With a prickly protagonist who is difficult to warm to, this whole book felt like a particularly difficult jigsaw. It seemed to take ages until I felt like I was getting anywhere, until in a split second all the pieces were just falling into place. Definitely worth sticking with as the payoff is excellent.

Agatha Dorn isn’t particularly easy to like at the beginning. A grammar pedant, gin aficionado (at points, to her detriment), and a lowly archivist at the small, under-funded Neele Archive, a library of rare manuscripts and first editions in London. When she comes across a previously undiscovered manuscript of the Golden Age author, Gladden Green - modelled on Agatha Christie - she becomes an overnight sensation, giving her the long-awaited recognition she feels she deserves. That is, until it’s discovered it’s a fake. All of a sudden, the attention she’s been so long seeking turns negative and unwelcome, and she hides away after being fired from her job.

Agatha has a difficult relationship with both her mother, who needs some personal care that Agatha is not especially inclined to give, and her brother, who is a highly-trained, highly-paid consultant surgeon working from Harley Street, and with whom she’s always had a bit of a distant relationship. Throughout her life, she’s also been tormented by someone she calls the Crooked Man. When she starts investigating the death of her friend Murgatroyd (Amy), she’s convinced she sees this man, but how, when he’s only a figment of her imagination? She’s never told anyone about him, so who is this person?

By the end of this book, I loved Agatha. She’s clever, resourceful, determined and, although drunk for a lot of it, digs up plenty of information and clues to get to the answers. Despite the plot becoming a bit convoluted towards the end, it was beautifully done and left me feeling quite satisfied as I’d had no idea ‘whodunnit’ - just like Agatha! I hope this is just the first in a series, as I’d love to read more a
Agatha. She’s brilliant!

Agatha Dorn is no sweet and innocent but she does believe in finding out the truth. Having been summarily dismissed from her job after publishing a fake manuscript she is beaten but not down and out.
The bodies pile high but Agatha is on the case. The only thing that might stop her is the Crooked Man.
By turns hilarious and spooky this turns out to be a cracking read. Another cosy mystery for sure but I like the way it pokes fun at the genre whilst also managing the serious and highlighting the horror story that childhood can be.
Looking forward to hearing more about Agatha Dorn.

Agatha, the main character in this cozy-mystery-like story that pays homage to the Golden Age, is not the sweet and lovely character that you can usually find in cozy stories.
She's self-centered, selfish and ready to play dirty but she's also the child who was ignored by her abusive mother, now affected by dementia.
It's a story about a manuscript by an author that made me think about Ms Christie and references to other author of the Golden Age of Mystery
There's some very poignant moments, a lot of humour, and a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
The description of AGatha's working environment are very funny.
Agatha is well character, a clever and lonely woman who has to fight to solve the mystery.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to read other story featuring this cantakerous character.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Shenanigans Aplenty..
Agatha Dorn’s life is about to take a wholly unexpected turn in this quirky, unpredictable and completely engaging whodunit. Discovering the presumed lost manuscript by the goddess of Golden Age Detective fiction is merely the tip of a very precarious iceberg. Shenanigans aplenty, a cast of eccentric and eclectic characters and a maniacal plot laced amply with Golden Age references complete a wonderfully readable and satisfying package..

Usually you want to like the main character, but I didn't like her at all and I really didn't care what happened to her as she probably deserved it. I would recommend making her a bit more amiable as I wouldn't be interesting in reading other books with her.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Hmmm, I found this very heavy going at first, but there is a great story here if you stick with it. It’s a bit muddled in places and could do with a good edit in my opinion. The main character is unlikeable, which is not a good start, but the story does draw you in. A lot less of the crooked man would make it better I think, as this makes the book stray into the supernatural (which it isn’t). Cut a third of the prose away and you would have a decent story I think. So sorry, but I wasn’t really a fan of this book, although the idea was genius.

