Many thanks to Berkley for the invitation to this spotlight tour.
ABOUT THE PIE & MASH DETECTIVE AGENCY
from the publisher
Oddball couple Jane and Simon take a private detective class and must use their (admittedly limited) skills to solve a series of mysterious disappearances in this delightful debut mystery.
Jane Pye and Simon Mash are a millennial couple with a little extra time on their hands. Jane was recently let go from her position as a back-end programmer, having never been quite sure what that meant. And Simon’s career as a corporate collaboration consultant seems to be less collaborating and more scrolling the internet in search of matching velour tracksuits and well-balanced charcuterie boards. When they sign up for a private detective class on a whim, they quickly realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.
Their instructor, having a feeling his two worst students don’t have a chance of solving anything beyond finding the classroom, assigns them the case of Nellie Thorne, a woman recently reported missing. But she’s not the first Nellie Thorne to disappear. In fact, she’s the fifth in fifty years. Jane and Simon set out to solve the case, armed with just a few days of notes, matching trench coats, and a feeling they should have enrolled in a different class. The investigation leads the newly minted Pie and Mash Detective Agency to places they never thought they’d go, including haunted woods, mysterious archives, and, most terrifyingly for Jane, Simon’s mum’s house.
As clues emerge, more questions than answers begin to pile up. What links the missing Nellies? Why do locals think she’s a ghost? Is their teacher hiding something? So what if they’re heavy on heart but light on experience. Jane and Simon are determined to uncover the truth in time to pass the class and save the day.
“A delicious debut!” —Janice Hallett
“A highly amusing debut.” —Kirkus
A “quirky and witty series starter.” —Booklist
“The main characters are a hoot…this introduction to Jane and Simon is hopefully the start of a long series.” —firstCLUE (Book of the Week)
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Monday, April 8-Present Day
Dev Hooper came home from work to find his front door hanging open.
The hallway lights were on, and Nellie’s handbag was missing from its usual spot on the banister.
“Nellie? Nellie!”
She wasn’t in the kitchen, making one of her herby veggie stews. She wasn’t on the sofa reading, or in the bathroom peeing, or hauling laundry from the dryer in the basement.
Dev strode upstairs in his outdoor shoes, shouting: “Nellie? Are you here?”
Don’t be silly, he thought. Yes, it was unlike Nellie to leave the front door open, but everyone makes mistakes. She must have gone out. Dev established that they hadn’t been burgled, as he’d first suspected. The TV was in its right place, and the thick cookbook on the shelf above still had his stash of cash tucked safely inside. Nellie must have taken her handbag and gone out somewhere. No need to panic. He always panicked over nothing.
In the kitchen, he poured a drink over ice, and his hand began to jitter, spilling gin on the counter. He cursed and moved things out of the way-unopened post, some papers, Nellie’s handbag . . . Nellie’s handbag?
“I will of course make a report, Mr. Hooper, but please try not to worry. Many people who go missing turn up within twenty-four hours, with a reasonable explanation. Have you tried her phone?”
“As I said, her phone’s here. In the handbag.”
“Oh, right. So this isn’t like her, then? To go out without her things?”
“No.” In fact, Dev considered how it wasn’t really like his girlfriend to go out at all.
He’d expected flashing sirens on his driveway to throw red and blue light through the hallway, for police radios to buzz and crackle, for the footsteps of the search and rescue team to pound through the house, sounding the hubbub of the investigation opening. Instead, two uniformed officers stood in the kitchen-PC Boughton, who’d cheerily introduced herself on the doorstep, and a large, silent colleague, who hadn’t introduced himself and showed no desire to. He leaned on the countertop behind her, six foot four and silently solid, like a bouncer or a brick wall.
“I’ll need to take some details,” PC Boughton said. Her police hat and strands of strawberry-blond hair framed her freckled face. She pulled a tiny notebook from her vest pocket. “Age?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Sex: female, and, uh-regular address is here?”
“Yes, 36 Shipwell Drive.”
“Are you worried about the missing person?”
“Yes, very!”
My thoughts:
| #ThePieMashDetectiveAgency #NetGalley |
| I knew that I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the cover and title. These made me feel that this book would have some humor along with the mystery itself. |
| I enjoyed getting to know Jane Pie and Simon Mash. They are a couple who are opposites in many ways. Together, they are taking a class on becoming a private detective. One of them seems to take this more seriously than the other but they will both use their skills as they try to solve a complex case with tendrils in the present and past. |
| This title offered an enjoyable read. I hope that it is the first in a series. |
| Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own. |
| Pub date: 10 March 2026 |
| Post first published on 11 February 2026 |
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 