A Special Interest in Murder

A brilliant neurodivergent female sleuth colliding with an FBI agent with a secret. A crime that is not all it seems. A page-turning, red-herring-filled murder mystery, perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.

Ada Latia is twenty-four years old. She used to be the youngest millionaire in the cosmetics industry. She used to be married. Now, she spends her time studying ways to communicate with aliens. After all, aliens could not possibly be more cruel or deceitful than other humans.

Ada's spiteful ex-husband Rex believes autistic people like her are monsters, so she's not surprised when he calls her to share a clickbait article gleefully shouting that one autistic child has killed another at a special school in Idaho.

Rex just means to hurt her, but when Ada reads the article, it's not the lies about autism being fake that catch her eye: it's a disturbing photograph of the dead child. The image of the girl is perfect - too perfect. As if someone has committed a murder, and then carefully staged the scene to cover it up.

Ada reports her suspicions to the FBI, and the case crosses the desk of her old classmate Henry Bloodstone, who invites her to assist him. Ada's not a trained investigator. It's painful for her to come up against situations she's not an expert in. She barely remembers Henry, even though it's clear that he remembers her. But the death is a mystery - and Ada, who counts murder as one of her special interests, has never learned to let a mystery go.

Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 09/02/2025
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.60w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781448316434


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/23/2025
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2025
Booklist 09/01/2025

About the Author
Harrison, Mette Ivie: - Mette Marie Ivie (who writes as Mette Ivie Harrison) is best known for The Bishop's Wife series of adult mysteries set in Mormon, Utah. She also previously published numerous young adult fantasies, including The Princess and the Hound. She has stepped away from Mormonism and went through a difficult divorce. She was diagnosed with autism in 2017. She holds a PhD from Princeton University and works at a financial firm as a licensed security trader. She enjoys triathlon and knitting/crocheting. She is the mother of six children.