Debut
This charming, funny book, set in present day London, follows the adventures of Jane Pye and Simon Mash, a dating couple who decide to take a detective class at their local learning center. (To a US reader, this will translate as a community college course.) Jane is between jobs, aka unemployed, and while Simon is working, he’s still willing to go along with Jane on her lark, which started with a book on detection that proved only too inspiring.
As a final assignment, the teacher (and working private eye) Gavin, assigns each team in the class a case to be solved. He gives the only unsolved case to Jane and Simon, and, as it later becomes clear, it’s one he himself has been frustrated by for decades. Jane and Simon plunge right in, going to interview the witness, Dev, whose girlfriend has vanished. The only problem is that the police don’t believe she ever existed as Dev doesn’t have a photo of her, she doesn’t seem to be a voter, be on National Health, or have a passport or driver’s license.
Jane and Simon do the best they can though, but as they are new to the job, they have yet to become very proficient at detection. However, Jane finds the sleuthing life preferable to the grind of the series of job interviews she has with a gambling app company. The pair’s interview with Dev and a later stakeout in the woods yields few results, as does a meeting with a local ghosthunter. In an extremely troubling pattern, it turns out that Dev’s missing girlfriend has the same name (and appearance) as several other women who have disappeared throughout the decades. These mystery women would form an attachment, then vanish, never be seen again.
The dead ends only make Jane ever more determined to crack the case, and, to the astonishment of Gavin, she and Simon edge ever closer to a solution. Working a parallel path, he never seriously expected the newbies to uncover the answer to the mystery.
That solution, when it comes, is achieved through genuine detective work and keen deduction on Jane’s part, with the story adding on delightful sidebar characters, like the retired policeman, the goth librarian, Simon’s mum and her cougar pals, and even Dev himself, who seems to ultimately be getting over his presumed breakup with the missing woman.
This is more of a detection/adventure story than a classic murder mystery (there’s no murder for one thing) as well as a humorous take on the private eye novel, millennial style. I came to be quite fond of Jane and Simon, fretting about their relationship, and rooting for them to beat Gavin to the solution. Thankfully, all ends well in Adventureland, with a nice set up for the next installment. I can only imagine Jane and Simon will get better at detecting with time – but not too much better. I find watching them try to figure things out like us regular folks is way more relatable! — Robin Agnew