The Curious Crime

'In a strange, vast and wonderfully imagined museum, an apprentice sculptor and student scientist must solve a murder. Julia Golding has written a gripping helter-skelter story that will keep you guessing and start you thinking.' - Roger Wagner, artist and painterIs curiosity a crime? Ree discovers the unfairness of being a girl in a male-dominated scientific world, where alternative ideas are swiftly squashed.Enter a fantasy island where Phil the dodo and other unusual wild animals roam corridors, great halls and an underground network of passages of a magnificent museum and science academy. Prevented from following her creative passion as a stonemason, Ree is confined to cleaning the halls at night as a maid.But then the murders start happening... A determined scholar Henri and strong-willed Ree join forces to solve the mysteries and prove their innocence.

“"Julia Golding has a great storytelling gift; she writes with inventiveness and brio, telling a tale packed with incident but not skimping on detail and atmosphere." Linda Newbery, author of The Key to Flambards”

Julia Golding has a great storytelling gift; she writes with inventiveness and brio, telling a tale packed with incident but not skimping on detail and atmosphere. -- Linda Newbery, author of The Key to Flambards
In a strange, vast and wonderfully imagined museum, an apprentice sculptor and student scientist must solve a murder. Julia Golding has written a gripping helter-skelter story that will keep you guessing and start you thinking. -- Roger Wagner, artist and painter
A murder, a dodo, a fantastical scientific setting all wrapped up in one mystery. A fabulous read. -- Andrew Briggs, author and professor of nanomaterials at the University of Oxford
The beauty of thought, the wonder of discovery, and the vivid descriptions of the museum are enthralling; all this amid the excitement and tension of a murderer on the loose. A truly wonderful read, and of course I could not escape thinking about our own museum in London, albeit, that is, on a smaller scale. I encourage readers to enjoy the novel and to savour the interview at the culmination of the book. -- Shaun Fitzgerald, director, The Royal Institution
In this mythical alternative history where girls are forbidden to study, Ree and her trusty dodo solve a murder in the science museum. Action-packed with themes from across the history of science, this book is sure to delight young and older readers alike. -- Professor A. A. Louis, Rudolph Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics

Julia Golding is a multi-award winning children’s author who has been awarded both the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. A former British diplomat and Oxfam policy adviser, Golding also has a doctorate in English Literature from Oxford University, and was writer-in-residence at the Royal Institution in 2019. Anavid Jane Austen fan, her Jane Austen-themed podcast 'What Would Jane Do?' offers a 19th century take on modern life. Golding is the successfulauthor of The Curious Science Quest series, The Tigers in the Tower andthe Jane Austen Investigates series.

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