Alice-Miranda Shines Bright by Jacqueline Harvey

Title: Alice-Miranda Shines Bright

Author: Jacqueline Harvey

Genre: Mystery/Fiction

Publisher: Puffin

Published: 16^th July 2019/1^st September 2013

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Mysteries abound and Alice-Miranda is on the case.

Alice-Miranda and Millie have made a dazzling discovery in the woodlands near their school. They vow to keep the secret to themselves, but it seems that a greedy politician and a pair of old friends are searching for the same treasure.

Back at school, the sixth grade girls are preparing for a change to high school. Jacinta is being particularly grumpy with everyone and even with the most persistent questioning, no one quite knows why.

When Myrtle Parker’s husband awakes from his coma and disappears, Alice-Miranda puts on her detective hat. She’s determined to find Reginald Parker, deter the politician and uncover exactly why Jacinta is playing up.

~*~

It’s the end of Alice-Miranda’s first year at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, and the school is preparing for the summer performance, and the transition of the year six girls to a new school. Jacinta and the rest of the oldest girls are finishing their time at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, and are getting ready to go to Salisbury Palace. But there’s also a big discovery they need to keep secret! Alice-Miranda and Millie find something very special during a horse ride, but they need to keep it a secret!

Somebody, a greedy politician, is determined to take advantage of it, but there are other things happening in the village, and the disappearance of Myrtle Parker’s husband sets up a series of events that could become linked. And hopefully Alice-Miranda can help Miss Grimm find a solution to help the year six girls. Especially Jacinta, who is very grumpy and refuses to let anyone know why.

The eighth Alice-Miranda book is another fantastic mystery that brings Alice-Miranda, her friends and Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale back to life! In this one, mysteries abound about people, gold and the school, which make this an engaging story. It does create a turning point in the series, where I as fully prepared to farewell beloved characters as they were having to move onto a new school, and ends our first year with Alice-Miranda at her new school. It means I am moving through the series well, and each book is building well on each other, whilst also carefully setting things up so this can be read as a series in order as well as each book on its own. I must say I am having a lot of fun reading the books I haven’t read yet in order, and hope to finish this venture by the end of the year.

What I loved about this book was the wonderful way the girls worked together to solve problems, their willingness to help the adults and doing their best to keep things running smoothly. It’s all about teamwork and being part of a community, which I have found is a theme running throughout all the books so far. I’m roughly halfway through the series now, and looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series, well, books nine to eighteen, take me when I get to them.

And I am loving seeing Alice-Miranda grow up. Each book builds on what we know, and makes it thrive in this series that has had a huge fan base over the years. It is also a series that is still around, and one that I think has a timelessness about it because I have found so far that there is nothing in this series that dates this book yet. I’m loving the way Jacqueline has made this her own world that sits alongside our world so well, and I am looking forward to book nine. I believe I am headed off to Japan with Alice-Miranda next!

Onto more reading fun!