Murder on the Safari Star is the third book in the Adventures on Trains series. Now I plan to read the first two and the following books because this book helped me escape reality in no time. I cannot wait! And I’m also a huge fan of trains, and I miss travelling in one! 2021 will be a year of pleasure reading for me, and I want to read more middle-grade books. So this series will be perfect for me.

Murder on the Safari Star manages to be entertaining and informative at the same time. I like how the author mixed in information about South African and Zimbabwean culture to this lighthearted murder story. And I also learned about the yellow mongoose! I didn’t even know about this animal before, and now I’m a fan; they are pretty cute. If you’re looking for a fun and light murder mystery, travel to Africa and learn something on the way; you’ll love this book. Oh and, you’ll immediately love the characters and want to spend more time with them. Enjoy!
If you enjoy M. G. Leonard’s books, check out Twitch as well. It is a new book by the author, and it is full of adventure and animals! I plan to discover more authors writing in this genre, so if you know any, please share with me in the comments section.

Murder on the Safari Star
Join Hal and Uncle Nat as they plunge straight into an exciting mystery – this time while on Safari!
All-aboard for the third amazing journey in the bestselling Adventures on Trains series, Murder on the Safari Star, from M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman, illustrated throughout by Elisa Paganelli.
Harrison Beck and his Uncle Nat are on the journey of a lifetime aboard the Safari Star – a luxurious steam train that will take them from Pretoria to the stunning Victoria Falls. Close encounters with the amazing animals and landscape of Southern Africa are adventure enough, but things get mysterious when a passenger is found dead inside a locked compartment. Is it just a terrible accident or is something more suspicious afoot? It’s up to train detective Hal and his new friend Winston to find out.
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M. G. Leonard
M. G. Leonard is an award-winning, bestselling writer of children’s books for all ages. Her books have been translated into over forty languages. She is currently writing the popular Adventures on Trains series.
She burst onto the literary scene with her quirky debut Beetle Boy, and is now a vice president of insect charity Buglife. M. G. Leonard and her beetles have appeared on Blue Peter, Springwatch Unsprung, Countryfile, Meet the Author with James Naughtie, Sky News, and featured in the BBC documentary, The Bug Couple. A TV series based on the Beetle Boy books is currently in development.
Maya lives in Brighton with her husband, two sons and pet beetles. She spent her early career in the music industry running Setanta Records, an independent record label and managing bands, most notably The Divine Comedy. After leaving the music industry, she trained as an actor, dabbling in directing and producing as well as performing, before becoming a digital producer for Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre and Harry Potter West End.
Maya is one of the founding authors of #Authors4Oceans, with Lauren St John, campaigning to reduce single-use plastics.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges: