The Busy Body
the instantly gripping whodunnit
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3.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Veep meets Agatha Christie in this wickedly funny murder mystery for fans of Richard Osman and Nita Prose
'A hugely entertaining character who is wry, gossipy and completely compelling. Full of twists and turns worthy of a classic mystery novel' ALEX MICHAELIDES, author of The Silent Patient
'Gripping . . . with a wonderful detective readers will be dying to meet again' SOPHIE HANNAH
'A thoroughly modern, Agatha Christie-esque mystery . . . A delightfully escapist page-turner' KIMBERLY MCCREIGHT
'A wry, whipsmart story. Fast, funny, furious' The Australian Women's Weekly
Meet our narrator: witty, nosy, professional weaver of lies - aka ghostwriter for the rich and famous - and now, lander of The Dream Assignment (that is, a politician's tell-all memoir).
Enter Dorothy Gibson: recently toppled Presidential Candidate, aka that woman, the most talked-about person in the country right now (for the wrong reasons).
Add: an invitation to the middle of nowhere, one well-heeled neighbour dying under Suspicious Circumstances, a secret investigation and an unreasonably beautiful man.
This is a story even our ghostwriter wasn't expecting. And for once, it's all hers.
'Jump on the Kemper Donovan train now . . . The Busy Body is a mystery series for the 2020s, and I can see it being adapted for the big screen' The Australian
'It's buzzy, it's smart, it's such a good time' ABC Radio National's The Bookshelf
'An intriguing whodunnit' New Idea
'A delight from start to finish. If you like Agatha Christie you'll love this' ALEX MICHAELIDES
'A highly entertaining mystery with ingenuity and flair aplenty' SOPHIE HANNAH
'A modern take on classic crime fiction which delivers an addictive mix of Dorothy Parker's waspish wit and Agatha Christie's deft hand at ingenious plotting' Library Journal, Starred Review
'As clever as it is hopeful. Original, captivating, and assured' TAYLOR JENKINS REID (on Kemper Donovan's The Decent Proposal)
Customer Reviews
Cozy enough
Author: American podcaster (All About Agatha).
Second novel.
Setting: Rural Maine, winter. Contemporary.
Narrative: First person narrative by unnamed mid-thirties female protagonist
Precis: Narrator/protagonist is ghostwriter hired to write memoir of other protagonist: a female ex-Senator and recently defeated third party Presidential candidate. Subject invites ghostwriter to stay as houseguest. Next-door neighbour kills herself in the bath. Both protagonists think this is a bit suss, decide to investigate. Big Poirot-style reveal involving all the suspects in a single room.
Prose: Light, easy-to-read. Plenty of pop culture references. Too many IMO. The witty dialogue wears a bit after a while as well. Underwhelming ending. Fans of cozy mysteries may disagree.
Comments: All female cast. Chick-lit style. I presumed the author was female. (Curtis Sittenfeld, Kemper Donovan. Tomato, tomarto, right?) In fact, he’s a gay man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it probably explains why the unnamed narrator sounded a whole lot more like a gay man than a woman to me.