Who would decide to murder someone in the middle of a crime fiction festival? After all the place is full of writers who specialize in mystery, thriller, and suspense, not to mention all their avid fans. One would think that would be a place to refrain from mayhem in case all those creative sorts might put their heads together and figure out whodunit. But the killer didn't take that into consideration, because well-known literary agent Carrie Marks is found dead in the middle of the book tent with the Killer Lines prize dagger through her chest.
Jane Hepburn, author of a series of books about Private Detective Baker, only wanted to make sure her books were noticed. She certainly didn't plan to discover a body or team up with a debut author and the young intern of the deceased agent to solve the murder. But after all, WWBD? (What would Baker do?) So the three new friends begin to investigate and the more they talk to the other festival attendees, the more they realize nearly everyone had a reason to hate Carrie Marks. There are the other agents who were competing for the accounts of best-selling authors, the authors whom Carrie had turned down and even publicly denigrated, the former assistant whose career Carrie had sabotaged with lies about her abilities, a best friend she had betrayed... The festival may not last long enough for them to even have time to talk to everyone.
Jane is a relatable character who works as an administrative assistant by day and spends the evenings in her lonely apartment typing up Baker's latest case. She is frustrated by the lack of support from her editor, resents having to pay her own way to the festival, and doesn't seem to have many friends or social skills (unlike her fictional heroine). The descriptions of the festival with the author panels, lines for autographs, the rather lame escape room experience, and undercurrent of cut throat competition between the agents make a good setting for the inexperienced trio to corner suspects and try out their theories.
It will be interesting to see if Jane makes another appearance to try out her fledgling skills on a different case. This one kept revealing just enough to make readers see the plausibility of each suspect before a new clue would come to light and send Jane and company scrambling to put the pieces together in a different way.
I read an advance copy provided by the publisher for review purposes through NetGalley.
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