A Notable Omission by Isabella Muir
A 1970s debate on equality is overshadowed by a deadly secret...
Spring 1970. Sussex University is hosting a debate about equality for women. But when one of the debating group goes missing, attention turns away from social injustice to something more sinister.
It seems every one of the group has something to hide, and when a second tragedy occurs, two of the delegates – amateur sleuth Janie Juke, and reporter Libby Frobisher - are prepared to make themselves unpopular to flush out the truth. Who is lying and why?
Alongside the police investigation, Janie and Libby are determined to prise answers from the tight-lipped group, as they find themselves in a race against time to stop another victim being targeted.
In A Notable Omission we meet Janie at the start of a new decade. When we left Janie at the end of The Invisible Case she was enjoying her new found skills and success as an amateur sleuth. Here we meet her a few months later, stealing a few days away from being a wife and mother, attending a local conference on women's liberation to do some soul-searching...
About the author
Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences of family life in southern England in past decades – specifically those years from the Second World War through to the early 1970s. Researching all aspects of life back then has formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. It was during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing when Isabella rekindled her love of writing fiction and since then she has gone on to publish seven novels, six novellas and two short story collections.
This latest novel, A Notable Omission, is the fourth book in her successful Sussex Crime Mystery series, featuring young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. The early books in the series are set in the late 1960s in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, where we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories – in particular Hercule Poirot. Janie uses all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. This latest novel in the series is set along the south coast in Brighton in early 1970, a time when young people were finding their voice and using it to rail against social injustice.
As well as four novels, there are six novellas in the series, set during the Second World War, exploring some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters.
Isabella’s love of Italy shines through all her work and, as she is half-Italian, she has enjoyed bringing all her crime novels to an Italian audience with Italian translations, which are very well received.
Isabella has also written a second series of Sussex Crimes, set in the sixties, featuring retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, who is escaping from tragedy in Rome, only to arrive in the quiet seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, to come face-to-face with it once more.
Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia – again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.
Find out more about Isabella and her books by visiting her website at: www.isabellamuir.com
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As part of the blogtour I have the pleasure of being able to share an extract of the book.
It’s been a roller-coaster couple of years for Janie Juke. Not long after marrying her sweetheart, Greg, she found herself taking on her first case as an amateur sleuth, tracking down her close friend, Zara. Two more mystery cases later and Janie has discovered a taste for solving crimes and mysteries. What’s more she’s very good at it. But now Janie is a mother as well as a wife, with their precious daughter, Michelle, just three months old.
In ‘A Notable Omission’ Janie decides to take a few days off from her responsibilities, joining her friend, Libby, to attend a three-day conference on women’s rights, being held at Sussex University.
In this extract from the novel we find Janie doing a spot of soul-searching…
On the drive back to the university Janie took the opportunity to mull over her thoughts. When she agreed to join Libby for the weekend conference, she hadn’t really considered the content of the debates. It was the idea of a few days away, a breathing space, which had convinced her to take up Libby’s suggestion. She and Greg had been arguing for a while. No, in truth it was more of a series of heated discussions. He accused her of being constantly diverted from her role as wife and mother. She retaliated, saying she believed she had the potential to be so much more.
‘Aren’t we enough for you?’ was Greg’s plea.
‘It’s not a case of giving up one thing to make space for another,’ she said. ‘You don’t get it, do you?’
Since her Aunt Jessica had returned from Europe she and Janie had enjoyed many conversations about Jessica’s travels. The more Janie heard, the more she reflected on her own life.
‘We’ve lived such a small life,’ she told her husband. ‘Come on, tell me. Where have we been? Even our honeymoon was spent no more than twenty miles from Tamarisk Bay.’
‘What, so now you wished we’d flown off somewhere? Some package holiday to Lloret de Mar, where we sit on a beach, get burned to a cinder, and come home with a toy donkey as our souvenir? And what about your dad? I thought you didn’t ever want to be too far away from him?’
Since Philip Chandler’s accident had left him blind he had learned to live a full and independent life. Janie’s mother had left soon after, announcing she was sorry, but she wasn’t cut out to be a nursemaid. Philip retrained as a physiotherapist and was loved and admired by a host of grateful patients. And Charlie, one of a succession of guide dogs, was Philip’s constant companion. Nevertheless, alongside her job looking after the mobile library, Janie called in most days to check on her dad, taking care of any paperwork, making sure the fridge was well stocked and the place was clean and tidy. It was a responsibility she took on wholeheartedly, one that gave her pleasure, but now Jessica was around Janie wasn’t needed quite so regularly.
It was as if an opening had appeared in a previously impenetrable forest. A forest she was ready to explore and Libby’s press cutting presented the perfect first step. The last year or two, since Zara’s disappearance, Janie’s relationship with her husband had swayed more than a little. If their marriage could be likened to a seesaw, what had been in balance when they first married, was now constantly shifting. Her love for Greg hadn’t diminished. […]
But it was as if there were different segments in Janie’s brain, that needed different types of food. Her reading fed one part, conversations with her dad another. Each time she held her daughter close, or had a kiss from Greg when he came in from work, she felt comforted and secure. But she had become increasingly aware there were other parts of her mind she needed to feed. Listening to the passion in Clem’s voice when she spoke about women’s rights, hearing Alison talk of equality, the same pay for the same work done, had sparked something in Janie. She could imagine what it would be like to study here at the university, and now there was this new concept of an Open University. Her mind raced ahead,imagining where it could all lead. A change in career, perhaps. Or a career per se, something with a chance for progression, promotion. The library van was a special place, she loved chatting to her customers, helping them find just the right books for themselves and their families.
[…] Here at the university Janie was surrounded by the potential for learning, filling her with a sense of the possible. Building work was continuing across the site. Becky had mentioned there was to be a new research centre, and a building to house ground-breaking development in educational technology. But it was the main university library Janie longed to investigate. It was closed for the Easter break, but Janie could imagine the shelves, laden with books on every subject. A place where she could happily lose herself for hours, days.
Yet, despite all that, there was an irony. She had come to the conference thinking it would give her space to think, away from all responsibilities. And now, in the midst of all her thoughts, she was presented with yet another mystery. Another missing person.
