ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Beckett-King, Alasdair

Death at the Lighthouse

304 pp. | Candlewick | February, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781536241648 $18.99 | Paper ISBN 9781536241655 $9.99 | Ebook ISBN 978153624808 $9.99
(2) 4-6 Montgomery Bonbon series. Illustrated by Claire Powell. Bonnie Montgomery, the protagonist of this romp, is an ordinary ten-year-old English girl with best-friend problems, a fear of heights, and a kindly grandfather. However, in her alter ego as a (rather short) detective, she is Montgomery Bonbon, complete with false moustache, trench coat, and a French-adjacent accent. In this, her second case (following Murder at the Museum), she travels to Odde Island, where she tackles the recent murder of a lighthouse keeper. Another suspicious death complicates matters. More cerebral detective than action hero, Bonbon uses logic and clever fact-gathering to sort out who is keeping a secret, who is lying, who has a motive, and who’s smuggling onions onto the island (they are banned). But it’s not all little gray cells either, as a final scene has Bonbon confronting the murderer at the top of the lighthouse during a thunderstorm. Silly in the best British sense, this adventure provides the reader with many treats, chief among them an unrelenting series of epic similes. “‘Whaddya want?’ rumbled a voice like a sackful of gravel in a tumble dryer.” The book design—with its caricature-rich illustrations, page decorations, and a variety of dapper typefaces—suits the wacky, parodic, genially satirical tone to a T.
Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

RELATED 

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

The Republic of Birds
by Miller, Jessica
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Atlantis
by Mone, Gregory
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

It Doesn't Take a Genius
by Rhuday-Perkovich, Olugbemisola
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls
by Rivera, Kaela
INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Soul Lanterns
by Kuzki, Shaw
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?