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.
3 comments:
These books do seem such fun, Nick!
It's a mystery to me how quickly some books and authors disappear, especially after the first was given 5/5 by Book Trust. very sad.
Maybe the "world" of these books didn't sell well into other countries?
Or was that one of those patches where the publishers started analysing sales, so by the time the fourth title appears, they are nor reprinting the earlier books in the series? That really did mess up promotional visits: "Here's my great new title! Sorry, you can't read the first book as it's already out of print."
It can be hugely disheartening for a new, or any writer.
Here's a link - I hope - to a Guardian article where the author describes a series of books she loved and loves. You may recognise the hero!
https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/mar/29/blistering-barnacles-herges-tintin-adventures-are-the-perfect-mix-of-cozy-and-thrill
Thanks for the article, Penny. I was a huge Tintin fan when younger and read all the books I could find.
As to books disappearing, I suppose it's just a sad fact of today's publishing world: success is all. At least there's Alibris and Abe Books to help track down the vanished - I'm currently buying up OOP books by Nigel Balchin - but being 2nd hand, it doesn't help the author much, does it?
Some online second-hand booksellers are paying authors a cut now. World of Books is one, and I got some payments from them via ALCS in my latest statement!
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