Heartwarming and fun: A crime sequel for everyone
Nancy Business, by RWR McDonald (Allen & Unwin, $32.99)
Reviewed by Greg Fleming
RWR McDonald’s debut The
Nancys was the surprise winner of the Ngaio Marsh best first novel award last year, the judges calling it ‘‘a story that blends crime and humour in unexpected ways’’.
Nancy Business shares those qualities and will also appeal to readers, young and old, of smart, modern YA fiction.
McDonald returns to the same small, fictional town of Riverstone (based on his hometown of Balclutha), and reunites Tippy Chan with her wealthy Uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon, who are visiting from Sydney. It’s the beginning of the school holidays and Tippy is allowed to stay with them at their shabby Airbnb which smells ‘‘damp and funny, a bit like cat pee in a dryer’’.
The Nancys – an amateur detective team driven by Tippy’s love of the mysteries of Nancy Drew – are back.
The novel opens with the family marking the first anniversary of Tippy’s father’s death in a strange car accident. (Although this can be read as a stand-alone, having the read the first novel is an advantage.)
It’s a death that has always perplexed Tippy because he was driving on a straight road with no other traffic, and she still has no idea where he was going. Although outwardly OK, she is still processing the loss.
As well as sleuthing and following clues, Tippy also has to deal with some adult-sized issues up close when Pike’s and Devon’s relationship hits some rocky patches; Devon is not the happygo-lucky character he was in the debut. McDonald is adept at folding difficult issues like this into an otherwise bubbly and fastmoving narrative, full of jokes and wry, camp-filled banter.
And then a bomb goes off – literally. The blast kills three people and destroys the Town Hall and, while a disgruntled local is quickly blamed, Tippy has her doubts.
Melbourne-based Kiwi author McDonald is carving himself out a unique space in the crime fiction genre.
While he pokes some gentle fun at the artificiality of the cosy construct, he again delivers a compelling mystery with a refreshing diversity of characters and perspectives. It’s not often you get to use ‘‘heartwarming’’ to describe a crime novel, but it’s apt in this case. And, to the delight of McDonald’s growing fan-base both here and in Australia, the final pages suggest there’s a new case needing The Nancys’ attention.
This review was first published on Kete and is reproduced with kind permission.