Robin Stevens's Blog, page 3

Happy birthday Daisy Wells

Today is a big day for Daisy Wells – it’s her birthday, and of course it’s also the day in 1935 that horrible Mr Curtis drank that cup of tea laced with arsenic …

So how better to celebrate this special occasion than by revealing our VERY gorgeous tenth anniversary edition of Arsenic for Tea? It’s got incredible sprayed edges and a brand-new introduction from me, and it’s available in all good bookshops now!

If you’ve got a local independent bookstore, I always encourage you to look for it there first – but if you don’t, check out Bookshop.org, Waterstones or Amazon.

I’m so pleased with the way it looks, and I hope you are too. And the really good news is that … it’s just the first little bit of all the secrets I’ve been saving up to share with you. More exciting things will be on the way soon … so keep your eyes peeled, detectives!

One week to go until World Book Day 2025!

The countdown is on!

I’ve already started my WBD schools tour – I visited Perse Prep and St John’s College School on Tuesday, and I’ll be in Ely and Taunton next week. I love going in to schools and meeting pupils – it’s one of the most fun parts of my job.

There are lots of ways to get involved with World Book Day – it’s all about sharing the joy of reading, and you don’t have to do anything apart from that! – but if you are going to dress up next week and you want to look like one of my characters, I’ve got you covered! I handily designed Daisy and Hazel’s uniform to look similar to a lot of British school uniforms – all you’ll need is a hat and a magnifying glass and you’re good to go!

I made this extremely comprehensive how-to guide in 2020, and it’s still very useful five years later. It includes a printable Deepdean crest that you can cut out and stick on your jumper or blazer to complete your look. Hopefully you should be able to use things you’ve already got in the house!

But if you want to get fancy, this year we finally have official Deepdean pin badges and iron-on patches from LitPinsandCo! There’s still time to order them for next week – they’re in stock now and they look gorgeous!

However you celebrate World Book Day, I hope you have a wonderful time. It’s so nice to have a day to celebrate books and reading, and every year I’m thrilled that my books are part of it!

February 2025 update

Whenever I’m quiet on here it’s because there’s a lot going on behind the scenes – and that’s why I’ve been quiet lately! There’s a huge amount coming that I can’t talk to you about yet – some things that you are expecting, and some things that you definitely aren’t.

But what I can say is that I’ve been working hard on Ministry of Unladylike Activity 3. It has a title (which I can’t tell you about yet) and we’re working on the cover (which I can’t show you yet), and it will publish on the 11th of September this year.

At the moment I’m doing the fourth round of edits, before the book goes off to be copyedited and looked at by my panel of expert readers at the end of this month. This is one of the most important stages of the book, for me – no matter how much I research, I’m only one person with one way of seeing the world, and so my readers give me really valuable outside perspective about how a particular group of people might view the story I’ve written.

I’m not doing many events this spring, because of my editorial schedule for Ministry 3 and because of *some things I can’t tell you about yet*, but I will be at Stepping into Stories Festival in London this weekend, and the Oxford Literary Festival next month.

I’m also going to be doing three days of school visits around World Book Day. These are already booked in – I’m not accepting any new school visit requests this spring (I’m so sorry about this!) – but if you want to bring some Deepdean magic to your own WBD, consider dressing up as my detectives using this guide I wrote a few years ago.

And it’s never been easier to show your love for my series – because now we have OFFICIAL MERCH PINS! LitPinsandCo, my official pin-badge merch partners, have created a beautiful range of MMU pins and patches that you can order now.

We’re currently planning this year’s autumn tour, which will kick off in September and run all the way to Christmas, so keep an eye out on this website for more details of that, as well as my final few events this spring and summer.

You may also have noticed that the newsletter page is currently under construction. Sadly we had to retire the old format, but I’m working on a new version, and I’ll be able to share news about that with you soon.

I’ll be back here soon with more news – like I said, there’s just so much I can’t talk about yet. It’s all so exciting, too …

Stepping into Stories Festival – 8th February

For my first announcement of 2025, I’m delighted to say that I’ll be at South London’s Stepping Into Stories Festival on the 8th of February at 3:30pm.

