Tiara Friends: The Secret of the Silk Dress

Paula Harrison's Tiara Friends: The Secret of the Silk Dress is a mystery for 7 year olds about two best friends who look SO alike they can swap places whenever they fancy.

What happens

Millie is Princess Amelia. Jess works as a maid at Peveril Palace. They have the same glossy brown hair and the same hazel eyes, so a quick change of clothes means Jess gets to go riding while Millie gives the dog a bath (a princess isn't supposed to wash dogs, which is half the fun).

Then Millie's aunt, Lady Havering, comes to stay with her two daughters. Veronica and Alice squabble about absolutely everything. On a trip to the dressmaking shop run by Jess's parents, Veronica gets a dress made from the very last of a rare golden silk. Minutes later the dress has vanished and there's just an empty hanger.

Lady Havering is furious, because she'd already paid. Jess's mum gets the blame, and it isn't long before Jess herself is under suspicion. So the girls decide to track down the thief themselves.

What follows is proper detective work for young readers. They write their clues down on a scrap of paper. They question the grumpy ironmonger across the road, who's always peering out of his window. Jess chases a delivery boy through the back alleys, and Millie sneaks into a shop dressed as a boy. Some leads go nowhere (one very suspicious cupboard turns out to be full of peppermints!) and that feels very true to how real puzzling works.

The swapping gives it lots of giggles. At one point their tutor spots two Jesses in the same room and decides he'd better go and have a lie down. Who wouldn't love a best friend who could take their place at a dance lesson?

There's a lovely friendship at the heart of it too. The girls link little fingers and call themselves Double Trouble. While the cousins bicker, Millie and Jess stick up for each other, especially when a grown-up is being unfair.

If you've got a reader who likes a mystery with plenty of dressing up, this is a great pick. The stakes are a missing dress and a worried mum, which feels just right for this stage.

What to read next

This isn't Millie and Jess's first case. If they'd like to see where the partnership began, The Case of the Stolen Crown has the girls hunting for the baby prince's diamond crown just before his first birthday party.