Ounsdale Year 8 Students Join the Detective Society

Thirteen lucky Year 8 students were enlisted as young detectives when children’s author Robin Stevens delivered an interactive presentation for her latest book, ‘Mistletoe and Murder’, the fifth instalment in the bestselling ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series.

Robin’s engaging talk took place at Wolverhampton Grammar School, where Miss Thandi and her Year 8 English students, together with visiting students from across Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Dudley, were offered creative writing tips for aspiring authors and given the key ingredients for writing the perfect detective story. After answering probing questions about the life of a writer, Robin happily posed for photographs with our students and signed copies of her books. The impact of events with guest speakers such as Robin truly enrich the education of students and provide inspiration, both in their writing and future career aspirations.

This first book in the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series was the biggest young fiction debut of 2014, winning the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and garnering a loyal fan base and huge critical acclaim.

Robin Stevens was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. Robin spent her teenage years at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she’d get the chance to do some detecting herself (she didn’t). She went to university, where she studied crime fiction, and then worked in children’s publishing. She is now a full-time writer.