The Nine Night Mystery by Sharna Jackson
Aug. 5th, 2024 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Last night Wesley and his friends Josephine and Margot threw their neighbour Rachel a surprise birthday party.
This morning Rachel is dead. And Wesley is the one who finds her body.
Rachel’s friends throw a traditional Caribbean Nine Night celebration to help guide her soul to the next world. But Wesley, Margot and Josephine don’t have time to mourn Rachel. They are determined to find out what has happened - and what secrets Rachel was keeping …
A brilliantly sharp and funny whodunnit that will keep you guessing till the end, from the queen of twisting murder mysteries.
It’s after THE GOOD TURN and the Easter holidays have started.
The Copseys (also known as Wesley, Josephine and Margot) are helping Wesley’s mum Ella to organise a surprise 40th birthday for their neighbour Rachel. Margot has arranged for Rachel’s friends to come and surprise her - Lauren Roberts (a masseur), Hazel Wilson (Rachel’s landlord who also owns a stables), Whisper (who goes to an IBS clinic with Rachel and Wesley’s mum) and Apollo Fortune (a director and playwright) - but when Rachel arrives all three Copseys can tell that something’s off. The vibes between Rachel and her friends seem strained and it isn’t long before Rachel’s called time on the party to go to bed. But the next day, when Wesley stops by Rachel’s place to do an errand for his mum he finds Rachel dead in bed.
At Whisper’s suggestion, everyone who was at the party gathers together again over 9 nights to help Rachel’s soul into the next world. This gives the Copsey’s time to investigate what happened to her, because it’s clear that Rachel was keeping secrets from everyone and the Copseys want to know if someone killed her because of them …
Sharna Jackson’s mystery sequel for readers aged 9+ is an emotionally sophisticated affair that deals with grief, regret and betrayal in a way that the target readership can relate to. The 9 night structure gives the Copseys plenty of scope to dig into the suspects, including Wesley’s mum which lends tension and the mystery itself is more about Rachel herself than her death. All in all it’s a solid read and I’d check out Jackson’s other books.
I picked this up without realising that it’s a sequel to THE GOOD TURN so I wasn’t familiar with how the Copseys had first come together or what the background to their relationships were. To be fair that was on me - I should have checked before picking up the book - but the publishers have not opted to put anything on the cover that makes clear it’s a sequel (other than a small picture of the cover of THE GOOD TURN on the back cover). Jackson does do a good job of setting things out so the lack of catch up exposition is not a massive deal, but it does seem to feed in during some later chapters involving the relationship between Wesley and his mum so having it would have been useful.
What makes this book stand out from the increasingly crowded mystery market for readers aged 9+ is that it is less of a whodunnit (in fact you find out very early on what actually happened to Rachel) and more a case of digging into who the victim is. I found that really interesting because Jackson does a really good job of having the Copseys dig into each of Rachel’s friends and the nature of their relationship with Rachel, each time uncovering facets of her past and background that lead them closer to answers. Also good is the fact that much as Wesley objects to it, they also have to treat his mum as a suspect as well, which means Wesley has to think about their relationship and also makes some discoveries that he did not want to make.
The relationship between the Copseys themselves is well done. Wesley is shown as being creative, artistic and someone who takes responsibility while also having a bit of a superstitious streak. Margot is confident and curious and not above some mild deception (including deceiving her father) while Josie is the peacekeeper between the two and also a planner. Jackson gets the mix of tension and friendship between the three of them just right and I believed in them and their investigation.
There’s a lot of sadness within the book as Rachel’s story emerges, which gives the book a lot of emotional depth. I enjoyed how Jackson maintains a sense of the supernatural with flickering lights and other phenomenon suggesting Rachel’s ghostly presence, although Jackson also leaves open the fact that this may just be because Wesley is already spooked.
All in all, this is an emotionally sophisticated read that goes more to character than it does to mystery but is no bad thing because of it. In fact, if you have a younger reader who is a little jaded with the genre, they may well enjoy the fact that this is different. I would definitely go back to read THE GOOD TURN on the strength of this story and I look forward to reading Jackson’s other work.
The Verdict:
Sharna Jackson’s mystery sequel for readers aged 9+ is an emotionally sophisticated affair that deals with grief, regret and betrayal in a way that the target readership can relate to. The 9 night structure gives the Copseys plenty of scope to dig into the suspects, including Wesley’s mum which lends tension and the mystery itself is more about Rachel herself than her death. All in all it’s a solid read and I’d check out Jackson’s other books.
