BOOK REVIEW NO: 161
Historical Mystery. Set in the 70’s
Janie Juke Mystery Book 4
Length : 246
Publisher : Outset Publishing Ltd for historical crime and mysteries
SYNOPSIS/BOOK BLURB
A Notable Omission
A 1970s debate on equality is overshadowed by a deadly secret…
Spring 1970. Sussex University is hosting a debate about equality for women. But when one of the debating group goes missing, attention turns away from social injustice to something more sinister.
It seems every one of the group has something to hide, and when a second tragedy occurs, two of the delegates – amateur sleuth Janie Juke, and reporter Libby Frobisher – are prepared to make themselves unpopular to flush out the truth. Who is lying and why?
Alongside the police investigation, Janie and Libby are determined to prise answers from the tight-lipped group, as they find themselves in a race against time to stop another victim being targeted.
In A Notable Omission we meet Janie at the start of a new decade. When we left Janie at the end of The Invisible Case she was enjoying her new found skills and success as an amateur sleuth. Here we meet her a few months later, stealing a few days away from being a wife and mother, attending a local conference on women’s liberation to do some soul-searching…
Purchase Link
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notable-Omission-Janie-Juke-mystery-ebook/dp/B0BQCLRYS6
US – https://www.amazon.com/Notable-Omission-Janie-Juke-mystery-ebook/dp/B0BQCLRYS6
REVIEW ~ NIKI PRESTON ~ 4 STARS
The thing that drew me to A notable Omission was the fact that is was set in the 1970’s. I grew up in this decade and it was great reminiscing about the 70’s and ir reminded jus how much fun it was. Isabella Muir brought this decade to life superbly and it really came to life for me.
The characters are all great, each with their own agenda on this weekend in Sussex University discussing women’s’ equality. It absolutely makes you realise just how hard women had to fight for any level of equality. Clem, organiser has a very poor view of men and the establishment. She hates the police and all things relating to them. The two main characters Janie and Libby, I took to straight away. Especially Janie, she really shone out as a great mind who is trying to expand her life beyond being a mother and a wife.
Isabella Muir’s writing style is no nonsense and she has a fabulous way with words that easily recreates the situations so that you, the reader, feel like you are part of it all. You really feel invested in the plot and want to know what exactly has happened to one character and you hope that Janie and Libby can get to the bottom of everything before something else dastardly happens.
I thoroughly enjoyed A Notable Omission and am drawn to Janie Juke so much so that I will be looking out for more escapades with her.
Just a quick aside, this is book 4 of the series but it definitely works as a stand alone.
Author Bio –
Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences of family life in southern England in past decades – specifically those years from the Second World War through to the early 1970s. Researching all aspects of life back then has formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. It was during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing when Isabella rekindled her love of writing fiction and since then she has gone on to publish seven novels, six novellas and two short story collections.
This latest novel, A Notable Omission, is the fourth book in her successful Sussex Crime Mystery series, featuring young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. The early books in the series are set in the late 1960s in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, where we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories – in particular Hercule Poirot. Janie uses all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. This latest novel in the series is set along the south coast in Brighton in early 1970, a time when young people were finding their voice and using it to rail against social injustice.
As well as four novels, there are six novellas in the series, set during the Second World War, exploring some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters.
Isabella’s love of Italy shines through all her work and, as she is half-Italian, she has enjoyed bringing all her crime novels to an Italian audience with Italian translations, which are very well received.
Isabella has also written a second series of Sussex Crimes, set in the sixties, featuring retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, who is escaping from tragedy in Rome, only to arrive in the quiet seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, to come face-to-face with it once more.
Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia – again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.
Find out more about Isabella and her books by visiting her website at: http://www.isabellamuir.com
With Thanks for Advance copy to…..
Rachel Gilbey https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/
Isabella Muir
Outset Publishing limted
Niki Preston, Book Reviewer, Writer, AKA The Two Fingered Gardener 