Harriet Whitehorn’s Violet adventures aren’t new – the first appeared in 2014 and the last in 2018 – but I’ve now finished reading them all and I just wanted to use my blog this month to put in a good word for one of the most charming series I’ve read in ages.
Violet Remy-Robinson lives with her parents and a cat called Pudding. With her best friend Rose – among others - she solves mysteries involving smugglers, mummys, birdnapped cockatoos and missing figurines. The plots are brisk and engaging, the writing is deft and fluid, and the stories are full of a lovely, sly wit.
In the first in the series – Violet and the Pearl of the Orient – PC Green signs off a walkie-talkie transmission with ‘Whisky Tango Foxtrot’; the dastardly Du Plicitous family hire Mr Frederick Orger to aid them in their crime; and Scotland Yard despatches officers from its Incredibly Serious Crime Squad.
All five are also, without doubt, the best-looking paperbacks I’ve ever seen, with a lovely typeface, beautiful illustrations and intricately wrought covers. Just lining them up side by side on the desk and looking at them is a pleasure all by itself.
I love these books.
