About the Book:
This is the story of how we discovered a dead body, launched an investigation, battled mean girls, feral bats, and nearly destroyed our three-year friendship all in the noble pursuit of solving a complex murder
Mae Flynn is used to the chaos of her rural Irish Catholic boarding school, but she isn’t expecting to discover a dead body in the school kitchen. To make matters worse, the hapless victim, Conor Haddock, was the previous owner of the school building and had recently been talking about selling up, alongside getting on the bad side of seemingly every adult Mae knows. In other the suspects are endless.
Along with her best friends, the self-named Common Criminals’ Club, Mae is determined to solve the murder. But the more she uncovers, the more she begins to suspect that everyone around her is hiding something. Soon it’s not only her lessons and friendships at stake, but her very life . . .
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Alison Weatherby is a YA and teen mystery writer who lives with her family and crazy lurcher outside of Dublin, Ireland. A winner of Chicken House Books’ Open Coop competition, Alison published her debut novel, The Secrets Act, a historical YA mystery set at Bletchley Park during WW2 in 2022. The Secrets Act won the Redhill Academy Trust Book Award for 2023 and was shortlisted for the Young Quills Award.
Alison’s first book in her new upper MG/teen cosy crime series, The Common Criminals’ Club: Death Before Detention was published with Macmillan in June 2026 with the next in the series, School Trip Survival, on shelves in February 2027.
Interview:
Pitch your book in 10 words!
Misfit teens investigate disappearing body at Irish boarding school. (Chaos ensues – 11 words)
What drew you to the boarding school setting? Why do you think it is so effective a setting for teen mysteries?
Our Lady boarding school was loosely based on Kylemore Abbey which is a gorgeous castle-like building in the rugged hills of Connemara. I loved the idea of kids, teachers and nuns alone, possibly with a killer, in this gorgeous mansion of a school.
Boarding schools are fabulous for mysteries because they’re mostly closed environments. You have students, staff and teachers and very few outsiders as suspects, which means you have endless opportunities for twists!
Did you always know the solution to your whodunnit when you started or did the solution change during edits?
I made the mistake of “pantsing” a murder mystery draft with my first book, THE SECRETS ACT*. That book took me 5 years to write as a result. Now I always create detailed outline and synopsis before I start drafting.
DEATH BEFORE DETENTION is a teen book, an age category that is deeply underserved at the moment. What drew you to write for this overlooked age range?
Originally, DEATH BEFORE DETENTION was YA. I was at a school event for 5th and 6th class kids (11-12yos) and their teacher came up to me afterward to tell me that murder mysteries were all these kids wanted to read, but after MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE and a few others, they jumped to the more mature and graphic YA thrillers. I know reading drops off the instant kids go to secondary school (and get phones) and it’s not easy to keep the attention of this audience. I wanted to write a comedy as well, so paired with a tight mystery, I hope this series sticks with kids as they transition into secondary school.
What topics did you have to research that might have put you on a police watchlist?
How luminol works. Stealing luminol. How long it takes for a body to freeze and is this less time if you have a gaping head wound? There were many Google searches about falling from stairs, possible impaling, and how much blood would result.
There is a fair bit of humour in the book. What advice do you have for writers who are trying to balance the funny with the serious (like finding dead bodies)?
There is absurdity in everything and it’s easy to find just about anywhere if you’re looking for it. I found homour was the best way to temper the gore and darkness of murder for a teen audience. Plus, in making the characters as real as possible, it was impossible not to laugh at what they said or did. Real people are funny and weird!
Over the course of the novel Mae is forced to reckon with her perception and treatment of the mean girl character, Lissa and the role she plays in Mae and her friends’ lives. What made you want to explore and subvert this trope?
It’s so easy, especially in school, to label people as “mean” or “snobby”. If a kid is mean or acting out it is usually not because they’re evil. It’s because there’s something else going on that they’re offloading on others. This isn’t easy to see, especially when someone is being mean to you, and Mae works through her feelings for Lissa in this book and in the gang’s next adventure. Friendships are tough and complex when you’re a teen (and adult!) so it was important that Mae and Lissa’s was realistic and not wrapped up in a bow.
Can you give a hint about what we can expect in the next instalment?
In February 2027, the second book, SCHOOL TRIP SURVIVAL*, comes out. In it, the gang goes to the Connemara Survival Centre for a weekend retreat only to be trapped by a red weather warning. Even worse, they’re joined by a boys’ school, a few of whom are part of a local citizen detective group who dig up cold cases. The kids learn there’s a cold case at the survival centre which they discover might not be so cold after all when Mae stumbles onto a dead body in the bog, leaving the Common Criminals’ Club no choice by to investigate again!
Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.
JUST ANOTHER DEAD BOY* by Kelly McCaughrain – A dystopian Romeo and Juliet romance where everyone knows the day they’ll die…but there are twists. Another knock-out YA from Kelly.
Thank you, Alison!
*Affiliate link
#UKYASpotlight 
Leave a comment