The Girl is Murder
by Kathryn Miller Haines
reviewed by Samantha Fung
The Girl is Murder starts off with a girl named Iris, a girl who attended a private school for most of her life, attending a public school for the first time. Iris’s father is a detective, who is struggling in his business and all Iris wants to do is help with his cases. She had just recently moved to the other side of town, which meant a fresh start for her and her dad. On her first day at public school, Iris meets a girl named Suze, who is part of a group of troublemakers at school called “The Rainbows”. Iris ends up becoming friends with her through a lie that she told Suze. Later on, Iris becomes friends with another girl at school named Pearl, who helps Iris solve some of her father’s cases. But, when a mysterious disappearance of one of the Rainbows lands on a case for Iris’s dad, that’s when everything goes wild. Iris starts hanging out more and more with the wrong crowd and lying to all of her friends and her dad. She adopts a fake personality and keeps lots of secrets in order to solve the case. Iris gets caught up in the world of being a detective.
This book includes an important point: social division. In the novel, it discusses two opposite parts of the town: the Lower East side and the Upper East side. The Upper East side was made of more wealthy people while the Lower East side was more dangerous and includes areas that were notably dangerous. It wasn’t very often that people of the Lower East side went up to the Upper East side and vice-versa. Haines incorporates this sort of idea that people should not be separated by what their status is.
I think the author chose to write this book because she wanted to tell readers that it’s not good to get caught up with your own feelings and ideas, you need to be aware of your friends’ feelings and the people around you.
I felt like this book really got me really interested to keep reading more. I enjoyed this book very much and I will definitely be reading the second book in this series.
The Girl is Murder
by Kathryn Miller Haines
reviewed Emily Cupo
Kathryn Miller Haines’ mystery The Girl is Murder follows a young girl named Iris as she navigates a new school, new friends, and a new home after tragedy strikes her family. Set in the autumn of 1942 in New York, during the climax of World War II, she is forced to deal with not only the war’s effects on society, but on her personal life and family too. When the world of private investigation is opened to her, it becomes a new frontier for Iris to explore, and as soon as she immerses herself deep within it, she finds that everything around her is not exactly what it seems.
Born with a silver spoon in her mouth and raised within an ivory tower, Iris finds her life turned upside down when she has no choice but to trade her private, all girls academy on the Upper East Side for a new public school on the Lower East Side, following the sudden death of her mother and her father’s loss of his leg in battle. Though her “walk was mimicked”, her “voice was aped” (15), and at every turn, she is reminded of how she did not belong in a public school, Iris soon found kinship with a fellow social outcast, Pearl. The absence of her beloved mother profoundly affects her, and quickly, Iris began to look for things to add adventure to her life and replace the voids left by the private school friends and mother she lost. After returning from war, her newly handicapped father opens a private investigation business and shortly after hearing him interact with a client one day, Iris takes it upon herself to assist him in his investigations. When one case in particular affects Iris in a personal way, despite the multitude of obstacles, she relentlessly works to find a logical reason for the disappearance of a new acquaintance with a little help from Pearl, the “Rainbows”, a ragtag group who may hold the key to finding the lost boy, and her old friends from private school.
Kathryn Miller Haines deftly created The Girl Is Murder for the young sleuth living inside of all of us, and crafted a storyline very few would dare to tackle. With the use of vivid language and excellent technique, Haines does a wonderful job of illustrating the life of a teen riddled with loss, and at the same time addressing issues like classism in early 20th century America. My favorite component of this book is the strong, resilient young woman Iris is portrayed as, because it is encouraging and empowering to see an author with such finesse use it to give her main characters an authentic, strong voice. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with a taste for historical fiction based mystery, or suspenseful mystery novels.
The Girl is Murder
by Kathryn Miller Haines
reviewed by Ava Manson
Possessing an intriguing title, The Girl Is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines automatically peaked my curiosity. After reading the synopsis of the book, seemingly interesting and free spirited Iris seemed to be the best character to read about for my SSR book. As I expected, the story of Iris Anderson, a 15 year-old girl living in the 1940’s, includes drama and mystery that almost any teenage girl can hope to relate to. Her story possesses a strong theme of growing up and finding oneself, making it popular and enjoyable for teenagers to read. A twist makes the story unique because not only does Iris live with her private investigator father, she attempts to assist him with his cases. Iris finds, in her transition from a public school to private school, that the mysteries in need of uncovering are in fact, her classmates. The Girl is Murder shows the transformation of a quiet and polite young lady into a rebellious teenage girl, sneaking out to parties and hanging out with troublemakers. Although seeming to solely have the purpose of helping her father, it takes time and development of character for Iris to understand what her true priorities should be.
Personally, I believe that The Girl is Murder began with a slow-paced start, that I was not necessarily fond of. As the story progressed, I found it more interesting, and the mystery became increasingly more compelling. However, I noticed that Iris, along with most of the supporting characters, were often in need of more personality and depth. Although these are less than positive aspects of the book, overall I found it to be a light and fun read. I thought the story had great structure, and the end result was satisfying. I would recommend this book to a teen who enjoys mystery, even though lack of action would not make me consider it to be a thriller. The Girl is Murder was not quite the book I expected, but I found it to still be enjoyable and relatable.
The Girl is Murder
by Kathryn Miller Haines
reviewed by Daniela Gurrola
This novel tells the story of Iris Anderson and her experiences. She deals with the death of her mother, her father coming back disabled from the war, being Jewish during World War II, financial struggles, and a different school. Her father does detective work for individuals; however, he experiences problems with his new prosthetic leg and his age proves to be an obstacle. Since the Andersons require money, Iris secretly helps out her father with his cases. She befriends students at her new public school which proves to be difficult since she came from a private school. After one of her classmates, Tom, disappears, she begins helping her father locate him. In order to do this, she must rekindle old friendships, go to dangerous locations, break curfew, and reluctantly lie to those she holds dear. Tension never ceases, it only increases. She experiences more and more difficult situations, finding truths about her mother’s death, straining the already difficult relationship she has with her father, and choosing between friends. The cover and title of this novel deceives the reader into believing that the novel tells the tale of a murderous girl; however, that is not what this novel is about. This novel is more of a coming of age type story and it is filled with surprises. This novel unravels mysteries and secrets that astound the reader and overall, it proves to be a compelling choice to read. In order to uncover the secrets and see how everything turns out, one must read this novel to find out what happens.
