Violet Veil is the daughter of an undertaker. She reads Frankenstein, has a greyhound called Bones, and can hear ghosts whispering in the graveyard.

One night she’s astonished to discover that the latest body in the mortuary has clambered out of his coffin and is lurching around the cemetery. His name is Oliver, and he’s just survived his own murder.

Solving the crime becomes Violet’s priority: not only to seek justice, but to prove that there is more to being a Victorian girl than embroidery and hysterics. When the police make an arrest, however, Violet’s mission suddenly becomes one of life and death.

The gothic graveyard setting is darkly delightful, and death is handled with respect and love. The image of Violet at the end communicating with long-dead Mr Bonneville is heart-warming, and reminds us that those we have lost are just a memory away.

More a whydunnit than whodunnit, Sophie Cleverly’s A Case of Grave Danger is an engaging middle-grade mystery introducing a plucky heroine and her uncannily intuitive dog. It marks the first in the new Violet Veil Mysteries series. I’m looking forward to seeing how the series develops.

More Middle-grade Mysteries with Smart Heroines:

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth Bunce - a witty, intelligent historical whodunnit