This was just great fun, I had so much fun trying to help out the girls with figuring out the mystery.

This time we have a sleuthing contest in Puddleford, the girls will be up against other teams to see who is the best Junior Detective. There are challenges with things like disguises, or make a HQ. It was great fun to read about them, though after the crime with the mustache the challenges lost their spark. It just seemed to me the girls weren’t even doing any effort, they were so focussed on the Mustache Mystery that they just didn’t seem to care about the challenges. I was just expecting more from them. The Mystery of The Mustache just felt like it was added because of what happened with the girls and the challenges. I still loved the mystery, don’t get me wrong, but with the ending? And what the whole solution was? Yeah, definitely felt it was just added so that could happen at the end.

Also what is up with Mariella’s age? Does she ever get older than 9 and a bit or 9 and 3 quarters? I keep expecting her to turn 10 for once, we are now in the 8th book, and from the start she has been saying either 9 and a bit, or 9 and 3 quarters.
I would love to see Mariella’s birthday bash turn into a mystery, it would be so much fun. And it would make the characters feel like they are growing up instead of just remaining the same.

I also didn’t like those boys, really their attitude just stank and reeked. I was just hoping for them to fail, they just don’t deserve it. Sorry, it may seem rude and harsh, but with all they did? How they acted all superior and the likes? Bah.

Yes, I said this book was great fun, and so far I have been a bit up and down with what I thought about the book. But believe me, I really enjoyed the book, the mystery was fun, I liked that the trophy was a golden mustache (I would have expected a golden question mark, but a mustache fits even better because it is part of a disguise of a detective). I loved the art (and it is just so much fun to see how it changed if you put book 1 and 8 next to each other. :D).
I also still love the format and also that we get excerpts from the Sleuthing Handbook.
I also love Mariella’s friends and how they do stuff.
The idea of a sleuthing contest? So much fun! It is a real big step for the girls, they could proof themselves.

So all in all, there were a few things I didn’t particularly like, but all in all, this was a great book and I just flew through it. I can’t wait for book 9.