sake of their life insurances; actual historical figure, Mary Ann Cotton); A few mentions of alcohol & men getting drunk; A couple mentions of vomit.
Gender notes:
*Spoilers* .
A dance teacher “preaches” about her favorite topic, votes for women (which makes one girl comment that her father says the “ideal woman is a mute”); Also later a couple of notes that the teacher wants to ban corsets; A man comments to Aggie that women can’t be solicitors and that a law school wouldn’t accept a female applicant as the bar exams are too difficult and no one would trust a female with his secrets as women are known to be chatterboxes; Another man comments that a “female without the guidance of a man is not to be trusted” and that owning a house is too heavy a responsibility for a woman; A couple comments of prejudice towards a foreigner.
Sexual:
*Spoilers about a hidden child and out of wedlock pregnancy* *Major Spoilers* .
Aggie notices her nursemaid blushing at a police officer (and him blushing back), and Aggie thinks she’s witnessing a “Love at First Site” moment; Aggie imagines the couple alone together, the man touching her maid’s cheek, and asking to know “the secrets within [her]—“ before stopping the story in her head and realizing that she had nearly used the word bosom; Later, she imagines “the policeman murmuring in Charlotte’s ear, his stubbly chin against her neck” and pushes the thought aside; Agatha also imagines the couple nuzzling each other and saying that her misbehavior allowed them to meet, so all is forgiven.
A mother announces that if any young man approaches her daughter, she’ll she him imprisoned on the charge of attempting to assault her.
Aggie comments that she doesn’t wear a corset yet because while she’s tall, she’s not “…you know…”.
Mentions of a couple’s infatuation with the other & their gooey conversations (which lead to a listener plugging his ears); Mentions of handsome boys & girls at Aggie’s dance class trying to gain the attention of one; A couple mentions of possible kissing/kisses between a couple (that aren’t a couple yet); A mention of a possible affair & a husband being unfaithful; A mention of uncouth men staring at women in their bathing suits; A mention of a rumor about a young woman being seeing kissing a sailor; A mention of a rumor of the same young woman being “saucy” with the boys.
I’ve only ever attempted to read one or two of Agatha Christie’s books, so I definitely wasn’t the right target market for a book inspired by Agatha as a young girl, solving murder mysteries. However, I do enjoy a good mystery and this why this series on been on my radar for years.
Based on what I know of Agatha Christie’s murder novels, I would say this was a fair game of it with the morbid details and a young Aggie who would later turn into the “Queen of Mystery” herself. The author in her note at the end shares how she became curious about what made Agatha Christie an expert on betrayal, suspicion and wickedness? What sort of family and community had populated her childhood? I actually had a discussion about this with my mom (who grew up an Agatha Christie fan albeit not reading her books for decades since) while reading this book and how some of Agatha Christie’s plots truly are morbid—so you have to wonder what made her that way. I do think this author did that part well because Aggie is a morbid little girl, to say the least.
That said, I wouldn’t personally give this book to a middle-grade reader for a few different reasons unless she’s read Agatha Christie books.
I may be reading a bit too much into this, but I didn’t care for a few different elements of this story:
1. Theres a few scenes of a disapproving vicar’s wife and she didn’t show Christianity in a positive light. The vicar was decent from what we see of him, but there is a note about him making a young woman volunteer for a church event after catching her taking the Lord’s name in vain at choir practice. Perhaps this was smart of him, but it doesn’t really set well with me.
2. During a conversation with her grandmother, Agatha is told to only believe in what she can see—in regards to overhearing gossip—but Agatha questions her grandmother about it saying, “No one can see God. Are we not meant to trust Him?” and her grandmother sighs and says they’ll address the matter of God on another day. That conversation never happens on page or from what the reader is told. While a curious thought from a child, I do wonder if there was ill-intent meant with this comment to cast a negative light on believing in God. As a Christian, I’m not thrilled about this comment.
3. There a feminist undertone throughout the book with men commenting broad thoughts about the “gentler sex” that while are probably historically accurate, can cause for some ruffled feathers and make a female reader defensive alongside Aggie.
4. I’m not sure if Agatha’s schooling—or lack thereof—was supposed to be a jab a homeschoolers. Quotes below.
Honestly, I know I could be reaching on some of these thoughts, but they made me pause and take note about them all because it felt like slights.
As far as Agatha/Aggie goes, she’s a bit of a stinker. I mean that in the way she wiggles the truth or what she’ll do to get the information she wants. It’s sly and a bit devious. For one example, she promises a police officer she won’t sneak out at night again and she easily promises that because she plans to not be caught by him again. It goes further with Aggie crossing her fingers behind her back and lying about another promise she will not keep.
I have the next two books in the series, but I’m currently not sure about reading them. I’ve heard mixed thoughts and am not thrilled to hear about God’s name being taken in vain in a middle-grade series. We shall see, I suppose.
Main Content-
Spiritual:
Part of Aggie’s schooling includes going to All Saints Church every Sunday for “Bible stories and religious studies”; One Sunday morning, she goes and notes that while it was often a “pleasant diversion”, the reverend’s sermon that morning was not one of his better ones (Aggie thinks it’s because of him having to sooth his flock after the murder which must put “dreadful pressure on his pious creativity”; His sermon has a comment that a poor soul (the murderer) had taken the wrong turn, veered off the road to Heaven, and tumbled into a pit of vipers); Aggie thinks the prayer from the vicar about the murderer not being a foreigner is a wasted one because it doesn’t make sense for the murderer to be an unknown foreigner.
A vicar’s wife has an overall unpleasant personality & talks loudly to a young foreigner boy (another character does the same); One night, Aggie imagines the vicar’s wife smoking a cigar and saying curse words between puffs; A young woman is said to have been volunteered to help with a church event as a penance for using the Lord’s name in vain during a choir practice.
Aggie questions her grandmother about where the soul of the murder victim is since the body is at the morgue & her grandmother says that it’s “most distressing to have one’s earthly remains loitering about. The soul no doubt must linger with it”; Aggie also compares two women’s’ bickering/fighting to be like a battle between “God and the devil over a dying soul”; When her grandmother says that you can only trust what you see with your own eyes, Aggie questions, “No one can see God. Are we not meant to trust Him?” and her grandmother sighs and says they’ll address the matter of God on another day; Her grandmother later says “mourn unto others as you would have them mourn unto you” (a nod to a Scripture, but not quite); At one point, Aggie wonders if it’s “God in Heaven who had an eccentric sense of humor? Or the nature of humans to be entirely unpredictable?”.
Aggie sneaks out and goes to the vicarage and says a silent prayer of “forgive us our trespasses”; Aggie thanks the Heavens for a fortunate discovery.
Aggie wonders if her father can hear her from Heaven; She also wonders if her father’s ghost has remained a faithful companion to her mother; A woman admits to asking her late father’s spirit to “come and guide [her]” when in a distressing situation and when another asks what her father told her, the woman says he did not answer “of course”.
When a killer apologizes for murdering someone, a newspaper article says that “perhaps remorse is valued in the eyes of God, but it offers very little comfort to [the deceased or her family]”.
A handful of mentions of prayers/praying (but most are flippant and not said towards Whom); A few mentions of a vicar/reverend & Sunday services; A mention of a hymn; A mention of a Christian; A mention of some refugees fleeing religious persecution from Russia.
A few mentions of evil (in regards to a murder & murderer); A couple mentions of a man running like he was “fueled by demons” and is also called a demon himself; A mention of a poison having a “demonic purpose”.
Language & Lying/Deceit:
Hector says “Mon Dieu” (My God) once; “damnable” is used once by an adult as an adjective (pg.296); Other phrases like “for Heaven’s sake”, “Good Heavens”, “heavens”, “what the devil”, and “dash it” are all said; Minor words like blasted/blinking, stupid, idiot, and shut up are also used.
Aggie lies to her grandmother about how she knows a reporter (noting that lying came more easily than she expected); Aggie also lies/isn’t fully truthful to a police officer to gain information from him & at one point crosses her fingers when lying to him; When telling an officer what she saw, Aggie is concerned at his thought of who he thinks is the murderer, and thus tries to avoid telling him all the details (to not implicate her teacher); Later, Agatha wants to keep another piece of evidence to herself and Hector because the police would try to stop her from finding out more; She also lies to girls her age to be able to get away from them (to pursue evidence);
Aggie finds a clue and because her nursemaid was not an ally in the murder hunt before, Aggie hides it from her with the thought that “deceit was an energetic pastime! How did criminals manage to live their lives?”; Later, she thinks that “being naughty and deceitful certainly put clever thoughts out of one’s head.”; When blackmailing her nursemaid into keeping her secret, Aggie thinks that it’s “so easy to slip into a life of crime”; Agatha also snoops through someone’s valise.
Other Notes:
Aggie’s father passed away prior to the book starting (around a year ago) and she misses him with every breath; Her mind does stray to wonder what her father looks like in his coffin or if he hadn’t been buried, would he be a skeleton thanks to helpful carrion (her mother is very impatient with Aggie’s “Morbid Preoccupation”); She realizes that the rest of her life will unfold without her Papa and isn’t sure how she’ll bear it; Aggie weeps for all the lost parents and left-behind children, along with witnessing a friend’s dead mother.
Aggie thinks that the two girls are “soft in the head” and they easily peeve her.
A drawing of a very realistic spider (chapter 20); Skulls and crossbones are drawn for the chapter breaks.
