Robin Stevens (author) facts for kids

Robin Stevens is a popular author who writes exciting mystery books for kids. She was born in America on January 15, 1988, but grew up in England. She is most famous for her Murder Most Unladylike series, which features two young detectives. Robin Stevens often says that old detective stories from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction" helped inspire her books.

Robin Stevens's Early Life

Robin Stevens was born in California, USA. When she was three years old, her family moved to Oxford, England. She has citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She went to schools like The Dragon School and Cheltenham Ladies College. Her father, Robert Stevens, was in charge of Pembroke College, Oxford, and her mother worked at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University.

Robin studied English at the University of Warwick. Later, she earned a special degree in crime fiction from King's College London. She even appeared on a TV show called University Challenge as the captain of her university team!

Becoming an Author

Before she became a full-time author, Robin Stevens worked in bookshops, including Blackwell's in Oxford. She also worked as an editor at a publishing company called Egmont.

Robin started writing her first book, Murder Most Unladylike, in November 2010. She wrote it during an event called National Novel Writing Month. However, she waited two years before sending her story to literary agents.

Robin Stevens has shared that she gets ideas from classic detective stories. She especially likes authors from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction." Some of her favorite mystery writers include Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers.

In November 2020, she announced a new book called Once Upon a Crime, which came out in August 2021. She also shared exciting news about a brand new series starting in 2022. This new series, called The Ministry of Unladylike Activity, is set during World War II. It will feature Hazel Wong's (from her first series) little sister and two new characters, Eric and Nuala.

The Murder Most Unladylike Series

Robin Stevens's popular Murder Most Unladylike series has eleven books. These books follow two schoolgirl detectives, Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells. They solve mysteries and deal with their own personal adventures. For example, Hazel falls in love with an American boy named Alexander Arcady.

The stories in this series take place in the 1930s. This setting helps explain why Robin Stevens often mentions the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction." The series also explores how people thought and acted during that time, including issues like racism.

Awards for Her Books

Robin Stevens has won several awards for her amazing books:

Robin Stevens's Books

Book Series

• The Murder Most Unladylike Series
  • Murder Most Unladylike (2014)
  • Arsenic For Tea (2014)
  • First Class Murder (2015)
  • Jolly Foul Play (2016)
  • Mistletoe and Murder (2016)
  • Cream Buns and Crime: Tips, tricks and tales from the Detective Society (2017)
  • A Spoonful of Murder (2018)
  • Death in the Spotlight (2018)
  • Top Marks for Murder (2019)
  • The Case of the Drowned Pearl (2020)
  • Death Sets Sail (2020)
  • Once Upon a Crime (2021)

• The Ministry of Unladylike Activity Series
  • The Ministry of Unladylike Activity (2022)
  • The Body in the Blitz (2023)

Standalone Books

• The Guggenheim Mystery (2017), which is a follow-up to The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Contributed Works

• Mystery and Mayhem: Twelve Deliciously Intriguing Mysteries (2016)
• Return to Wonderland: Stories Inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice (2019)