A Novel Murder by E. C. Nevin

Though the book follows various characters in third person present omniscient, we mainly stick with Jane Hepburn. She's a mystery author. Or, at least she's trying to be. Neither her agent nor her editor have gotten in touch with her lately. And, of all indignities, Jane's name isn't on the list of authors at the book festival she's attending. She ends up having to buy her own ticket in. 

Once there, she starts talking with Abi Edwards, her agent's assistant. But Abi soon runs off and Jane is left to her own devices. Somewhat out of character, she decides to sneak into the book tent so she can move all of her books into a more prominent position. It hasn't worked in the book stores she's tried so far but maybe this will help. Instead, she gets tossed into a real life murder mystery when she discovers the dead body of her agent.

Thought we never see the agent on page, we are given a lot of information like the fact that she was not well liked by any number of people so it may be hard to narrow down the suspects.

Jane finds herself in an interesting position - working with friends to solve the murder. She, in fact, actively hinders the investigation a couple of times which is not a favorite trope of mine. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out June 17, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor as well as NetGalley

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