Girl Called Justice

The Spy At The Window is the fourth novel in the Justice Jones series for junior readers, by British author, Elly Griffiths. Not long after the Prime Minister announces that the country is at war with Germany, Justice Jones is back at Highbury House, but things have changed. Now in fifth form, she's still in Barnowls dormy with her friends and classmates, and many of the teachers are the same, but M. Pierre has gone to fight in the war.

As have the housemaids, so despite horrified objections from snobbish Rose, the students are rostered to clean and garden. There are gas masks, blackout blinds, air raid sirens and shelters. Their favourite is now their form teacher, Justice's good friend Dorothy is Head Girl and, much to her dismay, Justice is the fifth formers sports captain.

But the biggest change is that they will share Highbury House with about fifty boys from a city school, St Wilfred's, along with two teachers, the awful Major Hammond and the ineffective Mr Hoffman. Miss de Vere requires a joint sports event, so Justice makes friends with her St Wilfred's counterpart, Henry Williams, as they organise mixed rounders.

Distracting them from the refrain "there's a war on, you know!", several strange things come to their notice: a face at an impossibly high window, a foreign language on a wireless, an overheard telephone call in German, and the feeling that someone is watching.

But it's after her father's visit at half-holiday that Justice has to face her biggest challenge ever, a mystery that has her worried and upset. Luckily, her good friends Dorothy, Stella, Letitia and her new friend Henry are there to help.

An abandoned car not driven by its owner, a strange conversation in a pub, words in a Shakespeare play underlined, and a note in her hymn book all provide clues that help our schoolgirl sleuth solve the case and identify spies working for the enemy.

This is another delightful novel for young readers that can be equally enjoyed by those of a more advanced vintage. Another Justice Jones is eagerly anticipated. Recommended!

The Smugglers' Secret is the second book in the Justice Jones series for junior readers, by British author, Elly Griffiths. In early 1937, Justice Jones returns to Highbury House with mixed feelings: It's certainly not home, but she finds she did miss her friends at the school. After the exciting events of the previous term, Herbert Jones QC advises his daughter to try not to break too many rules.

There are two new staff at the school: the Matron, sinister-looking Maureen Robinson reminds Justice of a witch, while her friend Dorothy thinks she resembles the villain from a horror story; the Games Mistress, Margaret Heron, seems to have everyone, staff and students alike, charmed. But Justice is reserving her judgement: "My father says it's the innocent-looking people you have to look out for."

The Headmistress, Miss de Vere, has instituted a Good Citizenship Programme that will see the girls spending Wednesday afternoons with families needing help in the village. She also reiterates that the basement is out of bounds, immediately intriguing Justice.

Justice is surprised and delighted to find she is able to excel at a physical activity, cross-country running, but disappointed with her part in the school play. Her suspicions are quickly aroused when she sees the new Matron prowling around the House and the forbidden basement in gym shoes, late at night. What could she be up to?

When her assignment for the Good Citizenship Programme is Smugglers Lodge, Justice is only a little disconcerted by rumours of it being haunted by drowned sailors. Mr Arthur only required her to read newspapers, and his housekeeper is generous with hot chocolate and cakes.

As always, Justice diligently noted down her suspicions in a notebook she keeps hidden. Before long, in between lessons and extra running, Justice has met a wonderfully intelligent dog, is on the trail of a missing daughter and fascinated by tales of smugglers' tunnels. And then there is a murder…

Justice is not persuaded with the police assessment of what happened. Her own investigations reveal some surprising facts about the victim, but Justice and her sidekick, Stella are certainly not expecting to be held at gunpoint and trying to escape the murderer in a smugglers' tunnel.

These novels are inspired by her mother's experiences at boarding school, and as usual, Griffiths evokes the era perfectly. Her plot twists will keep even older readers guessing, and she leaves plenty of scope for further adventures. She never talks down to her readers; this is entertaining historical crime fiction for all ages. The third instalment, A Ghost In The Garden, is eagerly awaited.

A Girl Called Justice is the first book in the Justice Jones series for junior readers, by British author, Elly Griffiths. At twelve years old, Justice Jones is going to school for the first time, and it's a boarding school on the edge of Romney Marsh: Highbury House School for the Daughters of Gentlefolk.

On arrival, at the start of October, she describes it in her notebook: Dracula's castle/a prison; potential for murders, high; conditions, squalid; food, inedible. Her father, Herbert Jones QC, has sent her here because he knows the Headmistress, Miss de Vere. Her mother schooled Justice at home until her death a month earlier, so she can't just be left at home on her own.

But as soon as Justice hears of the young servant, Mary, who recently died, she is sure it was murder, and believes that if she solves the case, she can convince her father that she can come home. And of course, she is well qualified to solve the murder: she has studied her father's criminal cases, and her mother, writing as Veronica Burton, was the author of the Leslie Light mysteries.

But boarding school is a new experience for her. Justice has to learn to navigate the building, the rules and the girls in her dormy. There is prep and order marks and tuck and early rising, locked gates, out of bounds and restrictions on what she may read, midnight feasts and ghost stories about the Haunted Tower.

Justice isn't at all surprised when someone else dies, although she's puzzled that it's her No 1 suspect. There follow unsigned notes arranging midnight rendezvous, hidden staircases, blackmail, mistaken identity, and several more attempted murders occur, all while they are snowbound and cut off from the outside world. Through it all, Justice manages to make some friends and distract herself from missing her mum and dad.

In Justice, Elly Griffiths gives the reader a wonderfully quirky character: one whose inspiration is the protagonist of her mother's novels, who recites her father's cases when bored or needing to stay awake, who is clever and insightful and a little daring. Her mother's influence is clear from her comments, both spoken and unsaid. She really is an utter delight.

Of her friend Stella's faith in adults, she notes "She seemed incapable of believing that teachers could behave in surprising or underhand ways. Justice supposed that's what eight years of school did for you." And "Mum always used to say that normal school life had a way of numbing your critical faculties, and Justice began to see that this was true."

Griffiths never talks down to her readers, and this series is bound to appeal to young readers, but that doesn't preclude enjoyment by readers well beyond the target age group. It's clear that Ely Griffiths has many more than one string to her bow. There are at least two further volumes in the series that will be eagerly awaited. Excellent historical crime fiction for the young (and young at heart).