Day 3! Review: First Class Murder – Robin Stevens

Day 3: Murder Most Unladylike Challenge

Timescales:

Date	Post
July 27th	Murder Most Unladylike Review
July 28th	Arsenic for Tea Review
July 29th	First Class Murder Review
July 30th	Jolly Foul Play Review
July 31st	Cream Buns and Crime Review
August 1st	A Spoonful of Murder Review
August 2nd	The Case of the Missing Treasure Review
August 3rd	Death in the Spotlight Review
August 4th	Top Marks for Murder Review
August 5th	The Case of the Drowned Pearl Review
August 6th	My Predictions for Death Sets Sail – dissecting the blurb
August ???	Death Sets Sail Review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trigger Warnings: Antisemitism; Blood; Death of parent (past); Murder; Racism

First Class Murder is definitely one of the most complicated murders in the series. Everything seems impossible – until the very end when Daisy and Hazel think about the case a bit differently, and bring the criminal to justice. As this book had two mysteries to solve, (the murder and the spy), this made it eerily resemblant to Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (both books/film are amazing in their own rights, I just noticed some similarities when reading First Class Murder).

Throughout the book, the Detective Society are very limited in their detecting, as all around them are adults who are trying to steer them away from solving the case. But with the addition of one half of the Junior Pinkertons (Alexander Arcady), the Detective Society power through their first locked-room mystery.

Unlike the previous two books in this series (Murder Most Unladylike and Arsenic for Tea), I genuinely had no idea who the murderer was until Daisy and Hazel worked it out. I loved it how nothing added up with the suspects – nothing quite fit into the puzzle of who the murderer was until suddenly, the girls thought of the mystery a different way and everything slotted into place. This was nice though, as when reading the previous two books in this series, I do tend to try and mentally urge Daisy and Hazel to think the way that I am about the case!

I did have to read First Class Murder several times before I understood how the murder happened, as this is a very complex case. As this book was set in a completely new setting for both Daisy and Hazel, this heightened the confusion around the case. Because Daisy knew Fallingford and both girls knew Deepdean, this helped with their investigation as they knew how best to sneak around, detecting without being found. But as they were more exposed on the Orient Express (they had the sleeping car and the dining car to detect in), this made it questionable if they would solve the mystery before Dr. Sandwich convicted someone – whether they were guilty or not. Of course, I never underestimated the Detective Society’s abilities, but this case was very touch-and-go in terms of convicting the guilty person.

I highly recommend this book to any mystery-lovers or anyone who has enjoyed Murder Most Unladylike and Arsenic for Tea. Each book in this series is a completely different mystery, yet similarities run through each book, which makes Murder Most Unladylike a very enjoyable series to read.

Tomorrow, I will be reviewing Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens.

Thank you for reading this post.

Hannah