Elly Griffiths’ A Girl Called Justice is a boarding school mystery for 10 year olds with a haunted tower, a dead maid and a heroine who’s quite sure there’s been a murder.<\/p>\n
It’s October 1936 and Justice Jones is twelve. She’s always been taught at home by her mum, who wrote detective novels. Now her mum has died, and her dad (a very busy barrister) has sent her to Highbury House on the Romney Marshes.<\/p>\n
Before she’s even through the gates, the taxi driver mentions that his brother, the local undertaker, was called out to the school last week. Did someone die? He won’t say another word. Justice is secretly delighted.<\/p>\n
She’s a brilliant narrator. She keeps lists in her journal rating everything, from the food (“inedible”) to the chances of a murder (“high”). She suspects Matron because her eyes don’t change when she smiles. It’s very funny, even though she’s also desperately sad and trying hard not to cry in front of anyone.<\/p>\n
School is a shock. Baths once a week, icicles on the inside of the windows, lacrosse in the pouring rain and a pudding everyone calls “dead baby”. A girl called Rose seems to aim the ball at her on purpose. But there’s also kind, clever Stella, who makes the whole place bearable.<\/p>\n
Then a note turns up tucked inside a book the headmistress lent her. If Justice wants to know what happened to Mary, she should come to the haunted tower at midnight. Would you go? Justice absolutely would!<\/p>\n
It’s a proper puzzle with lots of suspects, and the gloomy old house is half the fun. Your reader will probably be keeping their own list of who’s hiding what before long.<\/p>\n
One thing worth knowing is that Justice’s mum died of cancer a month before the story begins, and it comes up a few times. Mary, a young maid, has died before Justice arrives too, and nobody will talk about it. It’s handled gently, but a child who’s lost someone might find those moments hit home.<\/p>\n
If they want more girls with casebooks and midnight suspicions, Murder Most Unladylike has Daisy and Hazel running a secret detective society at their own boarding school. That one opens with a teacher’s body in the gym, so it’s a touch darker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elly Griffiths’ A Girl Called Justice is a boarding school mystery for 10 year olds with a haunted tower, a dead maid and a heroine who’s quite sure there’s been a murder. It’s October 1936 and Justice Jones is twelve. She’s always been taught at home by her mum, who wrote detective novels. Now her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12170,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":10543,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Murder Most Unladylike","lr_seo_hook":"A new girl at a gloomy 1936 boarding school is sure someone's been murdered."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[29],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[296],"class_list":["post-6663","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-10-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-elly-griffiths"],"yoast_title":"A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A new girl at a gloomy 1936 boarding school is sure someone's been murdered. For ages 10+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n