Created by Emily Schultz
In her first recorded case, Sleeping With Friends (2024), party gal and editor (for a small indie NYC press “just large enough to have health coverage”), AGNES NIELSEN functioned more as an amateur sleuth, assaying to solve the attempted murder of one of her best friends—in between social engagements.
But in the second novel in the “Friends and Enemies” series, Brooklyn Kills (2024), she turns pro. Ot sorta.
The viral notoriety she gained from cracking that case leads to a job offer from Derek Anand, the owner of a downtown high-rise. He wants Agnes to investigate the death of one of his tenants, wealthy art gallery owner and heiress to the Bosch pharmaceutical family fortune Charlotte Bond, who jumped (or was she pushed?) from the balcony of her twentieth floor condo. Just by coincidence, she also happened to be another close friend of Agnes.
Agnes is reluctant, at first, but she’s soon convinced, and soon enrolls in an online master class on private investigation on YouTube, hosted by Jacob Kroll, “private eye to the stars.”
Will Agnes become an actual professional detective, or will she remain an admittedly gifted amateur? That remains to be seen.
But anyone expecting a tough, gritty hard-boiled detective are bound to be disappointed. These books are cozy all the way, loaded with with meticulously drawn characters, gathering of suspects, some deliciously dishy and razor sharp observations and some absolutely fabulous parties. Brooklyn Kills even opens with a “Guest List” of characters.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Schultz is the cofounder of Joyland Magazine, and her writing has appeared in Elle, Slate, Evergreen Review, Literary Hub, CrimeReads, Vice, Today’s Parent, Electric Literature, and the Hopkins Review. Previous novels include Little Threats and The Blondes. She lives in Brooklyn. .
NOVELS
- Sleeping With Friends (2024) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Brooklyn Kills Me (2024) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
