A Mystery by E. C. Nevin
An Underdog Heroine You’ll Root For
Protagonist Jane Hepburn may be a bit of a late bloomer, but she’s easy to love. Still grieving her recently deceased mother, whose words continue to guide her, Jane feels like she has no one in her corner. She’s feeling overlooked and a little defeated. She’s written six mystery novels, which have been published, but they haven’t sold well enough to give up her day job. She’s close to throwing in the towel.
She heads to the Killer Lines Crime Fiction Festival, hoping to drum up interest in her latest book. But even her own agent doesn’t seem to have time for her. She sneaks into the book tent after hours and takes it upon herself to move her books to a more prominent place on the display table. That’s when she stumbles upon the body of her agent, Carrie Marks.
Rather than retreat, Jane takes a page from her fictional detective, DI Baker, and begins to investigate. Along the way, she gains some much-needed friends, builds confidence, and uncovers secrets. But the case is baffling. There was no shortage of people who had a problem with Carrie Marks, but did any of them have the means, motive, and opportunity?
The pace is leisurely, but that’s fine. Not every plot needs to move at a breakneck speed, and it never dragged.
A Novel Murder is not exactly a closed-circle mystery because the characters are not trapped at the festival, but there is time pressure since they must solve the murder before the attendees (suspects) leave.
It was fun to watch Jane come into her own, and I hope this is the start of a series. I’d love to see where she goes next.
I received this advance reader copy of A Novel Murder from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Title: A Novel Murder
Author: E.C. Nevin
Publisher: Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor
Publication Date: June 17, 2025
Pages: 352
EAN/UPC: 9780593803004
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Fiction
Publisher’s Description
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 aren’t just on the page.
In the quaint English town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have congregated to celebrate all things bookish and murderous. Author Jane Hepburn is determined to make her time at the Killer Lines festival worthwhile. This is her chance to change her fortunes and make her fictional Private Detective Baker a household name. And if she has to resort to sneaking into the book tent after hours to rearrange some books so hers are front and center, so be it.
But when Jane encounters the dead body of renowned (and reviled) literary agent Carrie Marks, the festival takes on a decidedly different tone. Joined by Carrie’s newest client, debut novelist Natasha Martez, and the agency’s hapless intern, Daniel Thurston, Jane decides to put her fictional sleuthing skills to use in the real world—she’s going to solve the murder. But the list of suspects is long: seemingly everyone at the festival has a motive to kill Carrie, and the more Jane and her new friends investigate, the closer they come to a dangerous truth—one that’s stranger than fiction.
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