Murder at the Museum (Montgomery Bonbon #1)

By donning a raincoat, beret, and bristly fake mustache, and affecting a nebulous accent, 10-year-old Bonnie Montgomery assumes her alter ego: the gentleman detective Montgomery Bonbon. While touring Widdlington’s Hornville Museum with her grandfather, a security guard is murdered within a locked turret room. With a wry aside regarding the circumstances—a “decent detective can hardly eat breakfast without finding a corpse in their cocoa rice flakes”—Bonbon discovers a valuable Roman Britain eagle statue has also been stolen and clashes with bumbling adult nemesis Insp. Prashanti Sands. The ensuing inquiry takes Bonbon and her sidekick grandfather to a church choir, a cemetery, and into rival village Widdling-on-Sea as she investigates museum employees, the wealthy Hornville family, and the history of the missing artifact, leading to a confrontational climax in the tradition of Agatha Christie. Comedian Beckett-King’s sparkling series-starting debut delivers constant laughs and witty rejoinders. Whimsical Edward Gorey–esque b&w illustrations by Powell (A Gallery of Rogues) enhance this brilliantly crafted mystery’s absurdist delight. Bonnie and her family are depicted as white; supporting characters are racially diverse. Ages 9–12. (Feb.)