The Deadly Daylight

December 18, 2023
Australian author Harrier imbues a classic whodunit with poetic melancholy in this haunting debut. Twelve-year-old Alice England, who has muscular atrophy in her leg due to complications during birth that also killed her twin sister, lives alone with her father in a seaside town and helps tend her family’s funeral home. Shunned and unkindly dubbed “Alice in Zombieland” by her classmates both for her limp and her father’s profession, Alice is friendless until she meets Violet Devenish, a fellow student who is deathly allergic to light and wears a black veil to protect herself from the sun. Harrier deliberately unspools the jam-packed plot at an unhurried pace, even when Violet’s beloved uncle George—who shares Violet’s allergy—is found dead of light exposure. Analytical Alice is immediately suspicious, thanks to the insight granted by her supernatural ability to “read the resonance” of objects belonging to the deceased, and her preoccupation with uncovering George’s murderer soon puts her at odds with the town, the insular Devenish clan, and eventually Violet herself. While Alice’s diversions occasionally slacken the tension, offbeat characters and lyrical writing sustain a thoroughly clever and engrossing riff on the murder mystery formula. Ages 9–12.

January 1, 2024

Gr 4-6-Alice, almost 13, loves dinosaurs, gathering (but not collecting) items from the beach, and helping her father prepare corpses at the funeral home where they live and work. What truly sets Alice apart is her ability to connect with the memories of the departed through objects she calls "resonant." This gift comes in handy when her new friend Violet's uncle dies in a series of "unfortunate accidents" that Alice suspects was ultimately murder. Violet and her family share a life-threatening allergy to sunlight, acting as the central force of the plot. Alice uses her curiosity and ability to read people to solve the mystery with the help of her friends Violet and Cal. While the story does not shy away from morbid subjects, Alice's matter-of-fact nature and inability to be anything other than her authentic self balance the macabre plot. The side characters are quirky and lovable, adding a layer to the story as Alice learns how important yet difficult friendship can be. The mystery itself is satisfying, with plenty of twists to keep readers guessing until the end, but also enough hints being dropped for would-be detectives to try to solve it themselves. Alice is presented as light-skinned with red hair, and Violet is depicted with very pale skin and blond hair. VERDICT Simultaneously wholesome and somewhat ghoulish, this murder mystery is fun for children seeking an eccentric detective novel.-Nicolette Pavain

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024
Grades 4-7 In this first book in the Alice England mystery series, readers meet precocious Alice, who has a very peculiar existence for a 12-year-old: she lives in a funeral home that's been in her family for generations. Her father, the embalmer, lets her take charge of the cosmetic aspects of corpses, and her close work with the deceased and a slight limp have made her an outcast at school. Another outsider, Violet Devenish, wears gloves and a veil to school because she suffers from a severe allergy to UV light. Though initially at odds, Violet and Alice slowly become friends. When Violet's uncle dies under mysterious circumstances, Alice suspects foul play, and she convinces Violet to help her investigate. Harrier has crafted an intriguing mystery with a clever resolution, and a slight supernatural element to the plot adds to the engaging atmosphere. As Alice becomes a formidable antagonist against ridiculous adults, both she and Violet grow in emotional maturity, and while this mystery concludes satisfyingly, there's plenty of room for more stories in subsequent series installments.

