Freya’s Gold

Fiona Longmuir's Freya's Gold is a seaside mystery for 11 year olds about a girl who's scared of almost everything and a stranger who wants to change her whole town.

What happens

Freya is twelve. She lives with her Granny Kate in the Bright and Breezy B&B on the boardwalk in Edge. In summer it's full of sandy babies and sunburnt noses. In February it's empty, the wind howls and the caves along the cliffs make noises nobody can explain.

Then a woman in a long green coat walks in out of the sleet and books a room for "two weeks at least". Who comes to Edge in February? Freya doesn't trust her from the first minute (and the enormous orange cat hisses at her, so he doesn't either).

Freya's best friend Lin thinks she's being ridiculous. Freya has form. There was the time she decided the school inspector was a spy, and the window cleaner incident they've agreed never to mention again.

But then Freya spots Ms Oleander shaking hands with the mayor outside the town hall after dark. Freya catches her creeping round the B&B's basement with a torch, heading for the trapdoor. And at the town meeting she stands up with a plan for the seafront. There's no pier in it, and Granny Kate says nobody on the boardwalk could afford the new rents.

There's treasure too. Freya and Lin find a gold coin on the beach with their metal detector, and there's a legend of smugglers' tunnels running under the town.

What makes it special is Freya herself. She's brilliant at puzzles and loves taking clocks apart. She can hold a whole machine in her head. But the same imagination fills every dark corner with monsters, and she fainted at last year's class presentation. It's a very real, very kind picture of being anxious. Her fears don't get magically cured just because there's a mystery to solve.

Freya lives with her granny because her parents have died, which is mentioned early on as part of her life rather than as a sad scene.

If you've got a reader who's clever and a bit of a worrier, they'll probably feel very seen here. There's lots of warmth too. Sticky gingerbread, a best friend in so many jumpers she's nearly spherical, and a granny who's tiny and fierce.

What to read next

For another mystery in the same windswept town, try Looking for Emily. A new girl who's sure nothing exciting ever happens in Edge comes across a secret museum.