The Dysfunctional Family's Guide to Murder by Kate Emery is thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery with a quirky, funny 14-year-old Australian narrator. Ruth's extended family is visiting the rural home of GG, their wealthy step grandmother, when GG is murdered by a blow to the head with a typewriter. Ruth and her cousin Dylan go into full detective mode against the wishes of their parents and they discover that multiple family members had either a reason or an opportunity to kill GG, or at least to want her dead. Our snarky, smart narrator, Ruth, breaks the fourth wall by talking right to the reader, telling us that a second body is going to turn up dead, admitting that she is crushing on her handsome cousin, and letting us know when she's about to do something dangerous that her father wouldn't approve of. There's no blood and gore, but it's a legit mystery with references to Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Murder She Wrote. Ruth is an outstanding storyteller. A top choice for middle school mystery fans.
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