My Family and Other Suspects
Kate Emery
My Family and Other Suspects
Kate Emery
Ruth is not thrilled to be spending the weekend at the family farm visiting the ancient GG, her coolly distant step-grandmother. With no internet or phone coverage, Ruth occupies herself by re-reading old Agatha Christie novels, eavesdropping on the adults, and definitely not daydreaming about her sort-of-cousin Dylan.
But when GG dies under suspicious circumstances, Ruth's dull weekend turns into an enforced-family-holiday-slash-possible-murder-investigation - and she's not about to let the police get in the way of her chance to solve a real-life murder mystery. With Dylan as the Watson to her Holmes, Ruth soon discovers that plenty of people had reasons to be rid of GG, and her list of suspects grows to comprise everyone in the house. Including, in the interests of fairness, herself.
Review
Angela Crocombe
This debut novel set in an old farmhouse in a remote locale in Western Australia is the perfect combination of murder mystery and funny-awkward romance. Ruth and her extended family have been staying at her step-grandma’s house for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. Also among the family is Dylan, who Ruth definitely has a crush on, although for the last six months she has known he is her half cousin (it’s complicated). Then there is her dad, and her two aunties and their boyfriends: Nick, who spends the entire novel in hospital, and Shippy, who suspiciously spends a lot of time absent. And of course, there is the actual murder (or was it?) of her step-grandmother GG, who died in her bedroom from a head wound. The reason murder is suspected is because her bedroom window was found smashed open with a ladder up against it. The murder weapon? A typewriter.
Ruth and Dylan, of course, bypass the cops and attempt to solve the mystery of GG’s murder themselves. Everyone who has been in the house is a suspect, including them. With a wacky cast of characters, including extended family, neighbours and a hitchhiker, the plot is engaging and fast paced. Ruth has a delightful, self-deprecating voice that is constantly breaking the fourth wall to address the reader with little asides.
For fans of Karen M. McManus and Enola Holmes, this is a highly entertaining murder mystery that will be enjoyed by readers aged 12+.
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