Agatha shares that “My sister, Marjorie, had gone to proper schools, but by the time it was my turn, seven years later, Mummy had developed certain notions about the education of children not like those of other parents. Children should roam free, she felt, though always close to home and under the steadily watchful eye of a nursemaid. Free-roaming bodies and brains would result in greater wisdom and well-being. This meant no school, no governess and no friends.”; Aggie’s older sister says in a letter that Aggie’s spelling is still atrocious and a drawback of their mum thinking she shouldn’t go to school.
Sensitivity Note for Animal Lovers:
Aggie finds a dead rabbit with it’s head torn open (she comments on the brain’s appearance and tries to keep her dog away from it; this is mentioned again a few times); Hector comments that rabbits are “born expecting to die” and Aggie quips back “aren’t we all?”; At a museum, Aggie stares at the scene of a taxidermy lynx attacking a baby deer (with red paint that she calls “deliciously gruesome”).
A few mentions of mouse traps being like a guillotine for the mouse; A couple mentions of horses being turned into glue; A few mentions of someone gambling on dogs who rip apart rats for entertainment.
Negative:
Agatha finds a murdered body and it is described as “Her head seemed crooked, mouth agape. Her legs- sticking out in a most unladylike way from beneath her skirts--were short and thick-ankled, encased in knitted stockings. Her feet lay at odd angles, as if they'd been kicking in protest. Nothing was kicking now. The contorted body was eerily still. I stepped closer and regarded the face, swollen and bluish-gray in color. One glazed eye stared sideways and a lace of foam ringed the open lips.”; The vision of the victim’s bloated face stays with Aggie for a while afterwards; Agatha thinks of all the possible culprits, their motivations, & how it could have happened.
She imagines another death by poison with someone’s tongue changing colors and foam bubbling around the victim’s mouth.
Aggie sometimes takes “a certain pleasure in imagining misfortunes” that could happen to two (annoying and mean) girls in her dance class such as one of the girls’ toe being crushed (with a gush of blood), the whole foot being amputated, being imprisoned in a cellar with large spiders; Later she imagines a man’s head rolling off with a “geyser of blood” erupting and spurting (pg.25); She also imagines the possible dual-murder (stabbings); When thinking of ways to dispose of a murdered body, Aggie thinks of “chopped up in a suitcase, shoveled into a well, hurled from a clifftop, locked in a cupboard…”; Later still, she imagines a body being found after drowning “the girl’s hair floated up around her face as pale as cold ashes, but no less beautiful in death…”.
Agatha is trapped and locked in a swimming hut in the ocean (which makes her realize that had she had an adult with her, she wouldn’t be in that situation and should have listened to Hector).
One young woman is gossiped about because of her being seen with multiple men, walking away rudely from her mother when being scolded, enjoys when her mother gets a taste of her own medicine, & later comments that at least once a day, she finds herself wishing that her mother was dead (another comments that life would be smoother if she wasn’t in their city); Aggie wonders if either of these women could be the murderer.
Aggie gets giggly at sneaking out of the house at night to deliver a note to someone (just outside her home) & wonders how she waited twelve years to go outdoors at night; She then borrows a bike and delivers her letter herself (at night and not properly dressed); *Spoilers* .
*Spoilers* .
Aggie’s grandmother gives her mother a cup of brandy after a shock (which she drinks in two gulps); She also gives another young woman a glass of brandy after a shocking event, but the woman can barely drink it.
All about many mentions of deaths (natural and murder), bodies, & grief; Mentions of murderers & how murders could happen (including stabbing, falling and breaking a neck, tampering with medication, poisons, & strangulation), & the side effects of poison; Mentions of the crime & crime scenes; Mentions of prison, arrests, & a possible hanging; Mentions of stolen money & gambling; A few mentions of a story about a women who poisoned three of her husbands and eleven of her children/step-children (for the sake of their life insurances; actual historical figure, Mary Ann Cotton); A few mentions of alcohol & men getting drunk; A couple mentions of vomit.
Gender notes:
*Spoilers* .
A dance teacher “preaches” about her favorite topic, votes for women (which makes one girl comment that her father says the “ideal woman is a mute”); Also later a couple of notes that the teacher wants to ban corsets; A man comments to Aggie that women can’t be solicitors and that a law school wouldn’t accept a female applicant as the bar exams are too difficult and no one would trust a female with his secrets as women are known to be chatterboxes; Another man comments that a “female without the guidance of a man is not to be trusted” and that owning a house is too heavy a responsibility for a woman; A couple comments of prejudice towards a foreigner.
Sexual:
*Spoilers about a hidden child and out of wedlock pregnancy* *Major Spoilers* .
Aggie notices her nursemaid blushing at a police officer (and him blushing back), and Aggie thinks she’s witnessing a “Love at First Site” moment; Aggie imagines the couple alone together, the man touching her maid’s cheek, and asking to know “the secrets within [her]—“ before stopping the story in her head and realizing that she had nearly used the word bosom; Later, she imagines “the policeman murmuring in Charlotte’s ear, his stubbly chin against her neck” and pushes the thought aside; Agatha also imagines the couple nuzzling each other and saying that her misbehavior allowed them to meet, so all is forgiven.
A mother announces that if any young man approaches her daughter, she’ll she him imprisoned on the charge of attempting to assault her.
Aggie comments that she doesn’t wear a corset yet because while she’s tall, she’s not “…you know…”.
Mentions of a couple’s infatuation with the other & their gooey conversations (which lead to a listener plugging his ears); Mentions of handsome boys & girls at Aggie’s dance class trying to gain the attention of one; A couple mentions of possible kissing/kisses between a couple (that aren’t a couple yet); A mention of a possible affair & a husband being unfaithful; A mention of uncouth men staring at women in their bathing suits; A mention of a rumor about a young woman being seeing kissing a sailor; A mention of a rumor of the same young woman being “saucy” with the boys.
January 27, 2020
Agatha Christie-lite for the younger sleuthing crowd. This first in the series is well done and introduces us to Agatha Morton and her new Belgian friend Hector Perot. The portraits at the beginning of the book set the tone as well a giving us a home base for Who's Who during the course of the novel. The historical period was well-researched and we can envision the many situations Aggie describes as she refuses to leave the investigation to the police alone. We see marked character development throughout for our two main characters and their supporting cast. I can especially imagine Maggie Smith as Grannie Jane as her personality is similar to the iconic role she played in Downton Abbey.The added Author's Note at the end of the book reinforced my favorable opinion of this first work in the series as well as enticing me to read on when future volumes are produced. The work came short of amazing as I wonder if the right audience of middle graders will discover it before jumping straight to the real thing.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Tundra Books for a paperback ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Tundra Books for a paperback ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 28, 2021
Marthe Jocelyn’s mystery novel for older children, set in early-twentieth-century Torquay, Cornwall, focuses on twelve-year-old girl-detective Aggie Morton — modelled on Agatha Christie as a child — as she goes about solving her first case. To aid her is her new friend, a Belgian boy refugee, Hector Perot, based on Christie’s sleuth, Hercule Poirot. With her literary aspirations and inclination to morbid musings, Aggie supplies the imagination required to understand the motivation of various suspects while Hector, her Sherlock-Holmes-admiring friend, brings his razor-sharp rationality to the pair’s first challenge.
The mystery concerns a suspicious death at Aggie’s dance studio the morning after a fund-raising event, a concert to “Befriend the Foreigners,” an influx of immigrants from Russia and Belgium. Aggie is among the first to come on “the crime scene” when she shows up early for her Saturday dance lesson. Wanting to retrieve the writer’s notebook she left behind the evening before, she opens the door to the Mermaid Dance Room only to make a “ghastly discovery”: the corpse of Mrs. Irma Eversham, the widowed, grumpy-dog-faced sister-in-law of Aggie’s dance instructor, Miss Marianne, is lying between the legs of the piano. Beside her, in a puddle of tea, lie the pieces of a shattered tea cup. The much-disliked woman has apparently been poisoned. Could Miss Marianne actually be responsible? Aggie is determined to work her way through all the other suspects — including Mrs. Eversham’s beautiful young daughter, Rose; Roddy Fusswell, one of Rose’s many admirers and an indebted gambler; Mr. Augustus Fibbley, an oddly clad and strangely behaved reporter for the local paper; and Leonard Cable, the Morton’s young delivery boy and gardener — before she will allow herself to even consider that her beloved suffragette dance teacher might be the perpetrator. The key to the mystery seems to lie in a cryptic note, apparently meant for Rose, that Aggie later finds stuck in her notebook.
Jocelyn initially suggests that the death is likely not a murder at all, but an accident of sorts. It’s October; winter’s coming, and the dance studio and the hotel that supplied many of the refreshments for the previous evening’s fundraiser have both recently been plagued with mice. The rodenticide bears a remarkable resemblance to sugar. Aggie and Hector are convinced that there is indeed a villain, and their amateur sleuthing ultimately enables the local police to apprehend the guilty person. In their efforts at getting to the bottom of the matter, Aggie and Hector also expose some some of the Eversham family’s secrets.
Years ago, I read Marthe Jocelyn’s middle-grade novel featuring the eccentric girl protagonist Mable Riley. The book was a nominee for one of the Ontario Library Association’s young readers’ choice awards. In some ways, Aggie is a resurrection of Mable Riley—quirky, eccentric, prone to melodrama and flights of fancy. For kids who need to be propelled forward by a fast-moving plot, this more recent novel (like Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance ) may not wholly satisfy. However, if they take to Aggie, they’ll probably enjoy reading about her first case and be eager to advance to her next two sleuthing adventures, which are already in print. Jocelyn’s writing is accomplished and the period details are well researched, but, as an adult reader without any particular interest in mystery stories, I am unlikely to read further titles in the series.
