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The Book Case by Dave Shelton


Daphne is off to St Rita’s, an exclusive girls’ boarding school. It sounds awfully respectable and Daphne herself is awfully respectable too. She loves to read, and is delighted to be offered the chance to interview for Librarian’s assistant’s assistant immediately upon arrival.

But it turns out nothing is quite what you’d expect at St Rita’s—you can’t trust a padlock if the fourth graders are around, the floor has holes from cannonballs, the smell in the dining room is disgustingly foul, and Daphne discovers the librarian doesn’t really exist.

But there is a librarian’s assistant, Emily Lime. And she’s really a crime-solving genius, who’s looking for a new assistant of her own. And booksmart Daphne is just the girl for the job, because mystery and intrigue are about to strike St Rita’s and Emily Lime is going to need all the help she can get….


If you loved Robin Steven's boarding school series and a series of unfortunate events you will love this book.

The Book Case starts with Daphne being sent off to a new boarding school. She is initially excited at the prospect of going an exclusive boarding school but when she arrives it becomes quickly apparent that St Rita's is a very different kind of boarding school. A completely anarchic boarding school where there are holes in the floor boards because of dropped cannon balls and pupils only drop into lessons if they feel like it.

Shortly after her arrival Daphne meets Emily the lime, the library assistant who immediately starts her on a trial as her assistant to help her to get to the bottom of a book related crime which she needs to get to the bottom of. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every page and found myself chuckling all the way through as the situations became more absurd. I also loved following the mystery element with the characters. Well worth a look and definitely recommended by me. I'm already looking forward to a sequel.

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