Day 9! Review: Top Marks for Murder – Robin Stevens

Day 9: 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: Bullying; Classism; Ill parent; Murder; Poison; Strangling

The final mystery set at Deepdean School for Girls definitely went out with a bang! With the future of their school at stake, the Detective Society had its most important case yet. A bit like Death in the Spotlight, nothing adds up in this case until the Detective Society think about everything in a different way.

Although Top Marks for Murder is set at Deepdean, this is a very different Deepdean to Murder Most Unladylike and Jolly Foul Play. Everything has changed in Daisy and Hazels’ absence (which involved A Spoonful of Murder, The Case of the Missing Treasure and Death in the Spotlight). This is interesting to read, as it had been over 3 years since Jolly Foul Play when Top Marks for Murder was released (Jolly Foul Play was released in April 2016 and Top Marks for Murder was released in August 2019). But for Daisy and Hazel, the time between the two books was just over 6 months. It shows how Deepdean has rapidly changed, for good and for bad.

As I’ve said previously, this murder was the most important case that the Detective Society have had to solve. This really did ramp up the tension to a whole new level, especially on the Sunday and on the Monday, when the case was still yet to be solved. I’d say that the end of Top Marks for Murder was on par with the ending of Murder Most Unladylike (from the scene in the cloakroom onwards), in terms of tension.

This mystery was intriguing and complex, and I loved its parallels with Arsenic for Tea. Although the actual murders were similar in a way, Daisy and Hazel are very different girls from what they were like at Daisy’s 14th birthday.

Just like Death in the Spotlight, Top Marks for Murder was a series of connected mysteries that all had to be solved in sequence to find out who the murderer was. This made the book even more interesting, as there were multiple theories that could have worked – but there was only one solution to the whole murder mystery.

Overall, I really enjoyed Top Marks for Murder. I loved the new sprayed edges, and how lovely Death in the Spotlight looks next to Top Marks for Murder on my bookshelf. This was such an enjoyable and tense read, which I highly recommend to mystery fans.

Tomorrow, I will be reviewing The Case of the Drowned Pearl by Robin Stevens.

Thank you for reading this post.

Hannah