Jane Hepburn always dreamed of a splashy book launch: a proud editor making a tearful speech, piles of books with her name on the cover, friends and family mixing with the crème de la crème of the Literati – London’s literary A-listers. And now – crammed into bookshop-lined alleyway, Cecil Court – she’s at one.

It might not be for her novel, and she might be as known in this crowd as the offside rule in a library, but still, Jane’s happy to celebrate her far more successful friend with free wine and plenty of books.

However, things take a turn for the worse when the editor, far from delivering a tearful speech, is nowhere to be seen. And they really go south after Jane finds the body in the bookshop cellar.  

Jane expected her trip to London to be chaotic, what with navigating the underground and avoiding the living statues, but murder? Now that’s really a turn-up for the books . . .

Jane immerses herself in London’s publishing scene to solve a murder alongside Daniel, Natasha, and a new host of bookish friends and enemies.