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The Pie & Mash Detective Agency
by J.D. Brinkworth
Truthfully, I thought I would like this more than I did. The first 60 kept my interest because it was very funny in spots. However, if I had to deal with either one of these goofballs in real life there would probably be at least one actual murder. If you look at how busy and cluttered the cover of this book is that is a good indicator of the storyline as well. Nobody in this book had good sense and that includes the private detective teaching the class and the police detective who was a secondary character. It took me several days to finish this book because I kept putting it down to read something else. To top it all off the conclusion was kind of ridiculous. Maybe the two authors of this book should consider writing comedy or maybe I was just not the right audience. If you are an actual mystery lover this may not be for you.

Mystery with Jane Pye and Simon Mash, a young couple taking a private detective class. Their assignment is to solve the case of Nellie Thorne, a woman reported missing by her boyfriend Dev Hooper. They soon find out that there have been several missing Nellie Thornes over the years. The case has become a legend, local police believe it is all a hoax. The book shifts between present day and back many years to when the class instructor, Gavin worked the same case. All the characters in this novel are eccentric and funny. There are some minor scenes of danger, but they add to the fun. Incompetence pays off and the case is solved. Charming fact, the author, JD Brinkworth is the pseudonym for a duo. They have both graduated from an online detecting course.

Please understand that I have been a lover of mystery novels forever. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys hooked me at 9, Agatha Christie was my obsession at 13 and ever since I have followed my favorite crime solvers all around the world through every form of the mystery genre...cozy, historical, classic, romantic, supernatural, noir, legal and more. I love long series following my characters throughout their lives and dread when the last book is announced. Also, I spent my entire career as a teacher of literature and writing helping children find the love of words and writing words from within themselves. All this background info about my reading life is just to explain why it is so difficult for me to write this particular review. Criticism of someone's words does not come lightly to me. So please do not take my words as a criticism but as the words of an editor desiring to help shape and improve. The novel had an interesting concept that never felt edited. It wandered and rambled endlessly until suddenly there was a sprint towards a big reveal which felt very familiar. The characters were one dimensional stereotypes with no background, no future and unlikeable. If the author purpose was to write "tongue firmly in cheek" , they achieved that goal. I am left wondering how this book made it so far in a genre I love. What am I missing?

A cute, fluffy sort of cozy mystery. The plot seemed a bit all over the place, and I really had a hard time liking the main characters. Well, I liked the premise of the book, I'm not sure. I'll search out the rest of the series to read.

The characters in the mystery are interesting and quirky; I enjoyed "meeting" them. The mystery was clever enough, but the book's draw lies in the personalities the author created. The British slang was sometimes hard to "get," but I enjoyed the read.

The Pie and Mash Detective Agency promises an oddball couple solving mysterious disappearances, but delivers a cluttered mess instead. Jane and Simon investigate multiple missing women named Nellie Thorne for their PI class, but the central mystery gets buried under scattered subplots: Jane's job search, Simon's mom and her friends' problems, an overeager librarian, a detective writing bad fiction. The investigation drags them across multiple locations with little momentum. Some of the dialogue lands, but the author seems more interested in quirky character beats than building a compelling mystery. The payoff doesn't justify the setup, and the whole thing reads unfocused. It's passable if you want a light cozy mystery, but don't expect the "delightful" story the blurb promises.

Wanna-be sleuths, Pie and Mash, are also a cute couple who are not fully in love with their respective careers. When they decide to take a course on becoming detectives, the fun ensues. The book started slow and it took a bit for this reader to become engaged with the quirky characters and the , at first, complicated plot. However, soon the plot began to come together and the characters became more developed and interesting. The plot was unique, with a dual time-line for added interest. I did not figure out this who-dun-it until the final reveal. This was a fun book for cozy mystery fans.

I was very disappointed in the book and had to force myself to finish it.
The number of characters was confusing and the plot was often senseless. It tried to be funny but it really wasn't. There was no character development at all and certainly no one to identify with.