Book Review: Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce

I was extremely excited about this when I saw it on here – I’ve been in a bit of a reading funk lately and the thought of a Victorian Nancy Drew, struggling not only with the standard “nobody listens to children” issues of a young detective but also the strictures against women of the time period, really drew me in. I expected a fun quick cozy mystery. The book was a little more complicated than that, and while on one hand I think that’s a cool thing, on the other it made for a much slower-going read than I expected and I’m worried about how middle grade readers will approach it as a result.

I work part-time in a library with some voracious young readers, so I’m always eager to recommend a strong female protagonist, particularly in a historical fiction context they might not stumble upon or select on their own. While this book delivers the attitudes that will appeal to them in Spades, I felt like the pacing was slower than I wanted from a book like this, and it was also longer than it needed to be. As a result I struggled to find my way into it more than I expected and on the whole liked it but didn’t love it…

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.