The Body Under the Piano (Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen #1)

Alisa

Rating: really liked it
I was obsessed with Agatha Christie when I was a kid. I have read everything she's ever written, but my favorite books of hers will always be the ones that have Hercule Poirot in them. So when I read the synopsis of The Body Under the Piano I was so excited to read it! A 12 year old girl called Agatha Morton befriends a Belgian refugee boy Hector Perot,and then they find themselves investigating a murder together. I mean,what's not to like? And thankfully I was not disappointed.
It turned out to be everything I wanted it to and more. I believe the adult fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy reading this book as they will see all the references to the queen herself and her famous character, and the young readers will have a great first introduction to Dame Agatha and her books.
I loved that this book went beyond the murder investigation and had interesting commentary on women's rights, on what it's like to be foreigners and refugees in a new country so far away from home,on poverty, on general treatment of women,on grief. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth that this book had.
The characters were a delight. I really liked that they made mistakes very often,as this is the first time they are solving a murder. Agatha in particular has a very vivid imagination and often goes on little tangents in her head, imagining all sorts of unlikely scenarios that I could not help but chuckle at.
I loved that the adults were very much present in the story and would try to stop the kids from meddling in dangerous affairs. That was a breath of fresh air.
Now I only hope that this was only the first entry in the series of Agatha and Hector's adventures.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Canadian Reader

Rating: really liked it
Marthe Jocelyn’s mystery novel for older children, set in early-twentieth-century Torquay, Cornwall, focuses on twelve-year-old girl-detective Aggie Morton — modelled on Agatha Christie as a child — as she goes about solving her first case. To aid her is her new friend, a Belgian boy refugee, Hector Perot, based on Christie’s sleuth, Hercule Poirot. With her literary aspirations and inclination to morbid musings, Aggie supplies the imagination required to understand the motivation of various suspects while Hector, her Sherlock-Holmes-admiring friend, brings his razor-sharp rationality to the pair’s first challenge.

The mystery concerns a suspicious death at Aggie’s dance studio the morning after a fund-raising event, a concert to “Befriend the Foreigners,” an influx of immigrants from Russia and Belgium. Aggie is among the first to come on “the crime scene” when she shows up early for her Saturday dance lesson. Wanting to retrieve the writer’s notebook she left behind the evening before, she opens the door to the Mermaid Dance Room only to make a “ghastly discovery”: the corpse of Mrs. Irma Eversham, the widowed, grumpy-dog-faced sister-in-law of Aggie’s dance instructor, Miss Marianne, is lying between the legs of the piano. Beside her, in a puddle of tea, lie the pieces of a shattered tea cup. The much-disliked woman has apparently been poisoned. Could Miss Marianne actually be responsible? Aggie is determined to work her way through all the other suspects — including Mrs. Eversham’s beautiful young daughter, Rose; Roddy Fusswell, one of Rose’s many admirers and an indebted gambler; Mr. Augustus Fibbley, an oddly clad and strangely behaved reporter for the local paper; and Leonard Cable, the Morton’s young delivery boy and gardener — before she will allow herself to even consider that her beloved suffragette dance teacher might be the perpetrator. The key to the mystery seems to lie in a cryptic note, apparently meant for Rose, that Aggie later finds stuck in her notebook. (view spoiler)[The note states that Rose is not, in fact, her parents’ first child. (hide spoiler)]

Jocelyn initially suggests that the death is likely not a murder at all, but an accident of sorts. It’s October; winter’s coming, and the dance studio and the hotel that supplied many of the refreshments for the previous evening’s fundraiser have both recently been plagued with mice. The rodenticide bears a remarkable resemblance to sugar. Aggie and Hector are convinced that there is indeed a villain, and their amateur sleuthing ultimately enables the local police to apprehend the guilty person. In their efforts at getting to the bottom of the matter, Aggie and Hector also expose some some of the Eversham family’s secrets.

Years ago, I read Marthe Jocelyn’s middle-grade novel featuring the eccentric girl protagonist Mable Riley. The book was a nominee for one of the Ontario Library Association’s young readers’ choice awards. In some ways, Aggie is a resurrection of Mable Riley—quirky, eccentric, prone to melodrama and flights of fancy. For kids who need to be propelled forward by a fast-moving plot, this more recent novel (like Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance ) may not wholly satisfy. However, if they take to Aggie, they’ll probably enjoy reading about her first case and be eager to advance to her next two sleuthing adventures, which are already in print. Jocelyn’s writing is accomplished and the period details are well researched, but, as an adult reader without any particular interest in mystery stories, I am unlikely to read further titles in the series.

Thank you to the publisher and Library Thing’s Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway programme for providing me with a copy of this novel.

Darla

Rating: really liked it
Agatha Christie-lite for the younger sleuthing crowd. This first in the series is well done and introduces us to Agatha Morton and her new Belgian friend Hector Perot. The portraits at the beginning of the book set the tone as well a giving us a home base for Who's Who during the course of the novel. The historical period was well-researched and we can envision the many situations Aggie describes as she refuses to leave the investigation to the police alone. We see marked character development throughout for our two main characters and their supporting cast. I can especially imagine Maggie Smith as Grannie Jane as her personality is similar to the iconic role she played in Downton Abbey.The added Author's Note at the end of the book reinforced my favorable opinion of this first work in the series as well as enticing me to read on when future volumes are produced. The work came short of amazing as I wonder if the right audience of middle graders will discover it before jumping straight to the real thing.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Tundra Books for a paperback ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lata

Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. I've read Agatha Christie's autobiography, which was great, and when I heard of this book, I knew I had to read it. I liked how Marthe Jocelyn wove in actual people and locations from Dame Christie's childhood into this story, and could appreciate the changes the author made to history to accommodate and explain Christie's later classic detective, the mustachioed Hercule Poirot.
The mystery in this story involves the death of a not very well-liked woman, and unearths old, illicit secrets. Agatha, or Aggie, though extremely shy (which she was when a child), does a fair bit of detecting, questioning, and snooping, with the help of a young Belgian refugee, Hector. (He's clearly meant to evoke a miniature Poirot!) The story was diverting, and, unfortunately, not as riveting as I was hoping. (I'm putting that down to my lack of focus during our collective isolation.) I look forward to Aggie Morton's next case.

Nathaniel

Rating: really liked it
What a delightful MG mystery! I picked up the first three books in this series yesterday after meeting the author and I sat down to read the first one really anxious as to whether I would enjoy it or not. I'm happy to say that I thoroughly loved this book. The characters, especially Aggie, were so much fun. The mystery took me by surprise. I did have suspicions as to who the bad guy was, and some of them proved to be correct, but the climax and reveal was very satisfying. I am really looking forward to reading book two.

Hannah Joy

Rating: really liked it
Imagine if Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot were childhood friends and solved mysteries together...Well that's exactly what Marthe Jocelyn has created with her Aggie Morton books. This was such a fun mystery and I absolutely loved the budding friendship between Aggie and Hector.

Anita McDivitt Barrios

Rating: really liked it
Even the title of this book is delicious! It works on so many levels. I loved the cover, looking down the body between the two feet. It's an impossible angle, unless, of course, someone's dead.

The vast majority of middle grade "mysteries" don't feature dead bodies, at all. The main characters investigate all sorts of mysteries, but generally not murders, per se, so this was a wonderful departure!

And we loved the main character, Aggie, who finds the body under the piano and is totally nonplussed by it -- in fact, she takes time to note the foam at the edges of the victim's mouth and wonder about the scrap of paper still clutched in the victim's hand.

When Aggie can escape her nursemaid, Charlotte, who's flirting with the Constable, she works with a Belgium boy, Hector Perot, to follow the clues.

While waiting for a morning dance lesson, and after realizing she left her poem from the night before's public reading on the piano, Aggie slips into the room and discovers the very suddenly dead (although long-standingly unpleasant) Mrs. Eversham.

At this point, the reader's already gotten most of the clues needed to crack the case, even when it looks like everyone in the village of Torquay (of turn of the century, 1902) disliked the victim, strongly. It's just a matter of Aggy and Hector putting together the clues in the right sequence to reveal the murderer.

There are a couple of red herrings, of course, and the murderer is not who you'd expect.

Looking forward to more murderous fun from these two characters. Great for upper middle grade readers!

Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

Mehsi

Rating: really liked it
This was oodles of fun. Terrific MC, loved the Hercule Poirot character, the mystery was fab with plenty of red herrings and twists! This was such a fun read. I loved seeing Aggie do her thing despite how people thought girls should act. I have to bring a message to my best friend? Heck, I will steal this bike and take off my skirt, go! XD The ending was exciting and I was rooting for them to get the culprit! I thought I would struggle (I kind of feel a bit of a slump coming plus it is meltingly hot here) but in the end I just couldn't stop reading it was just that much fun!
Oh, and the illustrations, perfection!
I need more of this series!

Dawn Michelle

Rating: really liked it
One thing I have learned in my NetGalley experience is, when you get behind and miss the deadline, you can then find an audiobook [typically] that will then help speed up the process and you can review it faster and not be a complete review slacker. With this book, THIS was a very good thing.

I requested this book in hopes that it would be something my 5th grader would like/read. Because I didn't read the blurb all the way through and didn't realize it was set in England, I am not sure this will work for her at this point, but maybe by next year she will be ready for it. Regardless, if she does decide to read it, I will be buying her the audiobook, because with this book, that is the absolute best way to go.

I was really struggling with this book and was absolutely thinking about DNF'ing it. Again [and this is totally on me], I didn't read the blurb and didn't realize that this is a homage to a young Agatha Christie [though I doubt that Agatha Christie was as mouthy and pushy as young Aggie is] and her beloved character Hercule Poirot [and when I did realize it, there was much eye-rolling because WOW, could it be more obvious? And could he be a ANY more whiny? Sigh] and when I did, I realized that the author [IMO] was not doing a great job at it. I am not sure if it was how it was written, or if it was the spacing or whatever of the ARC, but it was a really tough read. I wasn't engaging with the characters, I was eye-rolling a lot and I was pretty sure I knew who the killer was about 5 minutes after the murder was committed [turns out I was right about that, but I DO read a lot of mysteries. I didn't know the why though until later so that was a good thing]. I decided to bite the bullet [after extensively looking for the audiobook elsewhere] to use a credit at Audible and listen to the rest of it [because hey, if I hated it still, I could return it and get that credit back - win/win]. Turns out, that was the best thing I could have done. The narration is excellent and it really opens up the book and the characters [who I didn't really like in the beginning and didn't really connect to at all] and the whole story. And I enjoyed it MUCH more that way than by just reading it. I would absolutely recommend that it be listened to over just reading it. Especially if your young reader struggles with reading. This will help them immensely.

So overall, I enjoyed this experience and should she write another one, I might be tempted to read it [if I could get the audiobook] and in a year or two, I think my reluctant reader may just end up liking this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada/Tundra Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Varsha Ravi (between.bookends)

Rating: really liked it
I rarely read middle grade novels but this was such a fun excursion from all the serious literary fiction I’ve been reading. Marthe Jocelyn takes a lot of inspiration from the life and works of the mystery queen, Agatha Christie in the characterization and plot of the novel. With middle grade, there’s always the concern the story might be overly simplistic and the writing too dialled down for adult / older readers to enjoy. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case with this. The mystery is genuinely intriguing and the writing style, simple but effective. Ofcourse, there are plot conveniences and cliche mystery troupes, but it’s still a fun read. The setting of the town of Torquay, 1902 is vivid and very well done. Aggie Morton is a spirited young woman and she and her friend, Hector, together with their sleuthing capabilities get to the bottom of the murder mystery. It’s a cozy, quick read, that's apt for mystery lovers, young and old alike. I also have to mention the lovely cover art and chapter illustrations by Isabelle Follath that work incredibly well with the story.

Miranda

Rating: really liked it
I think this pairs well with V.E. Schwab's City of Ghosts if you read them together over a rainy weekend. I could guess who the killer was pretty much right away, but it wasn't obvious and the twist was still throughly enjoyable.

Milou

Rating: really liked it
In this story we follow Aggie (Agatha) Morton, who one morning finds a dead body under the piano of her dance class. Together with her new friend from Belgium, Hector Perot, she tries to solve the case.