Thank you to the publisher and Library Thing’s Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway programme for providing me with a copy of this novel.
The mystery concerns a suspicious death at Aggie’s dance studio the morning after a fund-raising event, a concert to “Befriend the Foreigners,” an influx of immigrants from Russia and Belgium. Aggie is among the first to come on “the crime scene” when she shows up early for her Saturday dance lesson. Wanting to retrieve the writer’s notebook she left behind the evening before, she opens the door to the Mermaid Dance Room only to make a “ghastly discovery”: the corpse of Mrs. Irma Eversham, the widowed, grumpy-dog-faced sister-in-law of Aggie’s dance instructor, Miss Marianne, is lying between the legs of the piano. Beside her, in a puddle of tea, lie the pieces of a shattered tea cup. The much-disliked woman has apparently been poisoned. Could Miss Marianne actually be responsible? Aggie is determined to work her way through all the other suspects — including Mrs. Eversham’s beautiful young daughter, Rose; Roddy Fusswell, one of Rose’s many admirers and an indebted gambler; Mr. Augustus Fibbley, an oddly clad and strangely behaved reporter for the local paper; and Leonard Cable, the Morton’s young delivery boy and gardener — before she will allow herself to even consider that her beloved suffragette dance teacher might be the perpetrator. The key to the mystery seems to lie in a cryptic note, apparently meant for Rose, that Aggie later finds stuck in her notebook.
Jocelyn initially suggests that the death is likely not a murder at all, but an accident of sorts. It’s October; winter’s coming, and the dance studio and the hotel that supplied many of the refreshments for the previous evening’s fundraiser have both recently been plagued with mice. The rodenticide bears a remarkable resemblance to sugar. Aggie and Hector are convinced that there is indeed a villain, and their amateur sleuthing ultimately enables the local police to apprehend the guilty person. In their efforts at getting to the bottom of the matter, Aggie and Hector also expose some some of the Eversham family’s secrets.
Years ago, I read Marthe Jocelyn’s middle-grade novel featuring the eccentric girl protagonist Mable Riley. The book was a nominee for one of the Ontario Library Association’s young readers’ choice awards. In some ways, Aggie is a resurrection of Mable Riley—quirky, eccentric, prone to melodrama and flights of fancy. For kids who need to be propelled forward by a fast-moving plot, this more recent novel (like Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance ) may not wholly satisfy. However, if they take to Aggie, they’ll probably enjoy reading about her first case and be eager to advance to her next two sleuthing adventures, which are already in print. Jocelyn’s writing is accomplished and the period details are well researched, but, as an adult reader without any particular interest in mystery stories, I am unlikely to read further titles in the series.
Thank you to the publisher and Library Thing’s Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway programme for providing me with a copy of this novel.
March 12, 2023
This was SO fun!! If you love Agatha Christie, you will LOVE this! Such a great middle grade spin off! Aggie Morton lives in a small town in England during the early 1900s when she meets 12 year old Belgian immigrant Hector Perot and they discover a dead body on the floor of the Mermaid Dance Room under the piano! SOO many suspects pile up and they work to figure this mystery out!
I had a lot of fun with this and the audiobook is wonderful. Only hard thing for me is so many characters, which is the same as in Agatha Christie's mystery stories for me, but I still really enjoyed this!
I had a lot of fun with this and the audiobook is wonderful. Only hard thing for me is so many characters, which is the same as in Agatha Christie's mystery stories for me, but I still really enjoyed this!
May 6, 2020
3.5 stars. I've read Agatha Christie's autobiography, which was great, and when I heard of this book, I knew I had to read it. I liked how Marthe Jocelyn wove in actual people and locations from Dame Christie's childhood into this story, and could appreciate the changes the author made to history to accommodate and explain Christie's later classic detective, the mustachioed Hercule Poirot.
The mystery in this story involves the death of a not very well-liked woman, and unearths old, illicit secrets. Agatha, or Aggie, though extremely shy (which she was when a child), does a fair bit of detecting, questioning, and snooping, with the help of a young Belgian refugee, Hector. (He's clearly meant to evoke a miniature Poirot!) The story was diverting, and, unfortunately, not as riveting as I was hoping. (I'm putting that down to my lack of focus during our collective isolation.) I look forward to Aggie Morton's next case.
The mystery in this story involves the death of a not very well-liked woman, and unearths old, illicit secrets. Agatha, or Aggie, though extremely shy (which she was when a child), does a fair bit of detecting, questioning, and snooping, with the help of a young Belgian refugee, Hector. (He's clearly meant to evoke a miniature Poirot!) The story was diverting, and, unfortunately, not as riveting as I was hoping. (I'm putting that down to my lack of focus during our collective isolation.) I look forward to Aggie Morton's next case.
February 22, 2024
Тут є детальний опис купальної кабінки для жінок вікторіанських часів! Або як я хотіла прост читнути дитячий детектив, а знайшла дещо більше.
Події відбуваються у 1902 році і тут чимало детальок побуту тих часів і деяких правил етикету. А сама головна героїня Еґґі-Аґата час��ково списана з Крісті: письменниці у 1902 теж було 12 років, вона жила у Торкі і мала на подвір'ї кладовище домашніх тваринок. А також в неї теж помер тато того року, тому тема скорботи тут теж наявна.
Напарником вигаданої Еґґі стає франкомовний Ектор Перо (ну, ви зрозуміли відсилку).
Як детектив ясно шо воно розраховано на дітей, але поза тим авторка так цікаво розкриває епоху і додає туди любого мені жіночого погляду, та й загалом тут переважно жіночий життя-буття й описується. А ще тут багато англійського гумору:3
Пес копається у садку: "Тоні, що ти там знайшов? Певно, щось негарне, раз ти у такому захваті"
Події відбуваються у 1902 році і тут чимало детальок побуту тих часів і деяких правил етикету. А сама головна героїня Еґґі-Аґата час��ково списана з Крісті: письменниці у 1902 теж було 12 років, вона жила у Торкі і мала на подвір'ї кладовище домашніх тваринок. А також в неї теж помер тато того року, тому тема скорботи тут теж наявна.
Напарником вигаданої Еґґі стає франкомовний Ектор Перо (ну, ви зрозуміли відсилку).
Як детектив ясно шо воно розраховано на дітей, але поза тим авторка так цікаво розкриває епоху і додає туди любого мені жіночого погляду, та й загалом тут переважно жіночий життя-буття й описується. А ще тут багато англійського гумору:3
Пес копається у садку: "Тоні, що ти там знайшов? Певно, щось негарне, раз ти у такому захваті"
June 5, 2022
What a delightful MG mystery! I picked up the first three books in this series yesterday after meeting the author and I sat down to read the first one really anxious as to whether I would enjoy it or not. I'm happy to say that I thoroughly loved this book. The characters, especially Aggie, were so much fun. The mystery took me by surprise. I did have suspicions as to who the bad guy was, and some of them proved to be correct, but the climax and reveal was very satisfying. I am really looking forward to reading book two.
November 11, 2023
3.75/5
November 12, 2024
Murder, secrets, adventure, and fun — The Body under the Piano delivers a humorous and exciting mystery.
✏️ Review ✏️
*sigh* (The type of sigh one proclaims after drinking a delightful, soothing cup of warm, delicious tea.) The Body under the Piano was super fun to read! This book delivers a humorous, thrilling, and satisfying murder mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.
Chockful of intriguing clues, keen sleuthing, suspicious characters, and flying accusations, the plot holds many elements of an absorbing story. It's smartly paced and beckons the reader ever onward until the very end.
The assortment of characters suitably fits this story so well. With distinguishing features and clear-cut personalities, the characters greatly boost the allure of this tale of mystery. (And don't miss the four-page spread of character illustrations at the book's beginning. They're artistically drawn and fittingly capture the tone of the story.)
What gives this story a distinct appeal is the writing style: it's fresh, witty (yes, ever so witty! 😆), descriptive, decorous, and just... well, just so very enjoyable to read. There are a few times when the writing can be a bit descriptively gruesome, but this shouldn't be a problem for most readers.
So are you ready to drink some tea (soothing), enjoy a few helpings of sweets (yummy!), and solve a mysterious case of murder (thrilling!!)? The Body under the Piano awaits your arrival....
It's Torquay, England, 1902.
Someone's been murdered —
It's someone you knew.
Time is ticking and clues are few,
Someone is guilty —
Now what will you do?
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📊 A Quick Overview 📊
👍🏼 What I Liked:
•The plot — it's absorbing and smartly paced.
•The characters — they feature distinguishing features and clear-cut personalities.
•The descriptive, fresh, and witty writing style. It's very enjoyable to read and gives the story dynamic flavor.
•The balance between humor and suspense.
•The illustrations throughout the book, especially the character drawings at the beginning. They are really well done.
👎🏼 What I Did Not Like:
•The misrepresentive statements about biblical teachings (see Random Comments).
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 4/5)
~Fundamentals: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📈 Plot: 3.5/5
— 📝 Writing: 4/5
— 👥 Characters: 4/5
~Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)
— 🤬 Language: 0/5
•(There may have been one use of d*mn, if I recall correctly.)
— ⚔️ Violence: 1/5
•A few gruesome descriptions (mentions blood).
