Shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Awards 2026: Children's Book of the Year: Breakthrough Category

Shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2025: Children’s Fiction Category

'Pure catnip for budding young sleuths' The Telegraph

The first children's murder mystery from number-one-bestselling author of The Appeal, Janice Hallett, perfect for fans of Robin Stevens and Rhian Tracey.

When Ava and Luke discover a mysterious box of papers in their attic they are instantly curious about secrets it might hold. As they read through letters, diary entries, newspaper cuttings and listen to secret recordings, they realize that a decades-old, still unsolved, murder mystery is unfolding right in front of them . . .

Ava and Luke decide to try and crack the case themselves. But as they work through the clues, it soon becomes clear that the mystery isn't something left in the past: the killer is still out there - and might be closer than they think...

YOU know the facts. YOU have all the clues. Can YOU solve the mystery before they do?

Look out for DEATH AT THE MUSEUM, the next book in the A Box Full of Murders series, coming June 2026!

About the Author

Heralded as 'Agatha Christie for the 21st Century', Janice Hallett's adult murder mystery novels with an epistolary twist have sold over half a million copies through TCM to date and been sold into 17 languages.

Her debut book, THE APPEAL, was named Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year and awarded the CWA Debut Dagger.

Her four adult follow-up novels have also all been Sunday Times Bestsellers. Her debut children's novel, A BOX FULL OF MURDERS, was the bestselling children's mystery of 2025 and shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards.