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Image of author sitting at white table, wearing blue jeans, white short and colourful headscarft
Mel Pennant
Thu 19 Jun 2025
Cosy Crime with a Windrush flavour – with debut author Mel Pennant
Discussion
Literature
Event organiser:
Truman Books

We are delighted to bring you another debut author, Mel Pennant and the first of a gripping new crime series, starring unforgettable Jamaican sleuth Miss Hortense, which is out on 12th June.

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 been short-changed on turmeric before she’s even 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. A Murder for Miss Hortense is Mel’s first novel and she is currently writing another mystery starring Miss Hortense.

Truman Books

95 Town Street
Farsley
Leeds
LS28 5HX
United Kingdom

53.814451675501, -1.6706552398117

    Date
    Thu 19 Jun 2025
    Show all dates/times
    Thu 19 Jun 2025
    18:30:00 - 20:30:00

    Ticket price

    £
    8
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