— ⚠️ Sexual: 1/5
•A vague discussion of a premarital relationship resulting in a pregnancy (nothing explicit).
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📣 Random Comments 📣
•There are a two or three misrepresentative statements about biblical teachings (one being that souls linger about on the earth until burial). These statements are nothing extreme and just occur a few times in the story.
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
💬 Favorite Quotes 💬
•The villains trounced by Sherlock Holmes were not given much to say for themselves. No book I'd ever read was narrated by a murderer. But killers, I imagined, carried more than their share of sorrow. Why else would they be so reckless with the hearts of others? (p. 273)
•"I am not untidy," I objected. "I merely surround myself with a plethora of possibilities." (p. 313)
✏️ Review ✏️
*sigh* (The type of sigh one proclaims after drinking a delightful, soothing cup of warm, delicious tea.) The Body under the Piano was super fun to read! This book delivers a humorous, thrilling, and satisfying murder mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.
"How speedily one's view of the world can change — especially when one has gazed coolly into the face of death."
Chockful of intriguing clues, keen sleuthing, suspicious characters, and flying accusations, the plot holds many elements of an absorbing story. It's smartly paced and beckons the reader ever onward until the very end.
"The solitary girl sat like prey in the garden chair, unaware of the grisly doom lurking nearby. A fiend had tromped the lanes awaiting just such a chance to garrote and flay an innocent as she reflected upon his previous brutish crime."
The assortment of characters suitably fits this story so well. With distinguishing features and clear-cut personalities, the characters greatly boost the allure of this tale of mystery. (And don't miss the four-page spread of character illustrations at the book's beginning. They're artistically drawn and fittingly capture the tone of the story.)
What gives this story a distinct appeal is the writing style: it's fresh, witty (yes, ever so witty! 😆), descriptive, decorous, and just... well, just so very enjoyable to read. There are a few times when the writing can be a bit descriptively gruesome, but this shouldn't be a problem for most readers.
"I crept away... onto the road, my feet feeling as if I were ankle-deep in cold spring mid, squelching with every step....
Then GONNnG! I jumped nearly out of my skin! GONNnG! GONNnG! The bells of All Saints clanged twelve clamorous times. Goodness, had I ever before been up so late as midnight?
With my ears still ringing, I heard something else, a whoosh and a creak. Before I could dart into hiding,... [something] hurtled toward me.
So are you ready to drink some tea (soothing), enjoy a few helpings of sweets (yummy!), and solve a mysterious case of murder (thrilling!!)? The Body under the Piano awaits your arrival....
It's Torquay, England, 1902.
Someone's been murdered —
It's someone you knew.
Time is ticking and clues are few,
Someone is guilty —
Now what will you do?
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📊 A Quick Overview 📊
👍🏼 What I Liked:
•The plot — it's absorbing and smartly paced.
•The characters — they feature distinguishing features and clear-cut personalities.
•The descriptive, fresh, and witty writing style. It's very enjoyable to read and gives the story dynamic flavor.
•The balance between humor and suspense.
•The illustrations throughout the book, especially the character drawings at the beginning. They are really well done.
👎🏼 What I Did Not Like:
•The misrepresentive statements about biblical teachings (see Random Comments).
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 4/5)
~Fundamentals: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📈 Plot: 3.5/5
— 📝 Writing: 4/5
— 👥 Characters: 4/5
~Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)
— 🤬 Language: 0/5
•(There may have been one use of d*mn, if I recall correctly.)
— ⚔️ Violence: 1/5
•A few gruesome descriptions (mentions blood).
— ⚠️ Sexual: 1/5
•A vague discussion of a premarital relationship resulting in a pregnancy (nothing explicit).
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
📣 Random Comments 📣
•There are a two or three misrepresentative statements about biblical teachings (one being that souls linger about on the earth until burial). These statements are nothing extreme and just occur a few times in the story.
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
💬 Favorite Quotes 💬
•The villains trounced by Sherlock Holmes were not given much to say for themselves. No book I'd ever read was narrated by a murderer. But killers, I imagined, carried more than their share of sorrow. Why else would they be so reckless with the hearts of others? (p. 273)
•"I am not untidy," I objected. "I merely surround myself with a plethora of possibilities." (p. 313)
May 6, 2022
Imagine if Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot were childhood friends and solved mysteries together...Well that's exactly what Marthe Jocelyn has created with her Aggie Morton books. This was such a fun mystery and I absolutely loved the budding friendship between Aggie and Hector.
May 3, 2021
Even the title of this book is delicious! It works on so many levels. I loved the cover, looking down the body between the two feet. It's an impossible angle, unless, of course, someone's dead.
The vast majority of middle grade "mysteries" don't feature dead bodies, at all. The main characters investigate all sorts of mysteries, but generally not murders, per se, so this was a wonderful departure!
And we loved the main character, Aggie, who finds the body under the piano and is totally nonplussed by it -- in fact, she takes time to note the foam at the edges of the victim's mouth and wonder about the scrap of paper still clutched in the victim's hand.
When Aggie can escape her nursemaid, Charlotte, who's flirting with the Constable, she works with a Belgium boy, Hector Perot, to follow the clues.
While waiting for a morning dance lesson, and after realizing she left her poem from the night before's public reading on the piano, Aggie slips into the room and discovers the very suddenly dead (although long-standingly unpleasant) Mrs. Eversham.
At this point, the reader's already gotten most of the clues needed to crack the case, even when it looks like everyone in the village of Torquay (of turn of the century, 1902) disliked the victim, strongly. It's just a matter of Aggy and Hector putting together the clues in the right sequence to reveal the murderer.
There are a couple of red herrings, of course, and the murderer is not who you'd expect.
Looking forward to more murderous fun from these two characters. Great for upper middle grade readers!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
The vast majority of middle grade "mysteries" don't feature dead bodies, at all. The main characters investigate all sorts of mysteries, but generally not murders, per se, so this was a wonderful departure!
And we loved the main character, Aggie, who finds the body under the piano and is totally nonplussed by it -- in fact, she takes time to note the foam at the edges of the victim's mouth and wonder about the scrap of paper still clutched in the victim's hand.
When Aggie can escape her nursemaid, Charlotte, who's flirting with the Constable, she works with a Belgium boy, Hector Perot, to follow the clues.
While waiting for a morning dance lesson, and after realizing she left her poem from the night before's public reading on the piano, Aggie slips into the room and discovers the very suddenly dead (although long-standingly unpleasant) Mrs. Eversham.
At this point, the reader's already gotten most of the clues needed to crack the case, even when it looks like everyone in the village of Torquay (of turn of the century, 1902) disliked the victim, strongly. It's just a matter of Aggy and Hector putting together the clues in the right sequence to reveal the murderer.
There are a couple of red herrings, of course, and the murderer is not who you'd expect.
Looking forward to more murderous fun from these two characters. Great for upper middle grade readers!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
October 16, 2023
AKA "Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen". YA Agatha Christie & Hercule Poirot. 1902.
Delightful YA Historical mystery fiction. Read on Kindle while listening to wonderful audio narration by Sarah English.
Technically Aggie Morton is not Agatha Chtistie as her real maiden name was Miller. But she did live in the English coastal village of Torquay where this novel is set. Aggie Morton is a very bright, imaginative 12 year old who doesn't fit in with other young girls her age. She is delighted to become friends with a young Belgian immigrant, Hector Periot who she immediately bonds with. The book blurb here on Goodreads gives enough information and I don't want to post any spoilers. Will just comment that I loved the idea of young Aggie meeting up with fictional Hector who is obviously based on Hercule Periot!
A very interesting mystery with lots of red herrings, well developed secondary characters and witty dialogue. This is a book I would have devoured as a child and is so well written that in my opinion I think most adult readers would enjoy even if they had not read Agatha Christie's mysteries.
Delightful YA Historical mystery fiction. Read on Kindle while listening to wonderful audio narration by Sarah English.
Technically Aggie Morton is not Agatha Chtistie as her real maiden name was Miller. But she did live in the English coastal village of Torquay where this novel is set. Aggie Morton is a very bright, imaginative 12 year old who doesn't fit in with other young girls her age. She is delighted to become friends with a young Belgian immigrant, Hector Periot who she immediately bonds with. The book blurb here on Goodreads gives enough information and I don't want to post any spoilers. Will just comment that I loved the idea of young Aggie meeting up with fictional Hector who is obviously based on Hercule Periot!
A very interesting mystery with lots of red herrings, well developed secondary characters and witty dialogue. This is a book I would have devoured as a child and is so well written that in my opinion I think most adult readers would enjoy even if they had not read Agatha Christie's mysteries.
August 30, 2022
This was oodles of fun. Terrific MC, loved the Hercule Poirot character, the mystery was fab with plenty of red herrings and twists! This was such a fun read. I loved seeing Aggie do her thing despite how people thought girls should act. I have to bring a message to my best friend? Heck, I will steal this bike and take off my skirt, go! XD The ending was exciting and I was rooting for them to get the culprit! I thought I would struggle (I kind of feel a bit of a slump coming plus it is meltingly hot here) but in the end I just couldn't stop reading it was just that much fun!
Oh, and the illustrations, perfection!
I need more of this series!
Oh, and the illustrations, perfection!
I need more of this series!
April 9, 2024
Rating: 4.2 / 5
Ever wonder where Agatha Christie got her inspiration for all her murder mysteries?
Well, wonder no more, as Marthe Jocelyn has created a charming and fictional account of just how it might have gone down!
Ahem, hypothetically, of course.
