Miss Hortense emigrated from Jamaica to Bigglesweigh, a suburb of Birmingham, in 1960, and for a long period of time since then was a key member of the Pardner, an investment fund for a few of her friends and neighbours. It was up to Hortense to ensure that the investments of the scheme were for good businesses, to support the community. But then can the incidents of Bone Twelve, a terrible time that drove what seemed to be the end of her association with the Pardner.

But now Hortense finds herself revisiting those times, when the dead body of an unidentified man is found in one of the Pardner member’s homes. Next to the body is a piece of paper with a Bible verse, something that echoes the past incident, the worst moment of her life – or so she thought…

Well, this is an odd one. The Amazon tagline has Sir Lenny Henry claiming it’s “Murder She Wrote as you’ve never seen it before”. That’s true, but as it differs in so many ways, you could just as easily say the same thing about Curtain by Agatha Christie.

This is a murder mystery set amongst the Windrush generation, which, to my embarrassment, I know very little about. I had the same sense of visiting the unknown as I did when I read A Mumbai Murder Mystery. Yes, that was set in a different country, but setting it in a culture that I have basically no experience of makes it just like reading an historical mystery. There’s not just new people to meet and a new crime to investigate, but a new world to discover.

Mel Pennant, the author, paints this world very well, and Miss Hortense is a fascinating creation. More than just a sleuth, she’s also an instigator of events, and a protector of her community and the reader is never quite sure of her motivations.

Where I struggled with this one is the sheer volume of important characters, both in the past and present. I needed a checklist to keep everyone straight but didn’t make one so I had to keep flicking back to remind myself who was who. My brain, just so writers know, can hold about ten characters – that’s it – so if you could aim for that, I’d appreciate it. Or put a dramatis personae at the front.

All in all, a really interesting read and a very different piece of crime fiction – as much a story about a community itself as the people in it. Definitely worth a look.