ONCE UPON A CRIME

Nothing fishy gets past the keen eyes of the Wells & Wong Detective Society and their rivals, the Junior Pinkertons.

Stevens’ mysteries—solved by English boarding school students in the 1930s—have many fans. Here, she presents six new short stories starring Daisy Wells, Hazel Wong, Alexander Arcady, and George Mukherjee that fit in and around the novels. Hazel and Daisy, who attend Deepdean School for Girls, attend the wedding of Daisy’s uncle Felix in London, go to the English seaside (which Hong Kong–born Hazel finds cold and unappealing), and travel from Hong Kong back to England on an ocean liner. Along the way, they foil one murder and solve two others. At Weston Boys’ School, Alexander and George figure out how to thwart bullies and also save a puppy in the process. The final story, told by Hazel’s 9-year-old sister, May, is set in September 1939, as war comes to Great Britain, and it hints at even more sequels. Hazel and George serve as reminders to contemporary readers that, even in this largely white society, there were people of color, and they were navigating feelings of isolation that resonate today. George astutely points out that many objects in the British Museum have indeed been stolen, contrary to Daisy’s perception that “it’s finders keepers…Anyway, we look after them properly.”

A welcome addition to an addictive series.