Now, while I'm usually not a fan of historical re-imaginings, in the case of Agatha Christie, I'm willing to make an exception. In the fictional character of Agatha Morton, we follow along this 12-year-old's adventures as she comes across her first case in The Body Under the Piano.
Aggie herself has no real friends, and so it's quite fortunate when she meets little Belgian boy Hector Perot, whose mind also works along the lines of mystery. The two hatch up a friendship, and soon find themselves co-sleuths in a case that rattles Aggie's small seaside town of Torquay. And with Aggie herself having discovered the body, and her beloved dance instructor the suspect, of course she must go looking for clues, poking her nose about, and getting up to all manner of mischief! Pfft, what 12-year-old wouldn't?!
From start to finish, this was quite a charming read. The characters were quite likeable--Aggie and Hector in particular, of course--the mystery fairly engaging for a middle grade read, and everything having a nice, old-timey feel. It almost got close to mimicking the atmosphere of The Mysterious Benedict Society for me, although I will admit that not quite reaching the same level. Still, considering how many middle grade series do try to mimic that atmosphere and success, I think that to have a book even partly succeed is quite the accomplishment, any way you put it!
All in all, it's a series that I would like to continue pursuing someday. (Not sure about right now, necessarily, but definitely soon in the future!)
Would recommend for middle grade kids and older (or younger as well, depending on reading level), especially those who have an interest in mystery. They won't be disappointed!
Ever wonder where Agatha Christie got her inspiration for all her murder mysteries?
Well, wonder no more, as Marthe Jocelyn has created a charming and fictional account of just how it might have gone down!
Ahem, hypothetically, of course.
Now, while I'm usually not a fan of historical re-imaginings, in the case of Agatha Christie, I'm willing to make an exception. In the fictional character of Agatha Morton, we follow along this 12-year-old's adventures as she comes across her first case in The Body Under the Piano.
Aggie herself has no real friends, and so it's quite fortunate when she meets little Belgian boy Hector Perot, whose mind also works along the lines of mystery. The two hatch up a friendship, and soon find themselves co-sleuths in a case that rattles Aggie's small seaside town of Torquay. And with Aggie herself having discovered the body, and her beloved dance instructor the suspect, of course she must go looking for clues, poking her nose about, and getting up to all manner of mischief! Pfft, what 12-year-old wouldn't?!
From start to finish, this was quite a charming read. The characters were quite likeable--Aggie and Hector in particular, of course--the mystery fairly engaging for a middle grade read, and everything having a nice, old-timey feel. It almost got close to mimicking the atmosphere of The Mysterious Benedict Society for me, although I will admit that not quite reaching the same level. Still, considering how many middle grade series do try to mimic that atmosphere and success, I think that to have a book even partly succeed is quite the accomplishment, any way you put it!
All in all, it's a series that I would like to continue pursuing someday. (Not sure about right now, necessarily, but definitely soon in the future!)
Would recommend for middle grade kids and older (or younger as well, depending on reading level), especially those who have an interest in mystery. They won't be disappointed!
October 5, 2023
3.5
'tis the season of murder mysteries!
In this one, two child sleuths solve a case.
Aggie Morton and Hector Perot (based on the childhood of Agatha Christie herself and her most famous detective) improvise themselves detectives when Aggie finds a body in the room where she has her dance lessons and, with the help of her new Belgian friend, she sets to uncover the mystery behind the death.
The characters are vivid and dynamic, and the plot, though predictable - I did guess who the killer was before it was revealed, which doesn't happen often - has a nice pace, and does string you along the journey.
I would have loved reading this as a child!
'tis the season of murder mysteries!
In this one, two child sleuths solve a case.
Aggie Morton and Hector Perot (based on the childhood of Agatha Christie herself and her most famous detective) improvise themselves detectives when Aggie finds a body in the room where she has her dance lessons and, with the help of her new Belgian friend, she sets to uncover the mystery behind the death.
The characters are vivid and dynamic, and the plot, though predictable - I did guess who the killer was before it was revealed, which doesn't happen often - has a nice pace, and does string you along the journey.
I would have loved reading this as a child!
February 10, 2020
One thing I have learned in my NetGalley experience is, when you get behind and miss the deadline, you can then find an audiobook [typically] that will then help speed up the process and you can review it faster and not be a complete review slacker. With this book, THIS was a very good thing.
I requested this book in hopes that it would be something my 5th grader would like/read. Because I didn't read the blurb all the way through and didn't realize it was set in England, I am not sure this will work for her at this point, but maybe by next year she will be ready for it. Regardless, if she does decide to read it, I will be buying her the audiobook, because with this book, that is the absolute best way to go.
I was really struggling with this book and was absolutely thinking about DNF'ing it. Again [and this is totally on me], I didn't read the blurb and didn't realize that this is a homage to a young Agatha Christie [though I doubt that Agatha Christie was as mouthy and pushy as young Aggie is] and her beloved character Hercule Poirot [and when I did realize it, there was much eye-rolling because WOW, could it be more obvious? And could he be a ANY more whiny? Sigh] and when I did, I realized that the author [IMO] was not doing a great job at it. I am not sure if it was how it was written, or if it was the spacing or whatever of the ARC, but it was a really tough read. I wasn't engaging with the characters, I was eye-rolling a lot and I was pretty sure I knew who the killer was about 5 minutes after the murder was committed [turns out I was right about that, but I DO read a lot of mysteries. I didn't know the why though until later so that was a good thing]. I decided to bite the bullet [after extensively looking for the audiobook elsewhere] to use a credit at Audible and listen to the rest of it [because hey, if I hated it still, I could return it and get that credit back - win/win]. Turns out, that was the best thing I could have done. The narration is excellent and it really opens up the book and the characters [who I didn't really like in the beginning and didn't really connect to at all] and the whole story. And I enjoyed it MUCH more that way than by just reading it. I would absolutely recommend that it be listened to over just reading it. Especially if your young reader struggles with reading. This will help them immensely.
So overall, I enjoyed this experience and should she write another one, I might be tempted to read it [if I could get the audiobook] and in a year or two, I think my reluctant reader may just end up liking this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I requested this book in hopes that it would be something my 5th grader would like/read. Because I didn't read the blurb all the way through and didn't realize it was set in England, I am not sure this will work for her at this point, but maybe by next year she will be ready for it. Regardless, if she does decide to read it, I will be buying her the audiobook, because with this book, that is the absolute best way to go.
I was really struggling with this book and was absolutely thinking about DNF'ing it. Again [and this is totally on me], I didn't read the blurb and didn't realize that this is a homage to a young Agatha Christie [though I doubt that Agatha Christie was as mouthy and pushy as young Aggie is] and her beloved character Hercule Poirot [and when I did realize it, there was much eye-rolling because WOW, could it be more obvious? And could he be a ANY more whiny? Sigh] and when I did, I realized that the author [IMO] was not doing a great job at it. I am not sure if it was how it was written, or if it was the spacing or whatever of the ARC, but it was a really tough read. I wasn't engaging with the characters, I was eye-rolling a lot and I was pretty sure I knew who the killer was about 5 minutes after the murder was committed [turns out I was right about that, but I DO read a lot of mysteries. I didn't know the why though until later so that was a good thing]. I decided to bite the bullet [after extensively looking for the audiobook elsewhere] to use a credit at Audible and listen to the rest of it [because hey, if I hated it still, I could return it and get that credit back - win/win]. Turns out, that was the best thing I could have done. The narration is excellent and it really opens up the book and the characters [who I didn't really like in the beginning and didn't really connect to at all] and the whole story. And I enjoyed it MUCH more that way than by just reading it. I would absolutely recommend that it be listened to over just reading it. Especially if your young reader struggles with reading. This will help them immensely.
So overall, I enjoyed this experience and should she write another one, I might be tempted to read it [if I could get the audiobook] and in a year or two, I think my reluctant reader may just end up liking this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 6, 2022
I want to make it perfectly clear that this is the only book involving Agatha Christie that could get 4 stars from me. Christie wrote great plots that work well as movies, but her characters were cardboard.
Christie was one of the 4 "Queens of the Golden Age of Mysteries", the others being Margery Allingham (pretty good), Ngaio Marsh (entertaining and her books get progressively better), and the Empress of them all, Dorothy L Sayers. If you are an adult and haven't read any of them, you should, and you hopefully will see why I loathe Christie.
Jocelyn's characters work well--I especially loved the pithy comments of Aggie's Grandma Jane. This is a kid's book, so it's not fair to compare it to an adult mystery, but like DL Sayer's immortal Dowager Duchess (Lord Peter's mother), I quickly guessed whodunnit here, though not all the details of the "why" of it.
All in all, a nice start. Kids who like mysteries and/or Victorian/Edwardian era fiction should enjoy this.
Christie was one of the 4 "Queens of the Golden Age of Mysteries", the others being Margery Allingham (pretty good), Ngaio Marsh (entertaining and her books get progressively better), and the Empress of them all, Dorothy L Sayers. If you are an adult and haven't read any of them, you should, and you hopefully will see why I loathe Christie.
Jocelyn's characters work well--I especially loved the pithy comments of Aggie's Grandma Jane. This is a kid's book, so it's not fair to compare it to an adult mystery, but like DL Sayer's immortal Dowager Duchess (Lord Peter's mother), I quickly guessed whodunnit here, though not all the details of the "why" of it.
All in all, a nice start. Kids who like mysteries and/or Victorian/Edwardian era fiction should enjoy this.
