Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum

Illustrator: Claire Powell

Binding: Paperback

Imprint: Walker Books

Book 1 of Montgomery Bonbon Series

Age 9+

Crime & Mystery Fiction Humorous Stories

A brilliantly funny young murder mystery from a rising stand-up comedian, podcaster and filmmaker – and exciting new talent in children's fiction.

Many people go their whole lives without noticing anything that is afoot, amiss, or even untoward; without ever experiencing that toe-tingling, stomach-twisting sensation that a mystery is about to unfold.

Not Bonnie Montgomery – the world’s best detective. Not that anyone (other than Grampa Banks) has heard of her… But they might have heard of the great Montgomery Bonbon, the well-dressed gentleman detective who (apart from the hat and moustache) looks suspiciously like a 10-year-old girl.

Their newest case: solving the mystery surrounding a highly suspicious death at the Hornville Museum. Together they'll interview some dodgy witnesses, scour the scene for clues and – above all – hope no one notices that Bonnie and Montgomery are never in the same room at the same time...

Creators

Alasdair Beckett-King is a multi-award-winning comedian and writer. He studied at the London Film School, and since then he has performed critically lauded solo shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, written for BBC radio, appeared on comedy panel shows such as Mock the Week, co-written an award-winning video game and created numerous viral sketches for social media, including an interactive whodunit.

Reviews

This book would make a fun family or class read aloud. It heavily rifts off Hercule Poirot and other classic detective stories and it is a story with a huge heart. Yes there is a murder but, like all good Agatha Christie stories (and Midsummer murders on television) that is not really the point. The fun is the cast of characters and potential suspects and the daring of this young disguised detective to discover the truth.

Momo Time to Read

Move over Hercule Poirot, there is a new detective in town. Murder at the Museum is a very humourous (St Hilaria’s was one of those crooked old buildings that seemed to have been built by nine people who all hated each other) fast paced whodunnit, (they were looking for someone who could scale a building and still have enough puff left over to use a blowpipe) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, loved the humour and cant wait to see what adventures Monsieur Bonbon and Grampa Banks have waiting for them. Recommended to those who enjoy humour and solving a mystery or two.

Magpies Magazine

The language is sharp and lively with a steady flow of humour throughout and the special relationship between Bonnie and her Grampa brings some lovely tender family moments amidst the crime-fighting detective work; a sweet reprieve from the mayhem… The line drawings by well-known children’s illustrator, Claire Powell are delightful.

Reading Time

I love to get lost in a good middle-grade murder-mystery and this is an absolute corker, you might say it’s ‘fan-tasche-tic’. Beckett-King’s debut is brilliantly plotted, pacy, funny, slick and often a little hairy (that’s the last moustache pun). A good mystery should keep the reader on tenterhooks and desperate to know more and this does exactly that. I could not stop reading, desperate to know what Bonbon and Grampa would get up to next and which way the case would go.

A Word About Books

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