The Case of the Imaginary Detective

'Fowler's light touch and sly witare a delight'Sunday Times A young woman's search for the truth about her father's past . . . When Rima Lanisell loses her father to cancer, her godmother Addison's Californian seaside mansion provides a strange and fascinating refuge. Not only is Addison's place littered with dolls' houses replicating the murder scenes from her world-famous mystery novels, but it is also home to one or two misfits....
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'Fowler's light touch and sly witare a delight'
Sunday Times

A young woman's search for the truth about her father's past . . .

When Rima Lanisell loses her father to cancer, her godmother Addison's Californian seaside mansion provides a strange and fascinating refuge. Not only is Addison's place littered with dolls' houses replicating the murder scenes from her world-famous mystery novels, but it is also home to one or two misfits. There's Tilda, the New Age former alcoholic; her ne'er-do-well son, Martin; Addison, herself, who was once close to Rima's father. And lurking somewhere in their midst is the imaginary detective - Maxwell Lane - who has a spellbinding appeal for his many, obsessive fans.

As Rima comes to terms with her grief and tries to understand the relationship between Addison and her father, so she and her new housemates become involved in a mystery of their own . . .

Praise for KAREN JOY FOWLER and The Jane Austen Book Club

'We defy you not to fall head over heels for this lovely novel'
Mail on Sunday

'If I could eat this novel, I would' Alice Sebold