About the Book

THE BFG meets MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE in this giant-sized whodunnit with a witchy twist, from the author of the bestselling The Train to Impossible Places.

 

Trainee meadow witch Anwen is having a bad day – which gets much worse when a dead giant falls from the sky and destroys her village. But when she examines the body she discovers something interesting. This giant was murdered, which means a killer is on the loose!

 

Tasked with sending a message to the giant kingdom via beanstalk, Anwen and her nemesis, trainee sorceress Cerys, accidentally find themselves whipped up into the sky and deposited in the giants’ royal palace – where the king is missing. Using their perfect spy-size and witchy skills, the girls must track down his killer. But how can you investigate a murder mystery when you risk being stepped on by your suspects?

About the Author 

P.G. Bell is a native of South Wales, where he was raised on a diet of Greek mythology, ghost stories and Doctor Who. He’s had all sorts of jobs over the years, from lifeguard to roller-coaster operator, but has always wanted to write stories. He lives in Wales with his wife Anna and their two children.
The Train to Impossible Places, P.G.’s debut series, has enjoyed widespread success, including shortlistings for the Branford Boase Award, the Crimefest Awards and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgbellwriter

X: https://twitter.com/petergbell

What I Thought 

The comp titles are perfect descriptors for this fun adventure mystery. 

Trainee meadow witch and budding investigator Anwen is a fabulous heroine. Plucky, go getting, able to talk to animals. But she can’t do high magic, so she is forced to work with her nemesis Cerys. A magic bean and an unplanned beanstalk ride later and the two of them are stuck in the Sky Kingdom, desperate to get home. But they may as well use their time wisely to find out who killed the Giant King who flattened their land and in doing so help to prevent war restarting between their two lands.

Full of twists and nefarious plots this one might keep your young sleuths guessing. There were definitely a few times I got caught out, and a few subtle hints I picked up on early evening though I didn’t match them up with their whys until the very end. 

The sniping between Anwen and Cerys was a lot of fun and they balanced each other out well in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the book there’s suggestion of another tale but with different characters. I’d be more than happy to read more about the adventures of these two though. 

Help from seagulls, pigeons, mice and bees as well as their Giant hosts keeps the adventure racing along. Older readers (i.e. parents might enjoy this as a bookish flashback to Honey I Shrunk the Kids). 

All of the characters are larger than life, even when they are tiny,  but there two stands outs (other than the girls of course) for me. The art critic pigeon and the kind and caring Captain of the Guard. I did enjoy how he valued and respected Anwen’s contribution to solving the mystery. 

This would make a perfect bed time story now the darker nights are drawing in because despite it being a murder mystery it’s not too scary – until cats are involved! 

Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and Usborne for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do follow along with the tour for extracts and reviews.