A young girl has disappeared and there are similarities to previous disappearances. Retired librarian May Morrigan decides to help a local journalist uncover what has happened.
A Most Unusual Demise by Katherine Black was originally published in paperback and ebook format back in 2023, the audiobook is now available. I really was surprised at how much I enjoyed listening to this story, helped immensely by the brilliant narration from Jonathan Keeble. The story is definitely cosy crime and the opening chapter sets the scene perfectly; a quaint English village, a retired librarian, and set around a bookshop. Everything comes across as old-fashioned and twee - until you get that final sentence and you sit bolt upright, your attention grabbed.
May Morrigan has retired from working at the British Library and now owns a bookshop in a sleepy village. She shares her home with her best friend Fletcher. Fletcher is a larger-than-life character, in more ways than one, and is just one of the wonderful characters that pepper the story. The important thing about May is that she doesn't suffer fools gladly, as we learn pretty early on in the story. Woe betide anyone who upsets her, or any of her friends, as May will seek revenge.
The disappearance of a teenage girl is being investigated by Fox, a young journalist. He believes that the girl was targeted via an online game and the case has links to previous murders, including a friend of his. When May, Fox and Fletcher join forces they are able to uncover a suspect and it becomes a race against time to save the missing girl.
It is the slightly dark, slightly twisted take on cosy crime that hit the mark for me with this audiobook, along with the mix of eccentric characters. I'll certainly be checking out the sequel, A Most Malicious Messenger.
A Most Unusual Demise by Katherine Black is available in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Bloodhound Books Audio for a review copy.
Armed with an art history degree from the University of Texas (Hook 'em, Horns!) she worked in the arts in the UK and Europe before chucking it all in for the glamourous life of a stay at home mom. When she decided to pursue her dream of writing crime fiction, she completed an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at the University of East Anglia. Her first novel, written as part of the MA, placed third in the Yeovil Literary Prize. Re-titled as A Most Unusual Demise, that story is published by Bloodhound Books and is the first in The Most Unusual Mysteries series. You can read more of May & Fletcher's adventures in A Most Malicious Messenger. The series was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association's New Blood Dagger in 2024.
Katherine's novel, Lufkin, Texas (unpublished), was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association's Debut Dagger in 2022.
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