Narrated by self-styled 'pre-teen' Ajuba Benson, this story is intriguing from the very beginning. It opens with a scene from a 'traditional' British Christmas - carol singers arriving at a house and being invited in for mince pies by the family. "That was the last time I saw Polly alive," Ajuba then tells us.The story then unfolds in a series of flashbacks and flash forwards. Ajuba is born in Ghana and educated at a Devon boarding school after her parents' divorce and her mother's subsequent suicide. Ajuba's mother had been suffering from mental illness for some time prior to her death and told Ajuba that her father may try to turn Ajuba against her mother. Shortly after Ajuba's arrival at the boarding school, they are joined by another 'foreginer' - American Polly Venus. Polly and Ajuba become fast friends and Ajuba is soon caught up in Polly's home life.Invited to stay with Polly's family for weekends and holidays, Ajuba is soon treated as one of the family. Her position as something of an outsider and her own experiences with her mother enable her to sense things that the rest of the family cannot. It is this sense of foreboding that hangs over the novel - precipitated by the opening scene and perpetuated by Ajuba's own growing sense of disquiet.This is a story of things done for love and how love and jealousy can lead to tragedy. Viewed through the eyes of a child, who believes that her own actions precipitate events and that she could and should have done more to stop things happening.I was enthralled by this tale and the characters it contained. Ajuba's history was intricately woven into her present circumstances so that both her personal history and the main plot reached their conclusions at a similar time. The air of mystery as to what exactly happens to Polly, how and why was enough to keep me glued to the pages. I would certainly recommend this to others as an unputdownable read.Waterstone's Book Circle

My initial impression of this book was that it was like a darker version of an Enid Blyton story. A group of girls at boarding school form a supportive network of friends and embark on a murder mystery adventure. All the elements are there such as reading banned paraphernalia under the covers and secret meetings in a makeshift hidey hole on the school grounds. This story has a modern element though. Divorce wouldn't have been an option for Blyton's lone parents, more likely there would have been a tragic death of a spouse but in this story, we see the effect of the fallout of marriage breakdown on the girls who must turn to each other for support.Ghanaian Ajuba's mother has disappeared and her father has sent her to an English boarding school but she struggles to accept his new, young girlfriend. Polly Venus seems to have the perfect family but all is not as it seems. Polly is the dominant female of the group who soon fall under her influence, mesmerised by her apparent worldliness and her introduction to them of her favourite magazine, True Murder, which gives the novel its title.While dressing-up one afternoon, the girls discover the bones of a baby and decide to investigate by interrogating various suspects using tips from the magazine - another Blyton-esque element. This part of the story is really a sub-plot with the shocking disintegration of Polly's family taking centre stage throughout most of the novel.I quite liked this story but I think it would appeal more to teenage girls.Waterstone's Book Circle

This is a portrayal of love and of obsession. A young Ghanaian girl, Ajuba, makes friends with Polly Venus, a new girl at her English prep school, and is drawn into Polly's glamorous family. The mystery at the centre of the book - the girls' discovery of skeletons in the attic - isn't the real heart of this novel; much more important are the relationships between members of the Venus family and Ajuba's own background. The novel is narrated by Ajuba, now an adult looking back on events, and for me the novel was hard to get into because I found the style a little stilted. The mystery element did keep me reading; although we know something about how the novel will end from the first chapter, tension is sustained because we don't know how events will unfold, and the very end does present a convincing, if not fully realised, twist. The idea of foreboding doom is built up throughout, with lots of hints and references to guilt, responsibility and generally bad things happening. Ajuba also has 'visions', giving her insight into events which occur, and this supernatural element wasn't very convincing to me. I also have to admit to not being convinced by, and therefore not very interested in, several of the characters. This is, however, a good read as a picture of pre-pubescent friendship and obsessive, dysfunctional love. Waterstone's Book Circle