Mel Pennant and Natalie Marlow - A Murder for Miss Hortense and The Red Hollow

We are delighted to announce that we have Mel Pennant joining us here at The Heath Bookshop to discuss her debut novel A Murder for Miss Hortense. Mel will be in conversation with returning author Natalie Marlow, author of Needless Alley and The Red Hollow. 

All books are Birmingham based so we're particularly excited about this event!

Mel and Natalie will be in discussion for around an hour. There will then be a book signing afterwards. 

MEL PENNANT is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She graduated in 2014 with an MA in Screenwriting from the London College of Communication. In 2013, she won the Brockley Jack Write Now 4 award with her play, No Rhyme, and was involved with the Tamasha Theatre Company--writing for the Barbican Box. Mel has written audio plays with Tamasha and the National Archives and, in 2018, she was awarded a place on the Hachette X Tamasha scheme for aspiring playwright novelists. She lives in London with her family and their dog, Bleu, and is currently writing another mystery novel starring Miss Hortense.

A Murder for Miss Hortense: 

Retired nurse, avid gardener, renowned cake maker and fearless sleuth Miss Hortense has lived in Bigglesweigh, a quiet Birmingham suburb, since she emigrated from Jamaica in 1960. She takes great pride in her home, starching her lace curtains bright white, and she can tell if she’s being short-changed on turmeric before she’s taken her first bite of a beef patty.

Thirty-five years of nursing have also left her afraid of nobody, be they a local drug dealer or a priest, and an expert in deciphering other people’s secrets with just a glance.

Miss Hortense uses her skills to investigate the investments of the Pardner network – a special community of Black investors, determined to help their people succeed. But when an unidentified man is found dead in one of the Pardner’s homes, a bible quote noted down beside his body, Miss Hortense’s long buried past comes rushing back to greet her, bringing memories of the worst moment of her life, one which her community has never let her forget. It is time for Miss Hortense to solve a mystery that will see her, and the community she loves, tested to their limits.

Praise for A Murder for Miss Hortense:

‘Miss Hortense is sharper than Poirot, tougher than Vera and a better cook than Columbo! It's Murder She Wrote as you've never seen it before’ SIR LENNY HENRY

‘What a read! This is more than a cosy crime mystery, from the brilliant Miss Hortense and Blossom, and the rich history of their lives, it’s the story of a community, one I hope I get to visit again soon.’ Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

Natalie Marlow is a working-class writer who was born and still lives in the West Midlands. After completing her MA in Crime Writing at the UEA, she began her PhD at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has taught Creative Writing both at Birkbeck and De Montfort University in Leicester. So far, she has been unable to shake off her life-long obsession with hard-boiled detective fiction and film noir. Natalie is a keen urban walker and collects vintage sewing machines. She lives in Warwickshire.

The Red Hollow:

A dark and atmospheric 1930s-set crime novel, starring private detective William Garrett, following on from the critically acclaimed Needless Alley.

Warwickshire, 1934.

Deep in a hamlet in the Warwickshire countryside, Red Hollow Hall is a male-only sanitorium run by the charismatic psychiatrist Dr Moon. However, all is not well, and Dr Moon's patients are leaving Red Hollow in droves.

Recent disturbances, which originally appeared to be pranks, have descended into something more sinister, and now the men believe they have a malevolent visitor - the mermaid of Red Hollow. The ghost of a murdered girl, they believe the mermaid wreaks bloody revenge on unsuspecting men each time the hamlet floods.

When Private Enquiry agent, William Garrett, and freshly minted detective, Phyll Hall, are called in to uncover the identity of the intruder, they become trapped in a world of madness, the occult, and grisly murder. A world where William must use all his strength to differentiate between the real-life monster haunting Red Hollow Hall and the monsters of the mind.

Praise for The Red Hollow:

'Superbly researched, spine tingling, and magnificently atmospheric.’

Abir Mukherjee, author of The Shadows of Men

‘Runs like a movie in your head and leaves its greasy fingerprints all over your memory' Val McDermid

We now have a hearing loop at the bookshop. Please get in touch if you would like to use it and have front seats reserved.

See you there,

Catherine & Claire