Ruby Redfort #5: Pick Your Poison

Happy endings are for fairy tales, bozo. Or so says Ruby Redfort: undercover agent, code-cracker and all-round genius. And right now she knows there’s a lot to lose sleep over in Twinford. Happy endings seem a long way off. First, there are the snakes and the deadly bivalves (that is, molluscs). But they aren’t half as poisonous as the rumours flying round town. With so many twists and turns it’s hard to know who to trust. Especially when you’re Ruby, which means no one trusts you back…

• The fifth book in Lauren Child’s barnstorming series

• Wisecracking sleuth Ruby Redfort is a true one-off

• A cheeky send-up of the hardboiled detective genre

• “The coolest girl hero in years” – The Times