Miss Understood and the Case of the Missing Locket

 

Miss Understood and the Case of the Missing Locket is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Melissa G. Wilson. Released 16th March 2025, it's a compact 170 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a simple and lightly engaging cozy aimed at middle grade readers, and although fun, it's not entirely problem free. The descriptive prose is full of "telling" and very little "showing". Character does A, then B, then C, and felt D. Instead of integrating the information organically into the narrative. Additionally, the titular main character (and the main PoV of the book) is an adult, a teacher... it's supposed to be a book mostly aimed at a younger audience. The story is supposedly set in the modern day (references to cars, cell phones, computers, etc) but *REALLY* feels anachronistic and reads like a historical novel. For example, Miss Understood moves to take a job as a teacher in a one room schoolhouse. Are there any one room schoolhouses anymore? 

It's very very very repetitive. The author beats a point into submission, and then repeats it for emphasis at the end of each chapter. She repeats the process (with different statements) throughout the book. There are a number of relatively large continuity glips (a field trip to the same place for the first time, and then again, for the first time), clues to the mystery are left by a ghost whom the author hasn't introduced for a large chunk of the book, character names which aren't consistent (Ashley then Lily, then Ashley again). It's an indie publication, so the editing process is different compared to trad-pub process, but it definitely would have benefited from a more thorough editing process. 

Three stars. It's the first book in a series, so potentially worth a look to see how the characters develop.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.