THE NINE NIGHT MYSTERY was released in the United Kingdom on 6th June 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
This morning Rachel is dead. And Wesley is the one who finds her body.
Rachel’s friends throw a traditional Caribbean Nine Night celebration to help guide her soul to the next world. But Wesley, Margot and Josephine don’t have time to mourn Rachel. They are determined to find out what has happened - and what secrets Rachel was keeping …
A brilliantly sharp and funny whodunnit that will keep you guessing till the end, from the queen of twisting murder mysteries.
It’s after THE GOOD TURN and the Easter holidays have started.
The Copseys (also known as Wesley, Josephine and Margot) are helping Wesley’s mum Ella to organise a surprise 40th birthday for their neighbour Rachel. Margot has arranged for Rachel’s friends to come and surprise her - Lauren Roberts (a masseur), Hazel Wilson (Rachel’s landlord who also owns a stables), Whisper (who goes to an IBS clinic with Rachel and Wesley’s mum) and Apollo Fortune (a director and playwright) - but when Rachel arrives all three Copseys can tell that something’s off. The vibes between Rachel and her friends seem strained and it isn’t long before Rachel’s called time on the party to go to bed. But the next day, when Wesley stops by Rachel’s place to do an errand for his mum he finds Rachel dead in bed.
At Whisper’s suggestion, everyone who was at the party gathers together again over 9 nights to help Rachel’s soul into the next world. This gives the Copsey’s time to investigate what happened to her, because it’s clear that Rachel was keeping secrets from everyone and the Copseys want to know if someone killed her because of them …
Sharna Jackson’s mystery sequel for readers aged 9+ is an emotionally sophisticated affair that deals with grief, regret and betrayal in a way that the target readership can relate to. The 9 night structure gives the Copseys plenty of scope to dig into the suspects, including Wesley’s mum which lends tension and the mystery itself is more about Rachel herself than her death. All in all it’s a solid read and I’d check out Jackson’s other books.
I picked this up without realising that it’s a sequel to THE GOOD TURN so I wasn’t familiar with how the Copseys had first come together or what the background to their relationships were. To be fair that was on me - I should have checked before picking up the book - but the publishers have not opted to put anything on the cover that makes clear it’s a sequel (other than a small picture of the cover of THE GOOD TURN on the back cover). Jackson does do a good job of setting things out so the lack of catch up exposition is not a massive deal, but it does seem to feed in during some later chapters involving the relationship between Wesley and his mum so having it would have been useful.
What makes this book stand out from the increasingly crowded mystery market for readers aged 9+ is that it is less of a whodunnit (in fact you find out very early on what actually happened to Rachel) and more a case of digging into who the victim is. I found that really interesting because Jackson does a really good job of having the Copseys dig into each of Rachel’s friends and the nature of their relationship with Rachel, each time uncovering facets of her past and background that lead them closer to answers. Also good is the fact that much as Wesley objects to it, they also have to treat his mum as a suspect as well, which means Wesley has to think about their relationship and also makes some discoveries that he did not want to make.
The relationship between the Copseys themselves is well done. Wesley is shown as being creative, artistic and someone who takes responsibility while also having a bit of a superstitious streak. Margot is confident and curious and not above some mild deception (including deceiving her father) while Josie is the peacekeeper between the two and also a planner. Jackson gets the mix of tension and friendship between the three of them just right and I believed in them and their investigation.
There’s a lot of sadness within the book as Rachel’s story emerges, which gives the book a lot of emotional depth. I enjoyed how Jackson maintains a sense of the supernatural with flickering lights and other phenomenon suggesting Rachel’s ghostly presence, although Jackson also leaves open the fact that this may just be because Wesley is already spooked.
All in all, this is an emotionally sophisticated read that goes more to character than it does to mystery but is no bad thing because of it. In fact, if you have a younger reader who is a little jaded with the genre, they may well enjoy the fact that this is different. I would definitely go back to read THE GOOD TURN on the strength of this story and I look forward to reading Jackson’s other work.
The Verdict:
Sharna Jackson’s mystery sequel for readers aged 9+ is an emotionally sophisticated affair that deals with grief, regret and betrayal in a way that the target readership can relate to. The 9 night structure gives the Copseys plenty of scope to dig into the suspects, including Wesley’s mum which lends tension and the mystery itself is more about Rachel herself than her death. All in all it’s a solid read and I’d check out Jackson’s other books.
THE NINE NIGHT MYSTERY was released in the United Kingdom on 6th June 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
