The Crime Vault’s August Book of the Month is . . . Death by Numbers by Jo Cunningham!
An uplifting, offbeat mystery set in the perilous seaside town of Eastbourne and introducing Una, a risk-adverse actuary who uncovers a series of mysterious deaths.
Jo Cunningham grew up in Birkenhead and at age eight, as part of a school team, she became Wirral Road Safety Quiz champion after an exciting buzzer round about box junctions. Having peaked, she left the North to work for many years in office jobs to pay the bills while she got to grips with writing comedy novels.
Read below for an exclusive piece by Jo on the inspiration behind Death by Numbers!
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What Inspired Death by Numbers?
Death by Numbers follows Una, a risk averse actuary who uncovers a series of mysterious deaths and must put herself in danger to find the culprit, even if it means losing the no-claims-bonus on her personal injury policy.
In terms of how I came up with the idea for the book and the main character Una, these three elements were an influence.
First, I’d been reading the Dirk Gently detective novels by Douglas Adams. He writes brilliant comic prose, and the mysteries are quirky and unique. I marvelled at the wonderful blend of humour and detective story as a reader, but it also inspired me to try and create my own detective story.
My murder mystery needed a sleuth, but how to find a character that could offer some comic potential? A few years earlier, I’d been watching Graham Norton interview Taylor Swift where she talked about how risk-averse her mother was, and how she called her ‘Worst Case Scenario Andrea’. That immediately went into the Idea Bank (notebook filled with random phrases). I knew I had to create a character like that… a character a bit like me… and what better than to have a detective who’s desperate to avoid danger. After many rewrites I ended up with Una as ‘the one’.
Finally, just before I started work on the novel I went on a short course with a group? a bevy? a spreadsheet? of Data Science bods who were creating predictive models based on large data sets, and I met a couple of actuaries. Although I’m no techie myself, I wanted to play with the idea of someone who works with data about people in aggregate suddenly having to deal with them as individuals. Someone who was socially awkward… someone a bit like… you get it. I decided to make Una an actuary who works in life insurance, a job where she could spot some unusual accidents…
Add a surly cat, an office nemesis and some numbers, and hey-presto… an insurance-based detective series was born!
Order your copy of Death by Numbers!
Something doesn't add up at the seaside... perfect for fans of Richard Osman, M.C. Beaton and the Rev. Richard Coles
'Clever and very funny' IAN MOORE, author of Death and Croissants
'A terrifically funny, endearing read' Belfast Telegraph
'A impressive debut full of unusual ideas and amusing relationships' Morning Star
Una has always been more comfortable working with numbers than people. As an actuary for an insurance company, her job is to spot patterns that other people might miss.
When the data for her latest project - into the predicted number of deaths in seaside resorts - shows a blip in her forecasts, Una's untarnished reputation at work is at risk. That is, unless she can work out why there's been an unusual spate of accidental deaths by the coast. Death by Hanging Basket? She's not seen that before.
Where better to begin than her mother's hometown of Eastbourne, where strange fatalities are befalling her mother's bingo crowd.
But as Una puts her spreadsheets aside and begins to investigate, a sinister pattern begins to emerge and she realises that there is nothing accidental about these casualties . . .
Can Una stop the killer in this small seaside town, before she becomes a not-so-vital statistic?
'Sharp, witty and joyous - a sort of Eleanor Oliphant meets Thursday Murder Club. I fell in love with Una and her risk averseness, and the cast of wonderful characters. I can't wait to read about what they get up to next!' Jessica Irena Smith
