The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry (11 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 January 2015, Piccadilly Press, 326 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Content: murder, some danger, loads of humour

Summary from GoodReads

An outrageous plot of villainy starring seven brilliant young girls.

At Prickwillow Place, Disgraceful Mary Jane, Smooth Kitty and their fellow students are keeping a deadly secret.

When the headmistress of St Etheldreda's School for Young Ladies drops dead at Sunday dinner, her seven pupils agree on a clever scheme: to bury their teacher in the vegetable garden, dress up Stout Alice in her place, and educate themselves. This is tricky enough in a small Victorian community, but when the girls deduce that their teacher was poisoned - (it was the veal!) - they realise there is also a murderer on the prowl . . .\

Nayu's thoughts 

This is the book I'd thought I'd finished and had simply forgotten the ending. It was only as I kept trying to remember the end I retrieved it off my shelf, skim read some of the end, and realised indeed I hadn't finished it. I had no problem carrying on with it because it is hilarious seeing the girls cover up the murder, having to impersonate their dead headmistress to keep their freedom. Each has a distinctive character which both aids and hinders them in the story. At first it was a bit weird having not just their names and their nicknames used, but it soon became normal, which is saying something because the book is everything but normal, in a good way. 

I tried and failed to figure out who the murderer was, so although I was glad when they were revealed at the end I was disappointed the story came to a close because I didn't want to stop reading about the entertaining girls. I thought the end would be The End of their freedom, once adults got involved. Miraculously it doesn't, which is why I have hope of seeing a book 2! 

Find out more on Julie's website.