The Pie & Mash Detective Agency is a cozy mystery written by debut author J.D. Brinkworth. Jane Pye and Simon Mash decide that taking a private detective course will set them on their way as irascible private eyes… if they can ever get the hang of it.

The main characters are taking a class that is the first step towards a P.I. license. Each student follows the course, and as a final exam, they are tasked with solving a mystery. While the other students in the class are assigned cases that have already been solved, Jane and Simon are given a mystery that has remained unsolved for several decades—even by their hard-nosed instructor, Gavin.

Nellie Thorne has gone missing, but which one is the question. Dev is trying to find his girlfriend, Nellie, and Jane and Simon are given the case. What they begin to discover is that women with the name Nellie Thorne have been going missing over the span of several decades, starting in the 90s. It is up to them to find Dev’s missing girlfriend and possibly uncover what happened to the others.

The story offers a lighthearted approach to mystery-solving through intentionally inept methods. The narrative jumps between Jane, a very neurotic woman, and Simon, a seemingly aimless man, in the present timeline, and Gavin’s previous missing-person investigation from a decade earlier. In all honesty, I found myself disliking most of the characters except Gavin, and some of the antics felt more painful than humorous. The saving grace is that the mystery itself is well-imagined and not one I had seen before in other cozy mysteries.

Overall, The Pie & Mash Detective Agency may not land for every reader when it comes to humor or character charm, but it does deliver an intriguing central mystery that kept me curious. If you enjoy cozy mysteries with an unconventional setup and don’t mind protagonists who stumble their way through the investigation, this one may still be worth picking up, especially if you’re in the mood for something a little different from the usual formula.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. Many thanks to the publisher, Berkley, the author(s) J.D. Brinkworth (Jo Dinkin and Catherine Brinkworth), and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.