These past few months, I’ve been reading a lot, but not writing about anything here. So I thought I’d put together a list of a few stand-out books that have delighted my imagination lately.

Whodunnit

Murder Most Unladylike

Set in 1934, this is the first Wells and Wong mystery, by Robin Stevens. Imagine Sherlock Holmes and Watson are trying to untangle a murder, but they are schoolgirls, and Holmes is from Hong Kong. This is a lot of fun.

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth

This is the second book in Katherine Woodfine’s Sinclair’s mysteries – set in the decadent Sinclair’s department store in London. I adored the first book, The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow, but The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth didn’t have the same magic for me.

Friendship

Raymie Nightingale

If you haven’t read Kate DiCamillo, you need to start. This is gorgeously honest, beautifully written and full of hope. All Raymie Nightingale wants is to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition so her dad will see her in the newspaper and come home.

Goodbye Stranger

Rebecca Stead is another favourite author of mine for the way she portrays the interior worlds of her characters. Meet Bridge and her friends, who are figuring out what growing up is all about.

Pea’s Book of Best Friends

There’s no resisting this bubbly, honest, kind story about Pea and her search for a new best friend when her family moves to London. Susie Day writes about the “big issues”, like being a white girl with a black sister and having two moms, with the lightest of touches.

For the Boys

Snitch

Ben knows all the rules of being a teenager, but he breaks one of the most important: never tell your mum anything. This is Edyth Bulbring in top form.

Liccle Bit

Lamar, known to everyone as Liccle Bit, is just trying to impress a girl and stay out of trouble when he gets tangled up in a gang. Alex Wheatle writes his voice superbly.

The End of the World

Elevation: The Thousand Steps

Ebba lives with her sabenzi in a bunker deep in Table Mountain because the world outside is a wasteland. Only it’s not, as Ebba discovered when she is elevated. You’ll race through this book by Helen Brain.

The Mark

Another one by Edyth Bulbring, and this time she’s taking on the dystopian trope of the chosen one. Juliet, or Ettie, is supposed to follow her fate, which is dictated by the mark on her spine, but she has other plans.

Have you read any of these titles? What did you think of them?