First off this is obviously a potential and fictionalized version of Agatha Christie's childhood. And I feel she has been portrayed very well. The writing style may not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The narrative is interspersed with Aggie's thoughts on how she would describe certain things and situations were she to write a book. It adds to her personality, as a creative and imaginative girl.

I am not untidy. I merely surround myself with a plethora of possibilities.

I liked the setting. The author definitely did her research in the place and time, and it shows. I also liked that there were some feminist characters, fighting for womens' vote and more liberating fashion. These women are still frowned upon by most of the characters, and even our main character finds them somewhat eccentric. Although I do fully agree with the feminist motives, it is nice to see a more true to the time reactions.

The plot was very good. Although I did guess who did it, it wasn't obvious and I couldn't figure out the why till it was explained to me. The story also has many layers and themes, and shows a lot of grey morality. You do feel for the killer and understand why he did it.

Yes, the kids made a bunch of stupid decisions, and like many middle-grade (and YA) stories there was a lack of adults in this story. But apart from that I very much enjoyed it, and would like to thank Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Milliebot

Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars

This review and others posted over at my blog.

I won a copy of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.

This is a perfectly adequate MG mystery, but the long and short of it for me is that it simply didn’t meet my expectations. In general, it’s pretty easy for me to love any genre of MG. But when it comes to mysteries and the children solving them, my current gold-standard is the Wells and Wong series by Robin Stevens, and almost tied with it, Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes series (it’s not tied because I haven’t read it as recently.) Both of these series feature independent female characters with strong development and important themes like prejudice, growing up, friendship, self-discovery, etc. Unfortunately, Aggie Morton just didn’t measure up.

Aggie and Hector are cute, and I appreciate that they’re inspired by Agatha Christie and her famous detective, Hercule Poirot. I also love the overall design of the book and Follath’s illustrations.

Sadly, Aggie and Hector didn’t really draw me in. They felt a lot younger than Wells and Wong, but I think the characters from both books are around 14. I can’t really pinpoint why Aggie and Hector felt younger; maybe Aggie’s semi-upper-class upbringing lead her to be more sheltered and inexperienced, and that made her feel young? Or Hector’s recent immigration to England and his adjustment to the lifestyle? It also felt like there was a whole lot of talking and thinking, and less doing. Maybe I just needed a bit more action and less tea time.

Despite this book feeling a bit too young for me overall, the ending ramps up the maturity in terms of subject matter once the perpetrator and reasoning is revealed. I still think the book is probably best for those around age 12. But what do I know?

I won’t be continuing the series, if there is one, but this was by no means a bad book. If you know a younger reader who enjoys mysteries, a young Agatha Christie fan, or you’re a MG fan looking for something light and quick, check this one out.

The Library Lady

Rating: really liked it
I want to make it perfectly clear that this is the only book involving Agatha Christie that could get 4 stars from me. Christie wrote great plots that work well as movies, but her characters were cardboard.
Christie was one of the 4 "Queens of the Golden Age of Mysteries", the others being Margery Allingham (pretty good), Ngaio Marsh (entertaining and her books get progressively better), and the Empress of them all, Dorothy L Sayers. If you are an adult and haven't read any of them, you should, and you hopefully will see why I loathe Christie.

Jocelyn's characters work well--I especially loved the pithy comments of Aggie's Grandma Jane. This is a kid's book, so it's not fair to compare it to an adult mystery, but like DL Sayer's immortal Dowager Duchess (Lord Peter's mother), I quickly guessed whodunnit here, though not all the details of the "why" of it.

All in all, a nice start. Kids who like mysteries and/or Victorian/Edwardian era fiction should enjoy this.

Kateryna

Rating: really liked it
Twelve-year old Aggie Morton is an aspiring writer in a small coastal England town in 1902. Along with her new friend from Belgium, Hector Perot, she investigates a body found under the piano at her dance studio. This is a good, old-fashioned whodunit in the style of Agatha Christie and the perfect novel to introduce the Mystery Queen to young readers. The story is based on the childhood of the real-life Agatha Christie, and I thought this was a brilliant idea. The author did an excellent job of portraying 1902 England, it truly captured the historical atmosphere. Overall, it was a well thought out mystery to solve, and I will look forward to future books in the series.