Twelve-year-old Myrtle Hardcastle, living in 1890s England, has a precocious interest in forensic sciences. Her scientific investigations are based on her father’s law career and her deceased mother’s interest in medicine, although her father worries that she is morbid and that her interests are highly inappropriate for a girl her age. Her governess, Miss Judson, respects Myrtle’s interests and intelligence, although she does try to restrain her (mostly unsuccessfully) from overstepping the proprieties of their time.
The household that Myrtle lives in has apparently always been unconventional for Myrtle’s entire life because her mother was also an unconventional person. Because of her unusual interests, she often has a difficult time relating to other girls her age and making friends, although she does become friends with the coroner’s daughter. Myrtle’s father sometimes worries about Myrtle’s future and how Myrtle will fit in with other people, finding friends and functioning in society, but at the same time, he also loves her and appreciates the qualities that make her so different from everyone else. She is a lot like her mother was, and she also helps to resolve a serious situation with her knowledge and abilities. Myrtle’s governess is also an unconventional person at heart, which is why she appreciates Myrtle’s abilities and indulges her interests as much as possible. There are indications that there is a budding romance between Myrtle’s widowed father and the governess, although there are class differences and Victorian proprieties to navigate.
The series is by Elizabeth C. Bunce.
Books in the Series
Premeditated Myrtle (2020)
A Victorian girl from an unconventional family investigates a murder that happened in her own neighborhood.
How to Get Away with Myrtle (2020)
Cold-Blooded Myrtle (2021)
In Myrtle Peril (2022)
Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity (2023)
Jestress's Children's Shelf 