The festival is currently running a short story writing competition – the theme is ‘Reach for the Stars’ and I’ll be announcing the winners before my event. There are three categories (4-7, 8-11 and 12+), and lots of great bookish prizes, so if you love telling stories, this is your chance to enter! The competition closes on the 10th of January, and you can find out more about it here.

Good luck to all the creators, and I can’t wait to visit Hearne Hill and meet you all on the 8th of February!

Happy holidays from the Detective Society!

It’s the end of another year, Detectives!

2024 has been very special for me and my books – it’s marked the ten year anniversary of Murder Most Unladylike, and ten years of my life as a published author. I know I say this a lot, but I feel so very lucky to have had the decade that I’ve had, and to have had so many readers discover my books. I personally think I have the very best fans in the world, a group of people Daisy and Hazel would be proud to know. I’ve loved being even a small part of your lives and your reading journeys, and I’ve loved everything you’ve shared with me about what my books mean to you. So, whether you’re a new or long-standing Detective Society member, thank you!

The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book, a puzzle book set in the world of my detectives, came out in September, and I feel very proud of it – even though my tour for it is over, you can still find it in shops, and I think you should! December is the perfect time to curl up and do some puzzle solving, so if you haven’t read it yet, now’s the time. It would also be an excellent stocking stuffer, if you’re in the market for that – although it is quite chunky!

Whatever and however you celebrate, I hope you enjoy some peaceful, happy times in the weeks ahead – and if you do feel like getting into the festive spirit, may I remind you that I have a Christmas book, Mistletoe and Murder, that makes very appropriate reading at this time of year? The story begins on the 23rd of December, so that’s a great time to start your readthrough – and you can finish on Christmas day!

So have a wonderful rest of the year, and I’ll see you in 2025. My next book, Ministry 3, will be out in September, and I hope I’ll also have lots of exciting news to share about what’s next for me – watch this space!

One final tenth anniversary treat – MMU pin badges!

It’s been a while since I updated this website – I’ve been on the road touring for the puzzle book. I had the most amazing time, and was so proud and touched by all of the wonderful fans I met. Head to my Instagram for some photos from the past few months – and if you came along to an event, thank you!

MMU’s tenth anniversary is almost over, but I wanted to give you one final present – MERCH! This is something you’ve been asking about for a very long time, and I’m so glad to finally be able to deliver.

I’ve teamed up with LitpinsandCo to create a special limited-edition run of MMU pin badges. We’re taking pre-orders now, and they’ll be printed and delivered in early 2025 – so don’t delay! I’m so delighted with them, and I hope you will be too. We’ve even made a special iron-on Deepdean Crest patch for everyone who wants to dress up as my detectives for WBD 2025!

Happy publication day, Puzzle Book!

I’m delighted to say that The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book is out NOW in the UK and Ireland!

It’s packed full of puzzles – there are over 100 (!) to solve – and it features stories about all of your favourite Murder Most Unladylike and Ministry characters! There are chapters from Daisy, Hazel, Eric, May, Nuala, Beanie, George and Alexander, and each chapter will help you practice a different set of skills that every detective needs!

Even though there are two covers, it’s only one book – you solve half of the puzzles and read through the stories, and then you flip the book and solve the other half!

I’m so proud of it, and I really hope you love working through it.

If you want to meet me, here’s a link to my tour (with one new event added, a virtual event for schools!), and if you want to order your copy of the book, you can get it from Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Blackwell’s, Dubray, Eason’s and Amazon. And if you can, get down to your local store and pick up a copy – there are signed editions in a lot of independent bookstores this month!

Come meet me on my puzzle book tour!

The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book is publishing on the 26th of September, and to celebrate I’m going out on tour! Here’s where I’ll be …

BATH Festival, 28th September, 2pm. This is a talk with a signing afterwards.

CHELTENHAM Festival, 12th October, 2pm. This is a talk with a signing afterwards. (Tickets available 5th Sept)

YORK Waterstones, 19th October, 1pm. This is a signing event.

LIVERPOOL Waterstones, 26th October, 12pm. This is a signing event.

NOTTINGHAM Waterstones, 27th October, 12pm. This is a talk with a signing afterwards.

DUBLIN Festival, 10th November, 10:30am. This is a talk with a signing afterwards. (Tickets available 11th Sept)

LONDON Muswell Hill, Children’s Bookshop, 17th November, 12pm. This is a signing event.