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Starred review from January 15, 2024
An Australian girl who works in a funeral home hopes to solve a murder. Eighth grader Alice, who has muscular atrophy of one leg, loves to help out at her family's business, Tranquility Funerals. She assists with aesthetic services--"the beautification of the corpse"--and she's perplexed that anyone finds that odd. Alice also has a secret ability: Sometimes a body's accessories are "resonant," and they tell her a story about the owner's previous life. It's unsurprising that Alice has no friends. While she's perfectly happy being friendless, she's equally unbothered when a protective teacher matches her up with bullying victim Violet, who has a rare and extremely dangerous sunlight allergy called solar urticaria. Soon after, Violet's uncle George is found dead on the pier where he worked, and Alice has a resonant moment while helping to prepare his body. She's convinced he was murdered and ropes Violet in to her investigation. There are so many suspects! Was it George's widow, the rough teens who gather under the pier, the overwrought security guard, the sender of an anonymous note, or the terrifying celebrity allergist? Alice possesses a precocious vocabulary, tends toward pedantry, is obsessive to an extent that annoys her new friend, and struggles with empathy and tact ("Tact meant concealing your curiosity"). But they do make an excellent team, Alice finds she appreciates having Violet in her life, and readers will have fun getting to know them. Most characters read white. A series opener that introduces enjoyably quirky tween detectives. (Mystery. 9-12)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2024
Twelve-year-old Alice enjoys helping her father prepare bodies for viewings at the Tranquility Funeral Home, and she intends to take over the business when she's grown, even if the kids at school call her "Alice in Zombieland." Alice makes a new friend, Violet, whose allergy to sunlight prompts the kids to call her "Violet the Vampire"; when Violet's uncle George dies of the same allergy, Alice's ability to read "resonances" from the belongings of the dead tells her that George's death wasn't an accident. Alice begins to investigate, and her polite but dogged sleuthing begins to uncover answers. Does the death have to do with the older teens partying under the dock where George died -- among them Cal, whose willingness to stand up for Alice and Violet against the bullies makes him a kind of ally? Alice's neuroatypical presentation (her blunted affect, sensitivity to overstimulation, and precise thought processes will find a sympathetic audience from readers on the autism spectrum) at one point causes a rift in her nascent friendship with Violet, leading to a reassessment and reconciliation that will ring true with many readers. The characters and community of Damocles Cove are brightly painted in this solid middle-grade mystery with lightly handled supernatural aspects, a potential headliner to a welcome new series. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 31, 2022
In Ash Harrier’s debut middle-grade novel, The Deadly Daylight, 12-year-old Alice England helps her father dress corpses in the family funeral home. She finds that certain personal objects are ‘resonant’: they allow her to see key moments from a deceased person’s life. One such object leads her to believe that her classmate Violet’s uncle did not, in fact, die of natural causes. With a reluctant Violet in tow, Alice sets out to discover the true circumstances of her uncle’s death. As well as being a charming mystery, The Deadly Daylight also functions as a sweet and gentle lesson in empathy and difference. Both Alice and Violet have a physical disability—Alice’s leg was damaged in utero and Violet is allergic to sunlight—but, refreshingly, Harrier does not approach this as something to be overcome. While their disabilities are central to the girls’ characters, Harrier does not suggest the pair are inspirational for simply living their lives. The girls succeed not because of, or despite, their limitations, but because they are clever and inquisitive; this is disability representation as it should be. The Deadly Daylight is an engaging novel with a full cast of larger-than-life characters, and even I didn’t pick the bad guy! Harrier sets us up nicely for the next book in the series, and readers will be left wanting more. Hannah Gardiner has been a bookseller since the pre-Titlepage era, and currently works as a book buyer.

January 1, 2024
Twelve-year-old Alice enjoys helping her father prepare bodies for viewings at the Tranquility Funeral Home, and she intends to take over the business when she's grown, even if the kids at school call her "Alice in Zombieland." Alice makes a new friend, Violet, whose allergy to sunlight prompts the kids to call her "Violet the Vampire"; when Violet's uncle George dies of the same allergy, Alice's ability to read "resonances" from the belongings of the dead tells her that George's death wasn't an accident. Alice begins to investigate, and her polite but dogged sleuthing begins to uncover answers. Does the death have to do with the older teens partying under the dock where George died -- among them Cal, whose willingness to stand up for Alice and Violet against the bullies makes him a kind of ally? Alice's neuroatypical presentation (her blunted affect, sensitivity to overstimulation, and precise thought processes will find a sympathetic audience from readers on the autism spectrum) at one point causes a rift in her nascent friendship with Violet, leading to a reassessment and reconciliation that will ring true with many readers. The characters and community of Damocles Cove are brightly painted in this solid middle-grade mystery with lightly handled supernatural aspects, a potential headliner to a welcome new series.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)