MMGM- Secret Bookstore Sleuth Society

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Unleashing Readers

Currie, Lindsay. The Secret Bookstore Sleuth Society
September 15, 2026 by Sourcebooks Young Readers
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus

Merrick McGee's life has been complicated recently. Her Grandma Ida has kidney issues, so had to sell her house and move in with Merrick's family while she is undergoing dialysis. Her father is off working in a military lab, and her mother is busy running a bookstore, so doesn't have time to homeschool Merrick, although she's been taken out of her private school, Elkhart, to save money. This means that she has to hang out at the store and doesn't get to see her friends, members of the Sleuth Society, at school. She video chats with Sonny, his sister Miko, and Archer, but it isn't quite the same. When a big storm hits Chicago, a car accident strands her friends and her grandmother at the bookstore. Luckily, the store is attached to the Dog-Eared Inn and its restaurant, Novel Bites, so there is room for them, as well as Miko and Sonny's mother, Merrick' s Aunt Jerrie, the staff of the inn and restaurant, and several guests. Shortly after the accident, however, Merrick goes back to the storeroom to get her things... and discovers a dead man facedown in a cake! It turns out to be a longtime customer, Daniel, whom Merrick refers to as "Pipey" due to the fact he often carries a smoking pipe. Luckily, Officer Carleton is on hand, as are Daniel's son Tim and daughter-in-law, who were at the hotel to celebrate Daniel's birthday. The adults agree that Daniel's health issues no doubt led to his death, but Merrick suspects murder. Luckily, the Sleuth Society has plenty of skills to bring to the investigation; Miko plays mahjong and is good at recognizing "tells", Sonny is a video gamer, and Archer is a sports star and leader. Merrick is interested in chemistry, and is collecting elements. Even Grandma Ida gets involved, since she has recently been reading a lot of Agatha Christie novels and can cover for the kids when other adults ask questions! The group create a spreadsheet of suspects and start their investigations. Who would have wanted to murder Daniel? Avery, a young clerk at the hotel? Mrs. Dain, a local baker? "Everest" a hiker and commercial actress? Or Tim Fielding and his wife? When the power goes out, it's harder to investigate, but definitely more atmospheric.  Will the Sleuth Society be able to convince the adults that Daniel was murdered, and to bring the perpetrator to justice?

Strengths: It should not surprise publishers that tweens ask for MURDER mysteries; look at the sheer number of BBC television shows that feature murder investigations, or the legion of adult mystery books where murders are being investigated. When I was in graduate school for library science, I did a project on "cozy" murder mysteries like Braun's The Cat Who mysteries, and there are still a ton of adult books set in bakeries, coffee shops, and bookstores where an inordinate number of people die in mysterious circumstances. Currie gets bonus points for Merrick's STEM interests in elements and chemistry, and for working this science into the investigation. I absolutely ADORED the inclusion of Grandma Ida, and the realistic protrayal of the challenges that her age and health presented. While she might not have wanted to crawl under tables, she kept up with the kids nicely, even if murder was "not on her bingo card". Aunt Jerrie's Britishisms and Ida's vintage phrases (as well as Merrick's translations!) were fun, and the chapter titles were very clever. It's been a while since I've read Christie, but the setting and investigative style seemed very much like the mysteries investigated by Miss Marple or Mr. Poirot. Now that Christie's work is coming into the public domain, I've been trying to get my students to read her work, as well as that of Dorothy Sayers and Patricia Wentworth! Tweens will appreciate the very nascent romance between Merrick and Archer, as well as the happy ending. 
Weaknesses: I wasn't as convinced as Merrick was that Daniel's death was murder, and it rubbed me the wrong way that he was referred to as "Pipey" for reasons I can't quite explain. He had a connection to another character that came out of left field; this was interesting, and added quite the history to the characters, but seemed a little more unlikely. Young readers will take all of this in stride, and I am definitely purchasing a copy.
What I really think: This book will be a big hit with fans of Currie's work (The Girl in White, It's Watching, X Marks the Haunt, Mystery of the Locked Rooms), or Souder's new middle grade cozy murder mystery, Secrets of the Broken House. Kids are CONSTANTLY asking for murder mysteries, and I give publishers permission to start killing off elderly, slightly unpleasant neighbors with the same frequency that middle grade parents die to feed the tween appetite for murder. I love Stevenson's Wells and Wong mysteries, which also feature plenty of unfortunate deaths, but the historical setting on books like Murder is Bad Manners is a little harder to sell even when it is phys ed teachers who are the victim!