The Girl Is Murder

by Kathryn Miller Haines

Overview

Iris Anderson is only fifteen, but she's quickly mastering the art of deception in this YA novel for fans of Veronica Mars.

It's the Fall of 1942 and Iris's world is rapidly changing. Her Pop is back from the war with a missing leg, limiting his ability to do the physically grueling part of his detective work. Iris is dying to help, especially when she discovers that one of Pop's cases involves a boy at her school. Now, instead of sitting at home watching Deanna Durbin movies, Iris is sneaking out of the house, double crossing her friends, and dancing at the Savoy till all hours of the night. There's certainly never a dull moment in the private eye business.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250006394
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kathryn Miller Haines is an actor, mystery writer, and award-winning playwright. Her debut YA novel, The Girl Is Murder, received an Edgar Award nomination and a starred review from School Library Journal as well as from Booklist, who called the book a “smart offering that gives both mysteries and historical fiction a good name.” Kathryn lives in western Pennsylvania with her husband and son and their dogs.

Reading Group Guide

Questions for Discussion

Friendship
One of Iris's big struggles over the course of the book is that she no longer feels connected to her private school friends and yet has no new friends to replace them. Why does Iris stop seeing her private school friends? Prior to the solution of the mystery, do you think she would have resumed her relationship with Grace? How does Iris's friendship with Suze differ from her friendship with Pearl? How do her friendships at P.S. 110 differ from those she had at Chapin?

Self-identity
Much is made in the book of Iris's changing sense of social position courtesy of the family's move to the Lower East Side. What events precipitated this move? In what ways does Iris define herself in terms of money and possessions? Are their instances when she judges others based on what they have or don't have? How does Iris's sense of self change over the course of the novel? In what ways is Iris like kids today? In what ways does she differ?

Family
Iris and Pop are no longer speaking to members of their family when the story opens. How do they form a new family on the Lower East Side? In what ways did the war change the traditional family unit (mothers going to work, Father's overseas for extended periods of time, advent of daycare, etc.)?

Religion
What role does religion play in the Anderson's lives? What was like to be a Jew in the U.S. before World War II? During the war? What knowledge would Iris have in the fall of 1942 of what was occurring to Jews in Europe? Did knowledge about the Holocaust change the way Jews were treated in the U.S.? Why or why not? Why do you think Pop really decided to change the family's name?

Activity: Have students find primary source evidence of anti-Jewish sentiment in the 1940s (political cartoons, newspaper articles, films).

Ethnicity
What would it have been like to be a German in the in the U.S. during World War II? Why did Germans immigrate to the United States in the 19th and 20th Centuries? What other groups do you see being discriminated against in the novel? What groups today face similar discrimination? Why?

What places, other than the Savoy, do you think you would've seen blacks & whites together during the 1940s without restriction? Do you think what occurred in New York would've been occurring throughout the country?

Lying
Iris spends a great deal of the novel lying to her father and to new friends. What are her reasons for doing so? When do you agree with her decisions to lie? When do you disagree? Do you think she's a reliable narrator?

Is lying ever justified?

War & Mortality
The decision to start the U.S. draft is in the background of the story. How does the war change for young people once their peers are the ones being drafted? What might have Tom's outcome been if he had decided not to enlist and had been drafted instead?
Unraveling the Mystery
What clues does the writer provide to help direct the reader toward what really happened to Tom? What is your first hint that there's more to the culprit than meets the eye? Are there moments when you feel like you know more than Iris does? When and why?

Editorial Reviews

Adult mystery author Haines's YA debut is a meticulously crafted slow burn. . . . Haines writes gracefully, immersing readers in Iris's perceptive thoughts, suffering, and transformation. Nuanced relationships and a social climate shadowed by ethnic tension and war result in a compelling reflection on a complex era.” —Publishers Weekly

“. . . the compelling characters, superb setting, and myriad twists and turns will keep readers intrigued till the very end.” —School Library Journal

“Take a powder, Nancy Drew. 1940s girl sleuth Iris Anderson is on the case. A stylish, slang-filled teen noir that is as entertaining as it is absorbing.” —Kirkus Reviews

“What makes this such a standout is the cast. Sounding like they're right out of the 1940s (well, a 1940's movie, anyway), the characters, young and old, pop off the pages. Iris, intriguing and infuriating, captures the tension inherent in the teenage years, no matter what the decade. This joint is jumping.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Iris' story has considerable crossover appeal, enticing both mystery lovers and historical fiction fans, with a cunningly devised plot and a cast of period-specific characters. . . .” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher