High rise mystery

Sharna Jackson, High rise mystery, Knights of, August 2023, 256 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781999642518

If you’re looking for something like Only Murders in the Building, or Death in Paradise, for readers aged 11 to 13, then High rise mystery by Sharna Jackson would be a great place to start.

Nik and Norva (I have to suspect that the names are a deliberate nod to the old Nick and Nora mysteries) are sisters living in a rundown high-rise building in London, and everyone’s sweltering in the summer heat. Tempers are running high, and when the body of Hugo Knightley-Webb turns up, there are plenty of suspects. Including, Nik and Norva are horrified to realise, their Pap, who had a very loud fight with the victim not long before he was last seen alive.

11-year-old Nik is the logical one, determined to follow the facts and tabulate the clues, while her older sister Norva is the dramatic one with a personality larger than life. Between them, they’re one heck of a team.

High rise mystery is a solid murder mystery full of interesting and diverse characters, and just the right balance of pace and misdirection. The setting is a strong element, and the social issues associated with the council estate community and building, as well as how it’s regarded by the police and the media, make for an interesting undercurrent throughout the story.

This book is definitely one for readers in early secondary school, or late primary school, between the way Nik and Norva discover the body and the hints of sexual relationships among the adults that Nik and Norva uncover as they look for reasons why someone might have killed Hugo. These elements are kept subtle enough that a young reader might skate over them, and the story balances between wit and grit in ways that keep things moving, and kept me invested in finding out what happened next.

High rise mystery is going to be one to make young detectives sit up and take notice, and I’m looking forward to seeing what mysteries Nik and Norva tackle next.

Reviewed by Emily Clarke

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