Inspired by our joint love of middle grade mystery books Amy of Golden Books Girl, Rachael of Bellis does Books and myself decided to indulge in a fun readalong of Lauren St John’s Laura Marlin Mysteries, and evoke the childhood joy of making a club! When an uncle suddenly does come to claim her and bring her to live with him in his seaside home in a small Cornish town, Laura is excited to begin her new life. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get into it, although I did at least power through the pages pretty quickly, and I appreciate that I’m not necessarily the target audience here.

If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published. Iove the description in it even though it has hardly any pictures I can still get a perfect clear picture in my mind using the description. What I want,’ Laura declared, ‘is to have a life packed with excitement like some of the characters in my books. country stars like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and the Dixie Chicks, she wrote the bestselling White Giraffe series.At first she investigates the mysteries she comes across for pleasure more than anything else, but she soon finds that things are getting scary and dangerous. So whilst the reality of the “silkworms” and Tariq is blurred, she still pushes children to view and become educated on the plight of others and to be strong and resilient themselves not just for their own well-being, but for others who cannot. Fortunately she is a courageous young girl, who keeps her wits about her when things go wrong, and she manages to get herself out of several scrapes.

Laura's an orphan who has spent most o her life in a children's home, dreaming of long-lost relatives coming to find her. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The waves slam and crash against the old rickety wood of the famous pirate ship; The Pillager of The Damned as it sails across the seven seas. Laura is then told that she has a long lost uncle who has offered to adopt her, and lives in st Ives. The heroine, 11-year-old orphan Laura Marlin, has been rescued from the children's home by her mysterious uncle, Calvin Redfern.

At 17, she spent a year in the UK working as a veterinary nurse before becoming a sports and music journalist. So, at the beginning of this adventure mystery she finds herself moving to a house by the beach in Cornwall to live with Calvin Redfern, a man she has never met before. An absorbing novel that will hold the imagination of young reader and keep them guessing throughout. Dead Mans Cove can be seen from the trail that leads from the parking lot to the Cape Disapointment lighthouse. Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.

I think this book is an amazing adventures book and is a book with reflections of real life stories. I also found it was really easy to read for younger audiences, without making it too young sounding. Across August we have been reading or rereading Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John, the first story in the series which finds young Laura Marlin finally being placed with a mysterious uncle after a lifetime in care. Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that this is a children’s book – and with a main character aged 11, it is probably targetting 8-10 year olds as its main audience. Luckily, her uncle Calvin knows she's responsible and gives Laura the space to explore, although he's not so sure that she should be rushing to pick her career so quickly.

We had a "savage mug-up" on the third of the four beaches listening to the surf and loving the ocean panorama. Dead Man’s Cove, the first in her Laura Marlin Mystery series, was a Blue Peter Book of the Year in 2011. I didn't figure out the mystery before the end of the book, which was really nice because that can be really annoying. It’s a fun little mystery, very famous five-esque (except it’s just Laura) with a nice modern twist.