Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R.A. Spratt

Title: Friday Barnes: Big Trouble
Author: R.A. Spratt
Genre: Crime
Publisher: Penguin Random House/Puffin
Published: 7th May 2019/3rd August 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Price: $15.99
Synopsis: Friday Barnes has a new case, and this time it’s personal!
When Friday’s father turns up out of the blue, he brings his daughter some distressing news – Friday’s mother has been kidnapped! But who would want to kidnap a theoretical physicist? The Headmaster needs Friday’s help too, when Highcrest Academy is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a beautiful new student – Princess Ingrid of Norway. She’s rich, she’s royal and she’s got her eye on Ian Wainscott. Despite heightened security at the school, things start to go missing. It appears Highcrest Academy has been infiltrated by a master thief, The Pimpernel.
Can Friday crack the case of her missing mother, reign in a royal brat and unmask the elusive Pimpernel? If it means she gets to ditch PE, then of course she can!

~*~

Friday’s father has appeared at Highcrest, and has taken over science class – that is, until he tells Friday her mother is missing. So Friday heads home with her father, her uncle, and Melanie to investigate and find out where her mother is. Upon her return, Friday is swept up into the mystery of the Pimpernel, and a Norwegian Princess who is attending the school for six weeks and has moved into the room next door to Friday and Melanie. When the Pimpernel steals from staff and students, the Headmaster enlists Friday, and she uncovers more than just who the Pimpernel is!

The third book in the Friday Barnes series picks up where book two ended and leaves us with another thrilling mystery to dive into at the end. What I love about this series is each book flows into the next one, so there is always something to look forward to. In this novel, Friday’s most loathed subject – PE plays a large part, with a race towards the end that helps Friday solve many od the cases that have been plaguing the school over the past few weeks. The humour is still there – it is a school unlike any other where simply being a certain student can earn you a trip to the Headmaster’s office before you’ve even tried to start the day.
And dealing with a princess is another matter – but what is the princess hiding, and is her attraction to Ian just a way to make people ignore what is really going on? Friday takes this all in her stride – even at twelve years old – and solves cases, deals with her family and friends and manages to study as much as possible, though at times, it seems a wonder that any schoolwork actually gets done at Highcrest, which is all part of the fun. It’s a school where you never know what will happen, and that is all part of the charm with Friday Barnes.