A Murder of Magpies

Prior to now, social historian and journalist Judith Flanders has been a non-fiction writer, but here she jumps into a contemporary mystery set in the publishing world of London. Sam (short for Samantha) Clair is a 40-something-year old book editor for Timmons & Ross and feels content with her life, even though it's a bit on the routine side. She edits primarily "women's literature" except for one client who writes juicy tell-all pieces about the fashion world. When Kit misses a luncheon meeting to discuss promoting his newest book, Sam is worried; Kit never misses a meeting. When she gets a visit from Inspector Field from the CID about a hit and run killing of a messenger who was to deliver Kit's manuscript to her, she gets really worried and starts investigating on her own. Well, not quite. It is Field's investigation, after all, and her dynamo of a barrister mother, Helena, also decides to help out. Sam is clearly in someone's sights who wants to stop publication of the book that suggests there were a lot of shady financial dealings going on in a certain fashion house.  As time passes, Sam is more and more certain that Kit is dead, but she does not give up. Offering snarky one-liners, she uses her contacts and her smarts to figure out what the police haven't, and almost gets killed for her trouble. Very readable with interesting characters, and of course almost anything set in England draws me in. I will definitely keep an eye out for future work.