A Pie & Mash Mystery Series

Struggling sleuths Simon and Jane realize that a murder mystery weekend might not have been the best way to unwind in this winning whodunnit from the authors of The Pie & Mash Detective Agency.

Trainee private investigators Simon and Jane are under a lot of pressure. Their relationship is increasingly tense, and for some reason, nobody seems eager to hire a detective agency with so little experience. To raise their spirits, Simon books them into an English country estate for an immersive murder mystery weekend.

Shortly after checking in, every guest discovers a note in their room which spoils the ending to the mystery. Then, before dinner is even served, the actor playing the butler mysteriously disappears. His predecessor died in a freak accident the week before. In fact, every actor who’s taken on the role has either disappeared, quit, or died. Nervous cast members are starting to call it The Butler’s Curse.

Luckily, The Pie & Mash Detective Agency are on the scene. Will they crack the case of the “curse”? Finish the murder mystery they paid several hundred pounds to play? And possibly even solve their first murder?

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.