Lena Jones’s The Secret Key is the first Agatha Oddly mystery, a stylish London detective story for 11 year olds about a girl who has been waiting her whole life for a real case.<\/p>\n
Agatha Oddlow is thirteen, on a scholarship at a posh school where she doesn’t fit, and in trouble for the thirteenth time this term. Her latest offence? Dressing up as a health inspector to investigate the caretaker.<\/p>\n
She lives with her dad, the head warden of Hyde Park, in a cottage right inside the park. Her attic bedroom is stuffed with vintage clothes, vinyl, a bust of Queen Victoria she found in a skip and every Agatha Christie ever written. Her mum named her after the great writer, and loved setting her trails of clues.<\/p>\n
When Agatha’s bored, she “Changes Channel”. Hercule Poirot himself steps out of the headmaster’s shiny desk to bet her how long the lecture will last (she wins, obviously).<\/p>\n
Then, one morning on her way through the park, a motorbike tears down the footpath and knocks over an old lady. The rider doesn’t stop. The woman has an expensive perfume, a business card from the Royal Geographical Society and a strange tattoo of a key on her wrist. She’s holding a folded page of the Financial Times. Agatha is quite sure this was no accident.<\/p>\n
So she does what any self-respecting detective would. She escapes from school inside a wheelie bin (under a bag of potato peelings).<\/p>\n
Agatha is a joy to spend time with. She’s clever, confident and a tiny bit ridiculous. She’s also very lonely underneath it all. Her best friend Liam is lovely, patient and a computer genius. The three snooty girls who make her life a misery are just as horrible as you’d hope.<\/p>\n
Agatha’s mum died in a bike accident before the story starts, which is good to know before you begin. She still talks to her at night and keeps twenty-two red notebooks about her so she won’t forget anything. Agatha doesn’t believe the accident was what the police said it was. It’s handled gently, but it’s there under everything.<\/p>\n
If your reader knows their Poirot from their Miss Marple, or would love a heroine who wears a red beret to school, they’ll adore this.<\/p>\n
For another girl who’s decided she’s a detective and needs a proper murder to prove it, try Murder Most Unladylike. Daisy and Hazel have set up their own secret detective society at their boarding school, and then Hazel finds a body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lena Jones’s The Secret Key is the first Agatha Oddly mystery, a stylish London detective story for 11 year olds about a girl who has been waiting her whole life for a real case. Agatha Oddlow is thirteen, on a scholarship at a posh school where she doesn’t fit, and in trouble for the thirteenth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13480,"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 hit-and-run in Hyde Park, a key tattoo and an escape by wheelie bin."},"book_tag":[1045],"age_group":[28],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[1072],"class_list":["post-6750","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-adventure-books","age_group-books-for-11-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-lena-jones"],"yoast_title":"Agatha Oddly – The Secret Key by Lena Jones | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A hit-and-run in Hyde Park, a key tattoo and an escape by wheelie bin. For ages 11+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n