King of Murder

Herculeah Jones Mysteries #6

by Betsy Byars

Herculeah meets a murder mystery writer, and has the uneasy feeling that he knows more about murder than he should.

Genres: Mystery, Contemporary, Fiction, Middle Grade

80 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2006

About the author

Betsy Byars was an American author of children's books. She wrote over sixty books for young people. Her first novel was published in 1962. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal. She also received a National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Night Swimmers and an Edgar Award for Wanted ... Mud Blossom!!

Daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are also writers.

Reviews

[Kelnishia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disliked this book because i am not into the genre mystery.Also because the book is a little boring and i wish there could be more action and drama. For example,on page 28 beginning of chapter eight "Herculeah jones had long ago departed for death's doors. she had come out her house in the usual rush" see there it could have been better if the author showed a little more actions of the things she did to make her late or things she did while she was late .Another example is Herculeah never tells about her family or the other thing she enjoy she only talks about Mathias kings books.i would only reccomend this book to people who really love mystery books.what was so challenging about the book was that the way the author desrcibe the main charters love for solving mystery was not enough for me to tell how much she loves it.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Вече ви запознахме с Еркюлея Джоунс, младото момиче-детектив от книгите на Бетси Байърс. Благодарение на издателство „Монт” поредицата с нейните мистерии продължава и Еркюлея демонстрира завидни умения в разнищването на криминални случаи, които я превръщат в първа конкурентка на нейната колежка Нанси Дрю! Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Andrea Dearborn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

This book and the one after it were written years after the first five books before it, so the vibes are definitely different and it didn't give the creeps or bad paranoia like the other ones. It was fun and I liked the plot a lot!

[Hristina Hristova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Детска книга с обрат. Хареса ми.

[Dow Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me an hour and 10 minutes to read this one. It was good and I liked how it revolves around a narcissistic author magician who everyone thinks is the killer but he’s really just looking for muses to write by collecting weapons. The real killer, of a woman whose backstory is convoluted and first mention seemed to have no indication of driving the story, was pretty obvious. I think that she had a pretty interesting and selfish reason for “accidentally” killing her friend. This girl was rich but the killer seemed insecure and paranoid about her own financial upbringing and thought that her friend was a spoiled brat. She was jealous. It looks to me like her rich friend just wanted to be close with her and spend time together, not like a controlling and manipulative relationship that the killer suggests.

The mystery author/magician is a bit creepy in locking Herculeah up just to see her reaction and to cure his writers block, so I hope he gets locked up on charges. I’m glad he wasn’t more involved though with the murder, he was genuine friends with the victim, but somehow too dumb to realize the knife he found with blood on it in the yard was connected to her murder. But he did know and he told Herculeah as such, knowing who her parents were, yet he still tried to lie to her father. But Herculeah called him on that.

Good callbacks to the previous novels here. I also meant to mention in my other reviews, but where does this whole “noticed three things” stuff originate in the mystery writing world? Everyone seems to notice three things. Except once when it was four.

Anyways, one more book left to go and I guess I better get started. This one was average, good, exciting.

Oh! Meat also goes on a date and it’s revealed that he truly loves Herculeah. Not explicitly, but he clearly doesn’t care about Steffi or what she has to say. I hope this last book brings them together.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thoughts on the entire Herculeah Jones series can be found here in my review of the first book, The Dark Stairs. This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A review from my old blog (of the whole series)...

I enjoyed these books. I wouldn't say that these were the best mystery books I have ever read although I have to admit that I haven't read Nancy Drew books or other mystery books written for that age in a long time.

Personally I felt that the subject matter was a little serious for the age group that the books were aimed for but Byars avoided telling any gruesome details and managed to tell a fairly good mystery although a bit convoluted and obvious.

I did find out something interesting. Byars mentioned in passing a local grocery store and I thought, "wait, I know that store. She has to be from somewhere around here." So, I flipped to the back and saw that indeed... she lives in the same relative area that I do. I found that quite interesting.

[Hannah M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book because it was a murder mystery and you kind of had to put the clues together to find out if it was Mathias King that killed the lady. This book was also kind of creepy because Mathias King, the famous author, wrote about murders. Everybody in the book was wondering how he made them so realistic. The creepy part is that he was committing all of these murders himself and that’s why they sounded so realistic. I Also liked this book because it was fun to read because it had so much details and had a lot of words that a lot of people have never used. I would read this book because it is a very good book and is a creepy mystery.

[Brandy James · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far the book " King Of Murder" is about the man named Mathias King who has written a lot of books about crimes and he also thinks of victims for his mystery books that he writes. But there are other real murders that are simliar to the books of crimes that Mathias writes. Meet and Herculah think that Mathias is the one committing these crimes so they can go along with his crimes that he writes. I don't know yet if Mathias is the one committing theses murders.

[Chasity Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book becuase I like how it was a real mystery you couldn't just solve the mystery right away. I like how they made you think one thing then they changed it to another thing. They make you think that Mathis King comited the murder but really it was Rita. That really supprised me. That is why I rated it with a 4.

[Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hope that Byars explains Meat's mother's attitude, both in general & towards Herculeah, at some point in this series.

[Mulan · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

good misdirection
*annotated in Gazette