Mischief at Midnight

Gr 4–6—Almost a year after the dramatic events that ended Kerr's previous middle grade mystery, The Girl with the Glass Bird, things seem to have settled down at Knight's Haddon boarding school for orphan Edie Wilson and her best friend, the passionate, childlike, and spoiled Russian princess Anastasia Stolonov. The beginning of winter term brings upheavals, of course, as the two girls are forced to give up their shared room so that Edie can look out for a new girl (the reckless, bitter, worldly Janet Stone), and the school reels at the news that a nearby wood is to be sold and cut down. Edie is torn between Anastasia and the strangely appealing Janet, as well as her complicated relationship with the school's dictatorial headmistress, Miss Fotheringay. Schoolgirl spats, strange disappearances, and encounters with protesters attempting to stop the destruction of the woods seem to add up to more than the sum of their parts, and as the mystery builds and Edie's troubles increase, she might be the only person who can avert real danger. As in The Girl with the Glass Bird, Kerr creates an atmosphere more murky than mysterious—intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying. Those who haven't read the previous book may find themselves a little turned around despite authorial explanations. So much time is spent on red herrings and foreshadowing that the plot is alternately predictable and meandering, and character development also suffers. Kerr offers moments of thoughtful insight and some gothic-inspired shivers, but few plot twists or emotional moments feel truly earned.