When Poppy Fields and best friend Graham go on a weekend trip to the zoo, it soon becomes apparent that the staff there are not happy. Then one of them suddenly dies. And then another. And another...
Someone's using the animals to do their dirty work for them, and the result is not pretty. Will the intrepid pair uncover the murderer before they, too, become dead meat?
This title is fifth in the brilliantly addictive series of murder mysteries by an acclaimed and popular writer. This title features Miss Marple for the younger reader.
Carnegie Medal winning Tanya Landman is the author of more than thirty books for children and young adults.
Born and brought up in Kent, Tanya had no intention of becoming a writer until the idea for Waking Merlin popped into her head. "It came from nowhere. It was completely out of the blue."
Tanya now lives and works in Bideford and the nearby coastline was the inspiration for her Flotsam & Jetsam series.
Tanya's first books were "adventure stories with a sprinkling of magic and spoonful of humour." But then Tanya turned to crime, writing Mondays are Murder (winner of a Red House Book Award) - the first in a series of ten "Agatha-Christie-for-kids" featuring child sleuth Poppy Fields and her friend Graham. Her new highly illustrated books for younger children feature Sam Swann, an accident-prone boy sleuth and his faithful canine sidekick Watson.
Although she writes across a broad age range, Tanya is probably best known for her historical novels for young adults. Apache - set in 19th century America - was shortlisted for several UK awards including the Teenage Book Trust and the Carnegie Medal (where it was voted the Shadowing Groups favourite). The US edition won a Borders Original Voices prize and a Spur award from the Western Writers of America. The Goldsmith's Daughter - set in the Aztec empire during the Spanish invasion - was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction prize. Buffalo Soldier won the 2015 Carnegie Medal. Hell and High Water - a swashbuckling thriller set in 18th century Devon - was shortlisted for the 2016 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her latest book Beyond the Wall is set in Roman Britain. Passing for White comes out later this year.
This is book five in the Poppy Fields Murder Mysteries series and it's one of the better ones so far.
Poppy's mum has won a weekend for four at a zoo which also has a health spa (such things do exist, apparently) so mum brings her friend Becca to take advantage of the spa facilities while Poppy brings her partner in crime fighting, Graham, to take advantage of a behind the scenes experience at the zoo.
The author worked at a zoo and her experience shows. The zoo and its staff feel totally real; Landman is obviously following the old advice 'write what you know'. I do hope there weren't as many horrific murders in the author's time working at a zoo as there are in this book, though! The body count is high and extremely gruesome, especially for a kids' book! I'm not complaining; I throughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anybody out there whose kids have strong stomachs. ;-)
I choose this book because I loved the writer she's exciting and fun. She ends up being in the middle of a murder mystery with her best friend Graham Poppy Fields mum won a weekend to a hotel in a zoo for four people so they they could both bring a friend, Poppy chose Graham. On a murder mystery that they didn't know yet, they were all very excited when they knew they would be behind-the-scenes at the zoo helping the animals and see their environments. Each day went by one person died, there trying to figure it out but it was hard to wrap this case up.
The character that I admire is poppy because she is adventurous like me trying to find something to do in her spear time
The plot was amazing and I definitely didn’t predict the killer or the way things fit together. But somehow, it felt that Graham’s voice was kind of suppressed in this book. Hearing from Poppy and Graham is usually my favourite part of the series, but in this book, it felt lacking. But maybe that’s just me.
Poppy Fields and her best friend Graham are in yet another murder mystery but this time at a zoo. Poppies mum has won a p prize of a relaxing weekend, but it turns into a gruesome time at a zoo, At the beginning they notice that something is terribly wrong...