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
Read an excerpt
News reporter, Libby Frobisher, is ambitious. Working for the Tidehaven Observer has been fun, but she has her sights set on bigger and brighter things. What’s more, over the last year or so she’s had the excitement of helping her friend, Janie Juke, solve a couple of mysteries and discovered she has quite a knack for teasing out the truth. So when she hears about a three-day conference on women’s rights, to be held at Sussex University, she’s grabs the chance to attend. Who knows what opportunities it might present?
But there’s one big problem. When she sits behind the wheel of her Mini, Libby is frozen with fear. And at this point in the story she is about to embark on a journey that turns her worst nightmare into a reality…
Libby stood outside Falmer
House hoping the chilling breeze would cool her flushed cheeks. She had said
more than she’d intended, passing judgement on people she barely knew. She felt
particularly bad about her verbal attack on Will. He had chosen a different way
of life, nothing wrong with that. In some ways Will made Libby think of her
dad, who she had met for the first time when she was three years old. Later,
when she was older, she discovered he had had what some might describe as a
chequered past. He was in her life for a short time before heading off to
Greece. Over the ensuing years she had the occasional letter from him, but knew
very little about how he led his life out there. Perhaps he was in one of the
communes that Will had described. More than anything Libby hoped he was happy.
She still dreamed that one day she would turn up and surprise him. His little
Primrose all grown up.
Now,
feeling embarrassed about her outburst, she was grateful at the thought that
the police would soon arrive to take control, leaving her and Janie to be
nothing more than interested bystanders. The truth was that helping Janie to
solve past mysteries had given Libby a taste for the intrigue, seeking clues,
gathering evidence, analysing motives. Despite herself she reflected on what
she had blurted out earlier. Of all of them it seemed Bryony was the most
innocent. Yet she knew from experience it was often the quiet, seemingly
innocent people who had the most to hide. Bryony had run out of the dining
room. Perhaps this was the moment to follow her, catch her on her own and ask
her a few pertinent questions to discover if she really was as shy and innocent
as she appeared to be.
She spotted Bryony in the distance on the far
side of the car park. There was no mistaking her as she was still wearing the
denim jacket she had worn since her arrival on campus. She had even worn it
during last night's supper. Yes, the classroom was cold, but the refectory
hardly warranted a coat to be worn. The evening before Bryony said she had seen
John driving off. Could it be that having a cigarette wasn’t the only reason
for her being out there?
As Libby
walked towards the car park, she watched Bryony get into a pale blue Austin.
Bryony had given the impression she had little money, and yet it seemed she had
enough to own and run a car? Admittedly, the car had more rust on it than
paintwork and was likely even older than Libby’s Mini, so it wasn’t such a
stretch to think Bryony could afford it.
Libby
watched Bryony pull away before slipping into her own car and setting off in
pursuit. Bryony’s old Austin proceeded slowly enough, a relief to Libby who
would never have been able to cope with a fast speed. She smiled to herself as
she thought of what Janie would say. Something along the lines that Libby was
the least likely driver to mount a car chase.
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: www.isabellamuir.com
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