Stevie Bell 5

Ah, here we go again. Stevie's on another mystery. 

I think this was the weakest of the lot so far. David is at school in London and misses Stevie, so he arranges for her, Nate, Janelle and Vi to come stay for a week. Because it includes missing a few days of school before Thanksgiving break, headmistress Jenny Quinn, a notorious hardass, is really strict on their requirements. They have to give reports and answer the phone whenever she calls, etc. It seems a tad strict. 

Stevie inner turmoil this time is torn between a) wanting to have sex with David for the first time and b) the fact that she has no idea what to do for college. 

Everyone is making a huge deal about college. Dude. Take a year off. It's not the end of the world. If you don't want the stress of applying for school while you're still IN school, then don't put yourself through it. You do not need to rush into college right out of high school. The fact that literally no one said this is ridiculous. And poor Nate is so directionless that he blew all his money applying to over 70 schools and has no idea what he wants. Janelle has some sort of big plan and she's kind of an ass about it. Vi is just going along with everything. 

So while they're touring around London, David introduces his friend Izzy (and Stevie is pretty jealous), who in turn introduces them to the inevitable cold case. 

The mystery this time is set in 1995. I graduated high school in 1996, so I can visualize some of these looks perfectly and I can definitely hear the music. My friend in undergrad was obsessed with Britpop. I know these bands. It's a group of nine BFFs that are a comedy troupe. They've just graduated university and are having one last hurrah at the manor of one of the group. He's going to be a viscount. Yep. England. So while they're there, they have a giant game of hide and seek in the pouring rain at night while drunk. Two of them turn up dead and that's the mystery. 

This one had me guessing. It was obvious it was one of the group, but I couldn't figure out who because the motive isn't clear until Stevie's doing the big reveal and the flashback reveal chapter happens. Looking back, I see the pieces, but yeah, I wasn't sure who it was. 

Stevie was mostly good in this one. I think she's still growing. Yeah, she was jealous, but she's human and her boyfriend is in another country. And he DOES focus a lot on Izzy and not enough on Stevie. Then the fucking asshole breaks up with her less than an hour before they have to leave for the airport. I was so pissed. Turns out he is intimidated by her and feels directionless in life because he doesn't have a thing that he wants to do like the others, so he was stupid. Then he gets drunk and Izzy is bringing Stevie to him as a surprise and they see him kissing someone else. End of book. UGH. 

The one thing Stevie did that I didn't like was claim she needed all her friends to go with her to the manor to meet all the remaining members of the Nine. She lied about what the headmistress said, which I could forgive, but she showed zero respect for the things the others actually wanted to do in London. She does not NEED them to solve crimes. She does the majority of things on her own. She did not have to ruin Vi's meeting with a curator to drag everyone along. She just got clingy because she's afraid of everyone going their separate ways, but it was disrespectful. 

Janelle was honestly mostly annoying here. Way too into the college thing and it's not a pretty obsession. She got over Stevie lying too quickly, too. 

Vi barely did anything. I definitely would have kept my meeting with a curator. Come on. Stand up for yourself. 

Nate also sadly barely did anything. He's a bit of a side mystery because he's always writing, but that turns out to be his obsessive college applying. He also does a big reveal to Stevie that he's Ace, but if anyone couldn't see that a mile away, they probably shouldn't be reading mysteries. 

So yeah, definitely not the cast at their best. Not the best mystery. It was fun, but I enjoyed the others more.