Welcome to the Killer Lines Crime Fiction Festival, the place for star writers of the genre to meet their adoring fans. But be careful—this year the murders don’t take place just on the page.
Jane Hepburn is a forty-something mystery author but not a wildly successful one. She wants to make her fictional private detective’s crime-solving abilities known to everyone. In other words, she wants her fiction to be in demand. And she sees her chance at the Killer Lines Crime Fiction Festival in Hoslewit, England. Her plans are to sneak into the book tent after festival hours to rearrange the books so that hers are up front where they will receive more attention.
But she finds way more than she bargained for when she slips into the book tent that night. She finds the murdered body of Carrie Marks, a literary agent. And this isn’t just any literary agent: it is Jane’s literary agent. Jane decides that she must find out who did this horrible thing. After all, she does write mysteries, and her fictional detective always solves the case. This isn’t fiction though: it is real life.
Carrie Marks was loved by some and hated by others, so how difficult could it be to find the guilty party? With the help of her friends Daniel and Natasha, she begins her sleuthing. But she is at a festival for crime writers, and each one has a motive along with the knowledge how to commit a crime and get away with it, at least in a book. Turns out this might be more difficult than Jane anticipated.
Red herrings galore make it a challenge the to figure out just who is responsible, and it was finally revealed in a very tense and exciting way that some of the characters were lucky to get out of alive. The ending was fantastic! I hope this is only the first of many mysteries that Jane Hepburn solves. I want to read them all.
A Novel Murder was a great read, thoroughly enjoyable with lots of humor throughout. I got my ARC copy from Netgalley, and I do recommend this book. If you decide you would like to read this highly enjoyable book, I’ve provided an Amazon link for you below.
Amazon link: A Novel Murder
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Favorite Sentences
Note: I read an ARC of this book, so the below sentences may or may not be in the final copy of the book when published. If they are in the book, they may or may not have had changes made to them.
What good can filling your head with invited horrors do?
Realizing she’d spent two weeks solid without communicating with anyone, other than emailing people about dishwasher insurance, and subsequently finding herself talking animatedly to a pot plant in her living room, pushed her over the edge.
The scene had been horrifying and fascinating in equal measure.
And what was that Detective Inspector Ramos on about, saying someone wouldn’t be killed over a book?
Jane marvels at what depth of emotion can be expressed in one short, wordless sound.
New Words Learned
fauxnonchalance – Faux means not genuine or fake. Nonchalance is a cool indifference or lack of concern. So faux nonchalance would mean a fake lack of concern, pretending to not be concerned when you really are.
satsuma – a kind of mandarin orange
About the Author:
E.C. Nevin is a pseudonym for an ex–publishing professional. E.C. worked for large trade publishers focusing on crime/thriller publishing and established brands. Follow her on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Bluesky.
Below is a link to an inteview with E. C. Nevin you will enjoy reading.
https://www.writersdigest.com/e-c-nevin-done-is-better-than-perfect
