Poppy McGowan is the accidental detective in this whodunnit with a difference. In the throes of renovating her small terrace in the inner suburbs of Sydney, her somewhat messed up life is messed up further when a murder is committed in her living room!

First, skeletal remains are found by her builder, and this requires all work to cease until the local council and museum experts can verify what the bones are, and now there’s a dead body to contend with. What else could go wrong? When it is revealed that Poppy and the dead person have had a longstanding feud and had an altercation that same morning, then Poppy is soon on the short list of suspects – the very short list!

Poppy must navigate the police, her ‘ever so slightly overbearing’ family, her current boyfriend, her new attraction to the chief suspect. While Poppy contends with all this, she is also thrown in the deep end with her TV producer boss who wants her to use her inside position to get the story of a lifetime! The author Pamela Hart lets the story unravel through the mind of Poppy and her life. Poppy is a likeable character and through her Hart comments on modern life, politics, religion, and the many social and gender inequalities of our world.

Hart tells Poppy’s story with humour and lightheartedness. Poppy is a believable character living a believable life that many readers will relate to; we are firmly on Poppy’s side. Fans of Agatha Christie and Kerry Greenwood will enjoy this as will fans of the recently released The Thursday Murder Club.

Reviewed by Kathryn Eyre