March 7, 2020
I rarely read middle grade novels but this was such a fun excursion from all the serious literary fiction I’ve been reading. Marthe Jocelyn takes a lot of inspiration from the life and works of the mystery queen, Agatha Christie in the characterization and plot of the novel. With middle grade, there’s always the concern the story might be overly simplistic and the writing too dialled down for adult / older readers to enjoy. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case with this. The mystery is genuinely intriguing and the writing style, simple but effective. Ofcourse, there are plot conveniences and cliche mystery troupes, but it’s still a fun read. The setting of the town of Torquay, 1902 is vivid and very well done. Aggie Morton is a spirited young woman and she and her friend, Hector, together with their sleuthing capabilities get to the bottom of the murder mystery. It’s a cozy, quick read, that's apt for mystery lovers, young and old alike. I also have to mention the lovely cover art and chapter illustrations by Isabelle Follath that work incredibly well with the story.
April 29, 2021
This was so much fun! Apparently one of my reading themes this year is child/teenage sleuths. I love that this author took elements of the child Agatha Christie and created her own child sleuth, Aggie Morton. Aggie Morton is a great character, and I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series. I love that Aggie gets a friend named Hector Perot, too, who is a Belgian refugee here too. He has characteristics of Hercule Poirot, and I love that I’ve finally read enough Poirot to recognize those. There were two big surprises in this book that I didn’t guess at all. The murderer made me sad though.
April 21, 2020
I think this pairs well with V.E. Schwab's City of Ghosts if you read them together over a rainy weekend. I could guess who the killer was pretty much right away, but it wasn't obvious and the twist was still throughly enjoyable.
February 16, 2021
A well written mystery, had a lot of fun meeting Hector Poirot and Agatha in a new light; a little on the dark side of things at time, but otherwise enjoyable.
December 31, 2020
3.75 stars rounded up
Twelve-year-old Aggie Morton is a shy, lonely, imaginative child in Torquay, England in 1902. She really misses her Papa who died. He used to give her puzzles and math problems to do for fun. Aggie's mother is still depressed and her older sister is married and on her honeymoon. While Aggie socializes with the other young ladies in town, she isn't really friends with any of them. It's not easy being a young lady of vivid imagination but crippling shyness. Soon she meets Hector Perot, a funny little Belgian boy who helps her with a problem. For some reason, Aggie forgets to be shy around Hector. The girls in Miss Marianne Eversham's dance class are eager to show off in a fundraising drive for warm winter clothing for refugees and immigrants. Aggie is excited to read a poem she composed especially for welcoming their new friends but her anxiety gets in the way and she can't do it. When Aggie accidentally leaves her notebook behind, little does she dream of what will soon follow. First, she discovers a dead body! Mrs. Irma Eversham, Miss Marianne's sister-in-law, is dead under the piano when the girls arrive for dance lessons the morning after their event. Aggie suspects Mrs. Eversham was poisoned! Sure she wasn't the nicest woman and even her own daughter Rose wishes Mrs. Eversham was dead once in awhile but would she really do such a heinous deed? Aggie doesn't think so. She also rules out Miss Marianne because even though the sisters-in-law didn't see eye-to-eye, why would she commit murder now and why in the dance studio? It doesn't make sense. The police don't see it that way though and they set their sights on Miss Marianne. No one believes Aggie's alternative theories except for Hector. Together the new friends must keep their eyes and ears open for any new information they can use to prove Miss Marianne's innocence.
This is a fun story. I didn't like mysteries when I was a kid because they were too easy to solve. I am pleased to say this one kept me guessing nearly as long as an adult oriented cozy mystery. I figured it out long before Aggie but I wasn't positive before that. Like Aggie, I thought it was someone else. The clue doesn't appear until more than halfway through the book and that made it easier for me to figure out WHO but not entirely the whole story. There's enough action and danger here to please eager young readers but not enough to make it scary for sensitive readers. The story of friendship between a shy English girl and a lonely Belgian boy is very sweet and young readers will learn to have empathy for refugees and immigrants. The illustrations are cute and provide visual clues for unfamiliar items common in the Victorian period. My only real complaints are that some of the names are too cutesy- Florence Fusswell, Lavinia Paine? Obviously Hector Perot comes from Hercule Poirot. I'm not sure Hector is a Belgian name but I'm being nitpicky there. My only other comment would be that the children are in need of a wise, trusted adult to help them out- a Dumbledore, Gandalf, Obi Wan Kenobi figure. All the adults in this story treat the children like they lack brains just because they're young.
Aggie is based on Agatha Christie. They share some personality traits and have similar childhoods. I read the author's note first because I don't know much about Agatha Christie as a person outside of her famous novels. I only know a bit about her adult life. I really appreciated the protagonist of this story being shy, imaginative and lonely. I can relate a lot to that! Aggie isn't so shy once she stops thinking about being shy. I think her problem is anxiety about new situations and meeting new people. She's just fine with Hector. She still gets tongue-tied sometimes and has a hard time saying what she means. I also like that she's a writer. Aggie isn't Enola Holmes action heroine, she's just a quiet girl who listens and observes more than most people. Hector is a fussy, odd little boy. He prefers patent leather loafers to leather boots and doesn't like to get dirty. He wants to be a policeman and Aggie comments he'd need to grow a moustache. I'm more curious about Hercule Poirot now and need to watch some adaptations see I can see what Hector looks like grown up. (Not Kenneth Branagh. Hector has dark hair). This boy, Hector, is a good and loyal friend. He tries to act confident but he's insecure about his status as an immigrant refugee. Others don't treat him very kindly. Like Aggie, he's lonely and missing his parents back home in Belgium. I think this helps them bond. They recognize a kindred spirit within each other. I can really relate to Aggie latching on to the foreign kid wanting to be friends! I'm not so brave as Aggie and Hector and I don't think I would have done half of what they get up to but I'd do anything for a friend and that's what I see Hector doing in this book.
The secondary characters are a bit two-dimensional. Aggie's mother is kind but depressed. She keeps to her room most of the time and when she comes out, she worries about a lot of things. She has strict ideas of how a young lady should behave and Aggie doesn't quite live up to expectations. I think Mrs. Morton cuts Aggie a lot more slack than most Victorian mothers would though. They're upper middle class/shabby genteel though and not nobility. Charlotte, Aggie's governess, is more strict about where Aggie goes and with whom she speaks. Charlotte has a romantic subplot with a Constable Beck and Aggie uses that to her advantage sometimes. Charlotte is a stick in the mud and more governess than nursemaid. Constable Beck is nice enough but he treats Aggie like an infant. He's very aware of what Charlotte would think and say about Aggie's behavior and that weighs more with him than what Aggie is trying to say. Florence Fusswell and Lavinia Paine are the mean girls. Florence is the Queen Bee and Lavinia backs her up. UGH. There's one in every town in every century. Florence ended up surprising me at the end though. I don't think she and Aggie will ever be friends, Aggie is shabby genteel and Florence is wealthy and overly concerned with her family's reputation. The police are really, really dumb. Inspector Locke lacks imagination and is eager to make an arrest and call it a day.
Other secondary characters are a little less cardboard. There's Grannie Jane, Aggie's grandmother, who is lively and caring. She has her fussy ideas about propriety but I think she understands it's difficult for Aggie to always have to conform. Grannie Jane is kind to Hector and Rose. Tony, Aggie's terrier, has the true terrier heart. He thinks he's ferocious and tries to defend his friend against vermin and intruders- namely other girls. I wanted more Tony! Leonard Cable, the garden boy, is Aggie's friend. He entertains her with magic tricks and she is sympathetic when she discovers the deplorable conditions in which he lives. (A nice, subtle way of introducing the young reader to the other side of Victorian life). Leonard always has time to stop and talk to Aggie when she wants to talk. However, as Aggie gets involved in investigating, Leonard, like the other adults, doesn't think she should get involved.
The victim, Mrs. Irma Eversham, is also two-dimension. She was a nasty, angry, mean lady who never had anything kind to say about anyone or anything she didn't approve of. I don't think she approved of much. Mrs. Eversham had very high standards. I wish we knew more about her background and why she's so snippy. Still, she didn't deserve to be murdered. Her sister-in-law, Miss Marianne, is much more appealing for modern readers and a good role model. Marianne supports herself teaching dance lessons and she speaks out about women's suffrage to anyone who will listen. She's kind and gentle with the girls and a good influence on her niece, Rose. Rose is also kind but she's young and eager for suitors. I think she's a bit flirtatious and enjoys the power she has over men. She's very, very good to Aggie though. I don't think either of the ladies has it in them to murder Mrs. Eversham. As Aggie points out, it would be too easy to do it at home and make it seem natural or like an accident. I don't want it to be the ladies!
A more likely suspect is Roderick Fusswell, Rose's suitor. Her mother clearly disapproves of him even though he's wealthy. He's arrogant, rude, condescending and makes assumptions about women and girls not being as intelligent as men when he's not too bright himself. He works at his family's hotel that provided the sugar bowl for the sugar in Mrs. Eversham's tea that killed her. Is he really that stupid? I think so! What about Augustus Fibbley, the reporter? He's always lurking about and eager for a sensational story. He twists people's words and then writes up a story quoting people out of context. He is not an ethical journalist. Mr. Fibbley seems to get a kick out of Aggie's investigation. He's always lurking around trying to talk to her for the sake of a good story. Aggie doesn't trust him at all.
Overall, I enjoyed this story a lot. I hope to read more about Aggie and Hector soon. I hope my nieces will like this book too. I recommended it to kids 10+ and kids at heart.