If you already have copies of my books, you can absolutely bring them along to the signing – I’m always happy to sign books old and new.

If you have access requirements, especially around queuing, please speak to the stores/festivals directly. There are always things we can do to make the experience easier for you!

The Dublin and Cheltenham events are not yet available to buy – Cheltenham goes on sale on the 5th September, and Dublin on the 11th. So hang in there!

If a town or city in your region is not here, don’t worry! I try to visit different places each tour – I’ll be back out on the road next year. But it may be that you will need to travel a little to see me – I just can’t get to every town in the UK and Ireland, although I wish I could!

I’m very excited about the tour – it’s always so wonderful to be able to meet you and talk to you about my books! See you soon …

August update – and children’s murder mysteries in the Sunday Times!

Hello Detectives! I hope your summers are going well, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

I’ve been pretty quiet because there’s a lot going on behind the scenes – I sent The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book off to print at the end of last month (it’s coming out in September! Pre-order it now! It’s great!), and now I’m hard at work on Ministry of Unladylike Activity 3. This won’t be publishing until September 2025, but I want to get the first draft handed in before my autumn tour begins at the end of September (more news on that soon – we’ve finalised all of the tour stops, and we’re going to be announcing the whole tour in a few weeks).

So I’m head down on writing – I’m aiming to write 2,000 words a day each writing day to hit my deadline. Which is a lot! So that’s why you’re seeing a bit less of me at the moment. You can follow along on Instagram, though – and I’ll keep you updated here as well.

If you haven’t signed up to the Robin Stevens reading challenge yet, you still can – you need to be in the UK to be entered in the prize draw, but no matter where in the world you are, you can still have fun reading my books!

I do have one bit of nice news about my books – both Murder Most Unladylike and the Super Sunny Murder Club got mentioned in Nicolette Jones’s excellent round-up of new children’s crime fiction in the Sunday Times. It’s paywalled, but here’s the important extract:

This year marks ten years of Robin Stevens’s bestselling Murder Most Unladylike books: ten novels plus half a dozen spin-offs since a science mistress was first found dead in the gym. The series features the heroines Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, who solve a surprising number of murders at their boarding school (Deepdean School for Girls, based on Stevens’s own experience of Cheltenham Ladies’ College) as well as
during the school holidays.

Stevens set her stories in that murderous Golden Age, the 1930s, with a fine sense of the period despite a more modern outlook on subjects such as sexual identity. Her decade of crime for kids has been responsible for a rash of copycat killings throughout the children’s books industry, and younger readers have found a thirst for homicide.

Out this summer is an anthology of stories, The Super Sunny Murder Club (HarperCollins £8.99, 8-12), co-edited by Stevens with Serena Patel, the author of the amiable Anisha: Accidental Detective series. It demonstrates the range of writers who have taken up the genre, with 13 diverse authors — from Abiola Bello to Dominique Valente — reunited after a Christmassy anthology, The Very Merry Murder Club, which was published in 2021. Not every story involves a murder but this is a compelling gateway to crime fiction. It is a good introduction to such talents as Sharna Jackson (High-Rise Mystery), Patrice Lawrence (The Elemental Detectives) and Roopa Farooki (The Cure for a Crime).

I’m so proud of this mention – what a decade it’s been for children’s crime!

Once Upon a Crime publishes this week in the US and Canada!

Huge news for my North American detectives: as of this week, you finally have access to my entire Murder Most Unladylike series!

Once Upon a Crime is OFFICIALLY out now from Simon & Schuster BFYR, with a gorgeous cover by Elizabeth Baddeley – and that means that every single one of Daisy and Hazel’s adventures are available for you to read if you live in the US or Canada!

I’m so thrilled about this (it’s something I’ve been working towards for a lot of years!), and also really pleased that it’s had a lot of wonderful support. It’s been given a prestigious JLG Gold Standard badge, and it also got a Kirkus review (!) and a Booklist review.

Kirkus calls it ‘A welcome addition to an addictive series’, and Emily Graham at Booklist says ‘The sophisticated writing has a charmingly old-fashioned feel … Another winning entry from the Murder Most Unladylike series.’