3.25*

In this standalone mystery we meet Agatha Dorn, a cantankerous archivist, grammar pedant, gin afficionado and murder mystery addict. When she discovers a lost manuscript by Gladden Green (Agatha Christie coded), the Empress of Golden Age detective fiction, Agatha's life takes an unexpected twist and overnight fame. This newfound fame takes a nosedive when the novel is exposed as a hoax, and when her ex-lover turns up dead, with a scrap of the manuscript by her side, Agatha suspects foul play.

Agatha turns detective to uncover the sinister truth that connects the murder and the fraudulent manuscript but to do so she has to uncover family secrets and most importantly stay sober for long enough to investigate.

This was a solid mystery story that has obvious great affection for the Golden Age of crime whilst remaining modern, current and also very very bookish which I really enjoyed. The story and mystery as a whole was inventive with a 'denouement' that I didn't see coming which was a great surprise.

I didn't however like the character of Agatha. She is designed to be an outsider and prickly - a mix in my mind of Sally Diamond (Strange Sally Diamond) and Eleanor Oliphant (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine), unfortunately for me she leaned more towards Eleanor (a book I really disliked) than Sally (a book I loved). I found her lacking an empathetic interior that allowed me to see beyond that stiff and difficult exterior. I think if you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant then this characterisation will work for you but sadly it didn't for me.

Despite that I found the story to overall be an engaging and fun read. There's some memorable supporting characters and I did like how we got to know more about Agatha as the story unfolded. Readers of cosy mysteries and classic crime will likely enjoy this and I was glad that we had a fully self-contained story that was resolved in an engaging, twisting and satisfying way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press | Pushkin Vertigo for a digital review copy of "The Mystery of the Crooked Man" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

A little bit about the plot
Agatha Dorn, Archivist with a taste for gin, haunted by her past, exposed as putting out a fake manuscript, investigates a baffling murder.
My thoughts
Agatha is an unlikeable character at the start, distancing herself and avoiding issues to do with family and friends. Yet over the course of the novel I found myself being endeared towards her – you really see why she is the way she is and all the trials she has to go through. I thought in fact the whole novel could have worked if it had been about Agatha’s inner journey to gain insight into herself and her life, but then it develops into a quirky crime novel.
The plot was a little bit bizarre and sometimes it is on the implausible side – then again this is a quirky sort of a cosy crime book so this is what you expect. Agatha fancies herself as a sleuth in a golden age detective novel she so loves. I couldn’t work out her reasoning for her actions at times, but I was carried along with the plot and when it all came together, it was gripping. I didn’t guess the murder until the very end alongside Agatha, which is the mark of a good murder mystery in my book.
The missing manuscript saga seems to have found inspiration from Agatha Christie – including her whole disappearance story with Gladden Green going missing for ten days, even Gladden’s husband is called Archie. The sleuth in the Gladden novels is called Flambeau too, which reminds me of the Father Brown crime mastermind. The book reminded me a little bit of the character Professor T, working out past issues alongside the crime. Overall this book was character led and offered something different with a retro feeling about it. 4.5 stars

'The Mystery of the Crooked Man' by Tom Spencer.

Meet Agatha Dorn, cantankerous archivist, grammar pedant, gin aficionada and murder mystery addict. When she discovers a lost manuscript by Gladden Green, the Empress of Golden Age detective fiction, Agatha's life takes an unexpected twist. She becomes an overnight sensation, basking in the limelight of literary stardom.
But Agatha's newfound fame takes a nosedive when the 'rediscovered' novel is exposed as a hoax. And when her ex-lover turns up dead, with a scrap of the manuscript by her side, Agatha suspects foul play.
Cancelled, ostracised and severely ticked off, Agatha turns detective to uncover the sinister truth that connects the murder and the fraudulent manuscript. But can she stay sober long enough to catch the murderer, or will Agatha become a whodunit herself?
At first I didn't think I was going to enjoy this because I didn't find the Agatha (the main character) very likable. But as the book went on I started to enjoy it. I didn't see the ending coming so that was a good surprise.
I think if you're a fan of cosy crime then you will enjoy this.
Thanks to NetGallery UK, the publisher and the author for letting me read a copy in return for an honest review.