Murder comes to Hanbridge High, and three Year Seven misfits want to solve the crime:

New boy Jonno hopes playing detective will convince his parents that moving to Hanbridge was a big mistake.
School reporter Lydia thinks her news story will sweep everything else off the front page.
And young carer Daniel needs the police to arrest the right culprit - for his mum's sake.

They may not be friends, but they're about to become. . .The Detention Detectives.

When I first started reading this book as a teacher and an avid middle grade story reader I was thinking to myself this is a bit dark for a kids book. However, as the story developed I really enjoyed the twists and turns and the characters that Jardine created. The blossoming friendship and camaraderie between Jonny, Lydia and Daniel is heartwarming and I am already excited for book two as I want to solve kore mysteries with the trio.

Middle-grade mystery is one of those niche genres that people rarely talk about but that really deserves more love than it gets. I’m not sure how many people would relate if I said that ‘children solving crimes’ is a definite buzz phrase for me and I will always devour books that feature child sleuths.

Jonno has only been at Hanbridge High for a couple of weeks when he and his classmate Daniel find their PE teacher dead in a cupboard. It looks like murder but who could have done it? Jonno and Daniel weren’t really friends before but together with wannabe reporter Lydia, they both have an invested interest in solving this case.

Lydia is that annoying, nerdy girl who always happens to show up at the most inopportune times. I think we all either were her or knew her, during our own high school years. I would have liked to see more of her because she made me smile every time she appeared with her notebook. While her investigative skills were utilised, I’m not sure she really got her moment to shine. Fingers crossed that this will be a series and she’ll get her chance!

Tyler Jenkins is the school bully but he has a stammer. I thought this was really interesting because for once, a middle-grade novel depicted a school villain as someone with instantly obvious vulnerability. Tyler isn’t a main feature of the book, so his stammer isn’t really explored but it suggested that he wasn’t the over-confident, fearless bully that lots of children’s books present them as.

Daniel’s mum has chronic fatigue syndrome and while I can’t comment on whether it was an accurate description of the condition, I enjoyed that it was included. This is part of the reason for Daniel wanting to solve the case, so it definitely served a purpose to the story. I would have liked to hear more about the illness from Daniel’s mum herself but perhaps that will be explored in later books.

The Detention Detectives was a great, page-turning mystery and I was hooked throughout. I was introduced to some really lovely characters and the ending suggested that there is more to revisit in this case with a future of crime-solving for our three young detectives. I’m excited to see where it goes!

A delightful look at a group of young people, brought together by the untimely discovery of a dead teacher in the games shed. they all have reasons to want the murder solved, but find that they need to work together to make things happen. A different slant on the murder mystery and the ending leaves us on a cliff-hanger. I must read the next in the series.

I love that this is the start of a series, I really enjoyed reading about our main trio and I can't wait to read more about them in future books. Lydia was probably my favourite out of the trio, she was just so entertaining to read about and I'm really excited to learn more about her in the next book. This was such a great read overall with plenty of exciting moments and twists and turns along the way. I had so much fun reading about the main character's investigations and the gradual relevaltion of all the different pieces coming together.

I love books like this, where teachers, parents and librarians can be happy about the representation of young carers, diverse family set-ups etc, but kids will just take it in their stride as they’re totally glued to the murder mystery. Detention Detectives is pacy and fun and packed with great characters. Just enough clues and red herrings paced perfectly for young readers to be both delighted and satisfied when the murderer is revealed! Ideal for fans of High Rise Mystery

This Book Does Not disappoint with it's Premise & it Reminds me of the Disney Channel show Fillmore!
(Thanks to Net Galley for this Book).

Starting with a bang, well, with the discovery of a dead PE teacher actually, this school-based murder mystery is a read to relish. The lead character, Jonathan, is a lad that is adamant he can solve the case – or gain something from failing. For he's hating the fact he's the new kid in school, and is insistent that he can somehow disappoint or scare his parents enough to leave and take them all back to where they used to live. To that end he's also adamant that he can not be bothered to befriend the school's resident sci-fi expert, but when he in turn has an urgent need to solve the crime, they just have to get it done – detention slips and grounding regardless...

This really seems to be an out-and-out success – it's a really quite fine thriller read, and related to us from the point of view of a realistic-sounding lad, whose reaction to everything, from the darkest murder to the grimmest school lunch, is spot on. If I have to discuss any flaws, it's that I had the impression it thought it was a lot more humorous than it is – but the comedy failed with me, if it were even intended. (Some bonkers adults-only pun about water-sports needed dumping, for sure.) It's hard to tell, or to care, for the brio with which all this is narrated is sterling work, and the four years from first draft to now were well spent. Opening a trilogy – nay, potentially a career – in fine fashion, this is one of the stronger entries to this genre that I can remember. Four and a half stars.

This debut MG novel from Lis Jardine is a brilliant, laugh out loud detective story. Jonno moves to a new school and hates it. All he wants is to go back to his old town, old school and old friends. When he and a classmate find the dead body of a PE teacher they set out to solve the mystery of who did it. Jonno's main mission is to get in a lot of trouble so his mum and dad move him back to his old school, but along the way, daniel and Jonno start to become friends are are soon joined by nosy, confident Lydia. Together they work to find out who murdered the teacher and get Daniel's mum's best friend of the hook. What I liked about this story was the evolving friendship and how they start to trust each other with things they have kept hidden. At points I laughed out loud and it reminded me of the style of Jenny Pearson.

Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned Murder mystery!?!
In this new series, Jonno has just moved to a new town and high school, has no friends and has just discovered the body of his PE teacher. Getting mixed up in a murder investigation might just be the trouble Jonno is looking for. He will do just about anything to force his parents to move back to their old town and his best friends. He is feeling left out, forgotten and uncertain of where he fits in this new school.
Daniel and Lydia, pseudo-friends are also on the case of solving Mr Baynton’s demise and this will get all three into some serious trouble and danger along the way.
Set over the course of 6 days, it is hard to believe just how engrossed in this mystery the theee detectives become…from hacking computers to visiting the hospital to being threatened. An incredible cast of characters, some slightly suspicious and others downright deadly!
Completely hooked from the start and throughout, the pace was quick, action packed and thought provoking. I had my suspicions but there were enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader reading and guessing.
Already looking forward to book 2!

I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The writing is so engaging full of vivid descriptions and rich imagery which will really captures kids attention and imagination. The characters were well developed and I took to some of them straight away. I can't wait to see what this author does next. A great read.