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Poppy Fields Mystery #3
Dying to Be Famous
Poppy Fields and best friend Graham are astonished to be given parts in a musical production of The Wizard of Oz. Even more astonishing is the series of murders that occurs at the theatre, targeting the leading lady. When Poppy and Graham investigate, little do they know that they are next on the murderer’s list…
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
14 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Tanya Landman
85 books91 followersCarnegie 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 25, 2015
The third book in the Poppy Fields Murder Mysteries series is a pretty cool little tale for younger readers. Heck, I really enjoyed it and I'm forty!
Poppy Fields is like a pre-teen version of Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder She Wrote'; everywhere she goes, people start dropping dead! There's nothing too gruesome for the little 'uns, though, which is nice.
Buddy read with Sunshine Seaspray.
Poppy Fields is like a pre-teen version of Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder She Wrote'; everywhere she goes, people start dropping dead! There's nothing too gruesome for the little 'uns, though, which is nice.
Buddy read with Sunshine Seaspray.
January 14, 2022
The last thing Poppy Fields would want to do is participate in a musical theatre performance. She doesn’t see the point of musicals. But she is interested in human behaviour and when local celebrity Tiffany Webb shows her desperation to be cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she suddenly can’t wait to be cast as an extra so that she can keep a close eye on her! After the actress receives a series of death threats, Poppy and her friend Graham definitely have a lot to investigate.
Dying to be Famous is a great quick read for budding crime fiction fans, as are all of Tanya Landman’s Poppy Fields mysteries. Told in the first person from Poppy’s perspective, this is a mystery story that moves along at a quick pace, but at the same time, giving the reader plenty of time to piece the puzzle together before the solution is revealed. As the story unfolds and clues are given, most aspects of the solution was able to be deduced, and sometimes before Poppy and Graham work it out, but that’s not to say that Landman doesn’t keep us guessing a little throughout. And there are still some surprises left right until the end.
I am enjoying this series. Although they have the obvious theme of murder, it is presented in a mild way that makes it appropriate for younger readers. Great for any age from perhaps twelve and up.
Dying to be Famous is a great quick read for budding crime fiction fans, as are all of Tanya Landman’s Poppy Fields mysteries. Told in the first person from Poppy’s perspective, this is a mystery story that moves along at a quick pace, but at the same time, giving the reader plenty of time to piece the puzzle together before the solution is revealed. As the story unfolds and clues are given, most aspects of the solution was able to be deduced, and sometimes before Poppy and Graham work it out, but that’s not to say that Landman doesn’t keep us guessing a little throughout. And there are still some surprises left right until the end.
I am enjoying this series. Although they have the obvious theme of murder, it is presented in a mild way that makes it appropriate for younger readers. Great for any age from perhaps twelve and up.
July 1, 2018
The title and way the story develops is not what you think it is... And that is just a glimpse of how things will go in the book. It does involve artists preparing a Play (Wizard of Oz), but it is very deceiving until the very end. I think the plot, or the storytelling, is fantastic and very original - I refer to Tiffany Webb and her singing, and the unexpected turn of events the story will take. The "reading" people hobby of Poppy Fields is yet again within the highlights of the book and always an interesting aspect of the story, but the plot and the
What I like less is the denouement because it happens too fast. You read 90% of the book wondering who has killed the people then all of a sudden there are so many logical deductions and all pieces of the puzzle fall into place without doubt. I take it would be more realistic if it wasn't so easy, i.e., Poppy seems all of a sudden too clever. I have the impression it makes the plot more distant from reality.
I also feel Graham role in this story was less prominent than ever which highlights Poppy's, of course, but diminishes a bit the partnership the author is implying by placing always the two of them together in the stories.
Having said this, this book 3 is much better than book 2 in my opinion and you will not want to put it down until it is finished.
What I like less is the denouement because it happens too fast. You read 90% of the book wondering who has killed the people then all of a sudden there are so many logical deductions and all pieces of the puzzle fall into place without doubt. I take it would be more realistic if it wasn't so easy, i.e., Poppy seems all of a sudden too clever. I have the impression it makes the plot more distant from reality.
I also feel Graham role in this story was less prominent than ever which highlights Poppy's, of course, but diminishes a bit the partnership the author is implying by placing always the two of them together in the stories.
Having said this, this book 3 is much better than book 2 in my opinion and you will not want to put it down until it is finished.
August 3, 2017
This book was a moderately interesting book. I liked it fairly well.
Dying to be Famous was a very catchy book. I decided to read it because it has a unique book cover design and title. I thought it would talk something about somebody who is dying to be famous, but the book gives a very indirect reference to the title. I am assuming that the person who the title says Dying to be Famous is the protagonist of the story, but it isn't. In fact, the person described as dying to be famous is described so indirectly and is one of the antagonists in the book, the pop star Tiffany Webb. She was a star who mimes the singing of another singer Hannah at her school. This is not allowed, but she manages to make no one know about this miming and has even planned murders out. Eventually, Tiffany is killed by Hannah. The title of this book does not relate to the story in a direct way, and by looking at the title, I did not manage to anticipate the story was to turn out this way. But I still like the reasoning and design of the book. I liked the two kids, Poppy and Graham. They have shown a lot of hard working, arriving on time every day for auditions, and they are both very smart. The book was very enjoyable.
