The Ashton Affair

11-year-old Jan and her friends set up a secret club, go brambling, ride their bikes and practise tracking each other in the woods. Then they find a purpose for their skills of detection - Jan's mum meets an old boyfriend after many years and the children set out to discover whether the couple's meetings are innocent or the threat to her parents' marriage that Jan worries about. The story is supposedly told from a distance of 20 years by the adult Jan - a device which seems pointless as the tone is that of an 11-year-old and there is no direct adult comment. Odd details which do not ring quite true and incidents which lead nowhere flaw this ultimately uneventful but readable book which might be useful for children facing similar worries about their parents' relationships, though the implausibly happy ending could only happen in a book!