Content:
Plot spoiler for the mystery
mild peril
mild violence
VERY G-rated romance! Blushes, not even kisses
period language and behavior towards foreign immigrants
mention of King Leopold behaving so badly but it's never actually stated what he did. I had to look it up to refresh my memory. Don't let your young reader look it up on their own.
Twelve-year-old Aggie Morton is a shy, lonely, imaginative child in Torquay, England in 1902. She really misses her Papa who died. He used to give her puzzles and math problems to do for fun. Aggie's mother is still depressed and her older sister is married and on her honeymoon. While Aggie socializes with the other young ladies in town, she isn't really friends with any of them. It's not easy being a young lady of vivid imagination but crippling shyness. Soon she meets Hector Perot, a funny little Belgian boy who helps her with a problem. For some reason, Aggie forgets to be shy around Hector. The girls in Miss Marianne Eversham's dance class are eager to show off in a fundraising drive for warm winter clothing for refugees and immigrants. Aggie is excited to read a poem she composed especially for welcoming their new friends but her anxiety gets in the way and she can't do it. When Aggie accidentally leaves her notebook behind, little does she dream of what will soon follow. First, she discovers a dead body! Mrs. Irma Eversham, Miss Marianne's sister-in-law, is dead under the piano when the girls arrive for dance lessons the morning after their event. Aggie suspects Mrs. Eversham was poisoned! Sure she wasn't the nicest woman and even her own daughter Rose wishes Mrs. Eversham was dead once in awhile but would she really do such a heinous deed? Aggie doesn't think so. She also rules out Miss Marianne because even though the sisters-in-law didn't see eye-to-eye, why would she commit murder now and why in the dance studio? It doesn't make sense. The police don't see it that way though and they set their sights on Miss Marianne. No one believes Aggie's alternative theories except for Hector. Together the new friends must keep their eyes and ears open for any new information they can use to prove Miss Marianne's innocence.
This is a fun story. I didn't like mysteries when I was a kid because they were too easy to solve. I am pleased to say this one kept me guessing nearly as long as an adult oriented cozy mystery. I figured it out long before Aggie but I wasn't positive before that. Like Aggie, I thought it was someone else. The clue doesn't appear until more than halfway through the book and that made it easier for me to figure out WHO but not entirely the whole story. There's enough action and danger here to please eager young readers but not enough to make it scary for sensitive readers. The story of friendship between a shy English girl and a lonely Belgian boy is very sweet and young readers will learn to have empathy for refugees and immigrants. The illustrations are cute and provide visual clues for unfamiliar items common in the Victorian period. My only real complaints are that some of the names are too cutesy- Florence Fusswell, Lavinia Paine? Obviously Hector Perot comes from Hercule Poirot. I'm not sure Hector is a Belgian name but I'm being nitpicky there. My only other comment would be that the children are in need of a wise, trusted adult to help them out- a Dumbledore, Gandalf, Obi Wan Kenobi figure. All the adults in this story treat the children like they lack brains just because they're young.
Aggie is based on Agatha Christie. They share some personality traits and have similar childhoods. I read the author's note first because I don't know much about Agatha Christie as a person outside of her famous novels. I only know a bit about her adult life. I really appreciated the protagonist of this story being shy, imaginative and lonely. I can relate a lot to that! Aggie isn't so shy once she stops thinking about being shy. I think her problem is anxiety about new situations and meeting new people. She's just fine with Hector. She still gets tongue-tied sometimes and has a hard time saying what she means. I also like that she's a writer. Aggie isn't Enola Holmes action heroine, she's just a quiet girl who listens and observes more than most people. Hector is a fussy, odd little boy. He prefers patent leather loafers to leather boots and doesn't like to get dirty. He wants to be a policeman and Aggie comments he'd need to grow a moustache. I'm more curious about Hercule Poirot now and need to watch some adaptations see I can see what Hector looks like grown up. (Not Kenneth Branagh. Hector has dark hair). This boy, Hector, is a good and loyal friend. He tries to act confident but he's insecure about his status as an immigrant refugee. Others don't treat him very kindly. Like Aggie, he's lonely and missing his parents back home in Belgium. I think this helps them bond. They recognize a kindred spirit within each other. I can really relate to Aggie latching on to the foreign kid wanting to be friends! I'm not so brave as Aggie and Hector and I don't think I would have done half of what they get up to but I'd do anything for a friend and that's what I see Hector doing in this book.
The secondary characters are a bit two-dimensional. Aggie's mother is kind but depressed. She keeps to her room most of the time and when she comes out, she worries about a lot of things. She has strict ideas of how a young lady should behave and Aggie doesn't quite live up to expectations. I think Mrs. Morton cuts Aggie a lot more slack than most Victorian mothers would though. They're upper middle class/shabby genteel though and not nobility. Charlotte, Aggie's governess, is more strict about where Aggie goes and with whom she speaks. Charlotte has a romantic subplot with a Constable Beck and Aggie uses that to her advantage sometimes. Charlotte is a stick in the mud and more governess than nursemaid. Constable Beck is nice enough but he treats Aggie like an infant. He's very aware of what Charlotte would think and say about Aggie's behavior and that weighs more with him than what Aggie is trying to say. Florence Fusswell and Lavinia Paine are the mean girls. Florence is the Queen Bee and Lavinia backs her up. UGH. There's one in every town in every century. Florence ended up surprising me at the end though. I don't think she and Aggie will ever be friends, Aggie is shabby genteel and Florence is wealthy and overly concerned with her family's reputation. The police are really, really dumb. Inspector Locke lacks imagination and is eager to make an arrest and call it a day.
Other secondary characters are a little less cardboard. There's Grannie Jane, Aggie's grandmother, who is lively and caring. She has her fussy ideas about propriety but I think she understands it's difficult for Aggie to always have to conform. Grannie Jane is kind to Hector and Rose. Tony, Aggie's terrier, has the true terrier heart. He thinks he's ferocious and tries to defend his friend against vermin and intruders- namely other girls. I wanted more Tony! Leonard Cable, the garden boy, is Aggie's friend. He entertains her with magic tricks and she is sympathetic when she discovers the deplorable conditions in which he lives. (A nice, subtle way of introducing the young reader to the other side of Victorian life). Leonard always has time to stop and talk to Aggie when she wants to talk. However, as Aggie gets involved in investigating, Leonard, like the other adults, doesn't think she should get involved.
The victim, Mrs. Irma Eversham, is also two-dimension. She was a nasty, angry, mean lady who never had anything kind to say about anyone or anything she didn't approve of. I don't think she approved of much. Mrs. Eversham had very high standards. I wish we knew more about her background and why she's so snippy. Still, she didn't deserve to be murdered. Her sister-in-law, Miss Marianne, is much more appealing for modern readers and a good role model. Marianne supports herself teaching dance lessons and she speaks out about women's suffrage to anyone who will listen. She's kind and gentle with the girls and a good influence on her niece, Rose. Rose is also kind but she's young and eager for suitors. I think she's a bit flirtatious and enjoys the power she has over men. She's very, very good to Aggie though. I don't think either of the ladies has it in them to murder Mrs. Eversham. As Aggie points out, it would be too easy to do it at home and make it seem natural or like an accident. I don't want it to be the ladies!
A more likely suspect is Roderick Fusswell, Rose's suitor. Her mother clearly disapproves of him even though he's wealthy. He's arrogant, rude, condescending and makes assumptions about women and girls not being as intelligent as men when he's not too bright himself. He works at his family's hotel that provided the sugar bowl for the sugar in Mrs. Eversham's tea that killed her. Is he really that stupid? I think so! What about Augustus Fibbley, the reporter? He's always lurking about and eager for a sensational story. He twists people's words and then writes up a story quoting people out of context. He is not an ethical journalist. Mr. Fibbley seems to get a kick out of Aggie's investigation. He's always lurking around trying to talk to her for the sake of a good story. Aggie doesn't trust him at all.
Overall, I enjoyed this story a lot. I hope to read more about Aggie and Hector soon. I hope my nieces will like this book too. I recommended it to kids 10+ and kids at heart.
Content:
Plot spoiler for the mystery
mild peril
mild violence
VERY G-rated romance! Blushes, not even kisses
period language and behavior towards foreign immigrants
mention of King Leopold behaving so badly but it's never actually stated what he did. I had to look it up to refresh my memory. Don't let your young reader look it up on their own.
January 31, 2020
In this story we follow Aggie (Agatha) Morton, who one morning finds a dead body under the piano of her dance class. Together with her new friend from Belgium, Hector Perot, she tries to solve the case.
First off this is obviously a potential and fictionalized version of Agatha Christie's childhood. And I feel she has been portrayed very well. The writing style may not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The narrative is interspersed with Aggie's thoughts on how she would describe certain things and situations were she to write a book. It adds to her personality, as a creative and imaginative girl.
I am not untidy. I merely surround myself with a plethora of possibilities.
I liked the setting. The author definitely did her research in the place and time, and it shows. I also liked that there were some feminist characters, fighting for womens' vote and more liberating fashion. These women are still frowned upon by most of the characters, and even our main character finds them somewhat eccentric. Although I do fully agree with the feminist motives, it is nice to see a more true to the time reactions.
The plot was very good. Although I did guess who did it, it wasn't obvious and I couldn't figure out the why till it was explained to me. The story also has many layers and themes, and shows a lot of grey morality. You do feel for the killer and understand why he did it.
Yes, the kids made a bunch of stupid decisions, and like many middle-grade (and YA) stories there was a lack of adults in this story. But apart from that I very much enjoyed it, and would like to thank Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
First off this is obviously a potential and fictionalized version of Agatha Christie's childhood. And I feel she has been portrayed very well. The writing style may not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The narrative is interspersed with Aggie's thoughts on how she would describe certain things and situations were she to write a book. It adds to her personality, as a creative and imaginative girl.
I am not untidy. I merely surround myself with a plethora of possibilities.
I liked the setting. The author definitely did her research in the place and time, and it shows. I also liked that there were some feminist characters, fighting for womens' vote and more liberating fashion. These women are still frowned upon by most of the characters, and even our main character finds them somewhat eccentric. Although I do fully agree with the feminist motives, it is nice to see a more true to the time reactions.
The plot was very good. Although I did guess who did it, it wasn't obvious and I couldn't figure out the why till it was explained to me. The story also has many layers and themes, and shows a lot of grey morality. You do feel for the killer and understand why he did it.
Yes, the kids made a bunch of stupid decisions, and like many middle-grade (and YA) stories there was a lack of adults in this story. But apart from that I very much enjoyed it, and would like to thank Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 14, 2024
Clever and exciting, The Body Under the Piano is an enjoyable read for tweens and early teens. Inspired by Agatha Christie's life, novels, and characters, Aggie Morton is very British, very independent, and has a "morbid curiosity". Minimal violence makes this a great mystery for those sensitive to such things.
Content:
A murder (The body is described, but not graphically. The murder was done by poison, so there is no blood.) A few variations of "What the devil?" Some peril, an attempted drowning. A character is choked and bruises are described (not graphic). A bit of lying. Some men demean women, per Victorian England. A rabbit dies.
*Note: A side character who is a woman disguises herself as a man so she can work as a journalist. She is still adamant that she is a woman, her disguise being a necessity for her job. Aggie mentions confusion over whether she should use masculine or feminine pronouns for this individual.
Ages 9+
Content:
A murder (The body is described, but not graphically. The murder was done by poison, so there is no blood.) A few variations of "What the devil?" Some peril, an attempted drowning. A character is choked and bruises are described (not graphic). A bit of lying. Some men demean women, per Victorian England. A rabbit dies.
*Note: A side character who is a woman disguises herself as a man so she can work as a journalist. She is still adamant that she is a woman, her disguise being a necessity for her job. Aggie mentions confusion over whether she should use masculine or feminine pronouns for this individual.
Ages 9+
February 16, 2023
4.5⭐
Loved this so much😊
Loved this so much😊
December 12, 2020
I really wanted to love this book. I read an interview with the author where she talked about her reasons for writing it - her love of Agatha Christie, and wondering what her childhood was like, and what inspired her to write murder mysteries. I also love Agatha Christie’s books, so I was all set to love everything about this book.
Unfortunately, it never came into its own. Aggie was a passive protagonist, with no agency of her own. She simply did as she was told. She was first to find the body, but then she took no steps to actually try and solve the mystery of who the killer was. She just went about her days as usual, while key people came up to her and spilt their deepest secrets to her, with no reason behind this. Even the police told her their theories! It was a bizarre, Nancy Drew style scenario where Aggie went to high tea, sat with her grandmother, spent time with her dog in the garden, and magically all the key players came to visit her and tell her their part in it. She did absolutely zero investigative work. She also made no moves on her own that were not simply what she was planning to do anyway, with two exceptions. One, she went on a midnight bicycle ride, which I was excited about as she was finally doing something of her own accord. But all she did was leave a letter at her friend’s house and then got taken home by a policeman. Which turned out to simply be another excuse for the police to confide in her. Then she did go after the killer, but simply got caught and put in a box. She did escape, but by then the police had turned up, so she didn’t do anything there either. People were telling her that she had “saved Rose”, but all she did was get caught and then escape (from a box that had an unlocked door). So she actually had no impact there either. If Aggie hadn’t been in this story, it would have still unfolded in the same way. Actually, Aggie’s involvement made it worse for everyone. If she hadn’t accidentally taken a key piece of evidence, the real killer would have been discovered by the police straight away. So - Aggie actually caused a lot of trouble, and didn’t help to resolve it.
I also had a huge problem with Hector Perrot’s character, who was meant to be Hercule Poirot as a child. I actually liked his character - he was logical and was actually actively trying to investigate. However, he was presented as a poor refugee, who everyone was being condescending to. Aggie “saved” him, by letting him come to her house and eat sweets, putting her in the awkward position of white savior, which is always unpleasant. Also, she then sent Hector on all the worst missions, making him follow someone for hours in the freezing cold and rain, while she sat indoors with her family and had tea. When Hector arrived to report, freezing cold and soaked through, Aggie wouldn’t even see him. She just had the servant send Hector straight back out into the dark and rain again. It was a super uncomfortable treatment of someone who we are told again and again is a poor refugee. Hector also is barely in the book, having a total of three short interactions with Aggie before the mystery is resolved.
Finally, the author also made social commentary on the position of women in society, with a suffragette character, and a lawyer telling Aggie that women couldn’t be lawyers because they couldn’t keep a secret. Then she totally ruined that, by having a hack reporter of the Rita Skeeter style, who constantly manipulated quotes and reported things in a dramatic way with little regard for the truth, turn out to be a woman in disguise as a man. Effectively proving what the lawyer had said!!! Women were not to be trusted! And Aggie then told the reporter, who had already proven herself to be the worst sort of journalist, the whole story, without checking with the other people if they minded, and proving that she couldn’t keep a secret!
Aggie was also a huge romantic, constantly going off in her own head and trying to find romantic ways to describe scenarios - even when she was trying to find Rose when Rose had been taken by the murderer. Aggie was imagining romantic ways to describe how Rose’s body might look. It was gruesome in a way that Agatha Christie never was. Like Aggie was totally distanced from reality and was only looking for a romantic story, not actually interested in finding the killer.
I also thought the murderer was really obvious because the author was making him act so suspiciously, but I realise these books are for kids, so maybe it was less obvious than I thought.
If you’re looking for good kids detective books, I recommend the Murder Most Unladylike series.
Unfortunately, it never came into its own. Aggie was a passive protagonist, with no agency of her own. She simply did as she was told. She was first to find the body, but then she took no steps to actually try and solve the mystery of who the killer was. She just went about her days as usual, while key people came up to her and spilt their deepest secrets to her, with no reason behind this. Even the police told her their theories! It was a bizarre, Nancy Drew style scenario where Aggie went to high tea, sat with her grandmother, spent time with her dog in the garden, and magically all the key players came to visit her and tell her their part in it. She did absolutely zero investigative work. She also made no moves on her own that were not simply what she was planning to do anyway, with two exceptions. One, she went on a midnight bicycle ride, which I was excited about as she was finally doing something of her own accord. But all she did was leave a letter at her friend’s house and then got taken home by a policeman. Which turned out to simply be another excuse for the police to confide in her. Then she did go after the killer, but simply got caught and put in a box. She did escape, but by then the police had turned up, so she didn’t do anything there either. People were telling her that she had “saved Rose”, but all she did was get caught and then escape (from a box that had an unlocked door). So she actually had no impact there either. If Aggie hadn’t been in this story, it would have still unfolded in the same way. Actually, Aggie’s involvement made it worse for everyone. If she hadn’t accidentally taken a key piece of evidence, the real killer would have been discovered by the police straight away. So - Aggie actually caused a lot of trouble, and didn’t help to resolve it.
I also had a huge problem with Hector Perrot’s character, who was meant to be Hercule Poirot as a child. I actually liked his character - he was logical and was actually actively trying to investigate. However, he was presented as a poor refugee, who everyone was being condescending to. Aggie “saved” him, by letting him come to her house and eat sweets, putting her in the awkward position of white savior, which is always unpleasant. Also, she then sent Hector on all the worst missions, making him follow someone for hours in the freezing cold and rain, while she sat indoors with her family and had tea. When Hector arrived to report, freezing cold and soaked through, Aggie wouldn’t even see him. She just had the servant send Hector straight back out into the dark and rain again. It was a super uncomfortable treatment of someone who we are told again and again is a poor refugee. Hector also is barely in the book, having a total of three short interactions with Aggie before the mystery is resolved.
Finally, the author also made social commentary on the position of women in society, with a suffragette character, and a lawyer telling Aggie that women couldn’t be lawyers because they couldn’t keep a secret. Then she totally ruined that, by having a hack reporter of the Rita Skeeter style, who constantly manipulated quotes and reported things in a dramatic way with little regard for the truth, turn out to be a woman in disguise as a man. Effectively proving what the lawyer had said!!! Women were not to be trusted! And Aggie then told the reporter, who had already proven herself to be the worst sort of journalist, the whole story, without checking with the other people if they minded, and proving that she couldn’t keep a secret!
Aggie was also a huge romantic, constantly going off in her own head and trying to find romantic ways to describe scenarios - even when she was trying to find Rose when Rose had been taken by the murderer. Aggie was imagining romantic ways to describe how Rose’s body might look. It was gruesome in a way that Agatha Christie never was. Like Aggie was totally distanced from reality and was only looking for a romantic story, not actually interested in finding the killer.
I also thought the murderer was really obvious because the author was making him act so suspiciously, but I realise these books are for kids, so maybe it was less obvious than I thought.
If you’re looking for good kids detective books, I recommend the Murder Most Unladylike series.
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