Dying to be Famous was a very catchy book. I decided to read it because it has a unique book cover design and title. I thought it would talk something about somebody who is dying to be famous, but the book gives a very indirect reference to the title. I am assuming that the person who the title says Dying to be Famous is the protagonist of the story, but it isn't. In fact, the person described as dying to be famous is described so indirectly and is one of the antagonists in the book, the pop star Tiffany Webb. She was a star who mimes the singing of another singer Hannah at her school. This is not allowed, but she manages to make no one know about this miming and has even planned murders out. Eventually, Tiffany is killed by Hannah. The title of this book does not relate to the story in a direct way, and by looking at the title, I did not manage to anticipate the story was to turn out this way. But I still like the reasoning and design of the book. I liked the two kids, Poppy and Graham. They have shown a lot of hard working, arriving on time every day for auditions, and they are both very smart. The book was very enjoyable.
May 21, 2022
This was good, but maybe not quite as good as the previous two.
* Poppy and Graham audition to be part of a musical because a TV soap actress (Tiffany) is playing the leading role, and Poppy wants to study the behaviours of a famous person.
* Unfortunately things don't start out too well with a death threat for Tiffany.
This was good, although by thesounds of things Poppy and Graham won't be auditioning for any more stage shows anytime soon! I had guessed that Tiffany was
* Poppy and Graham audition to be part of a musical because a TV soap actress (Tiffany) is playing the leading role, and Poppy wants to study the behaviours of a famous person.
* Unfortunately things don't start out too well with a death threat for Tiffany.
This was good, although by thesounds of things Poppy and Graham won't be auditioning for any more stage shows anytime soon! I had guessed that Tiffany was
March 15, 2020
This was an interesting page-turner. I loved the murder and the mystery was exciting, fun and very intriguing. As always, Tanya Landman has created amazing characters and they are very easy to relate to. By the end of the first few chapters, I felt like I knew all of the characters. It wasn’t gory and disgusting so it was fun and easy to read. I love all of the emotions that you experience while reading this book. I would recommend this to anybody!
July 18, 2024
It’s not too difficult to piece things together, even from the start, in Dying To Be Famous. Having said that, it’s an interesting and well thought-out book. I really enjoy the Poppy Fields book series, because even when the murders are predictable, they’re still clever and rarely far fetched. The motive is thought about, and so is opportunity. It makes sense, which isn’t the case for a lot of other murder mysteries. I also found the ending to be very satisfying, which I love.
November 23, 2021
چهار ستاره بخاطر اینکه شخصیت هایی توش حضور داشت که نیاز نبود باشن و پایانش که نسبت به قبلی ها خفن نبود
اما جمع کردن کتاب توی این صفحات و انتخاب موضوع چیدنشون کنار هم بنظرم خوب بود
پرداختن به احساسات شخصیت های اصلی که قابل لمس تر بشن پرنگ تر بود
اما جمع کردن کتاب توی این صفحات و انتخاب موضوع چیدنشون کنار هم بنظرم خوب بود
پرداختن به احساسات شخصیت های اصلی که قابل لمس تر بشن پرنگ تر بود
April 10, 2016
I decided to read Dying to be Famous, by Tanya Landman because it had an interesting title and its pictures of a poison bottle, finger prints and blood made it look intriguing.
This book is about a girl called Poppy Fields and her friend Graham. When Graham and Poppy stared in The Wizard Of Oz musical the real drama kicked in. A stalker stamped fliers all around the streets saying Tiffany the star actress in the show will die, TIFFANY WILL DIE!! Naturally the death threat made the performers nervous. While Poppy and Graham where playing there parts, they where finding clues on the way, trying to solve the mystery before Tiffany gets murdered. The stalker got wind of Poppy and Graham's conversation while they were trying to solve the mystery they became number one on the murderers list. That night they were acting in the play they cracked it!
I recommend this book to people who like murder mysteries and adventure which take you to a new world.
This book is about a girl called Poppy Fields and her friend Graham. When Graham and Poppy stared in The Wizard Of Oz musical the real drama kicked in. A stalker stamped fliers all around the streets saying Tiffany the star actress in the show will die, TIFFANY WILL DIE!! Naturally the death threat made the performers nervous. While Poppy and Graham where playing there parts, they where finding clues on the way, trying to solve the mystery before Tiffany gets murdered. The stalker got wind of Poppy and Graham's conversation while they were trying to solve the mystery they became number one on the murderers list. That night they were acting in the play they cracked it!
I recommend this book to people who like murder mysteries and adventure which take you to a new world.
February 5, 2014
AWESOME! This book was one of the best out of its whole series!! This is a MUST MUST book! You gotta read this! I give it a 5/5 rating!
August 26, 2016
I thought it was mysteries, a bit hilarious and, displayed funny ways of of murdering people. Even though the
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2017
Only just 3 stars - plot was ok but very little character development. I'm probably too generous!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews