A Murder Is Going Down by Kate Emery

Title: A Murder Is Going Down

Author: Kate Emery

Genre: Crime

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 4^th November 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 400

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: A brilliant and hilarious cosy YA crime from the author of My Family and Other Suspects, with a mystery that will keep readers guessing to the very last page. For fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

This is what happens when you put a pair of unemployed teenagers in charge of a murder investigation. What we lack in investigative skills we make up for in free time.

Heidi’s meant to be having the time of her life on exchange in Switzerland, but instead she’s cold, alone and on an involuntary dairy-free diet. So when she hears the news of her brother Felix’s death, she’s quick to jump on the first plane home to Perth.

To be completely honest, Felix wasn’t that much of a brother, so Heidi’s not that sad – but she’s not exactly happy either. Thanks to an epic betrayal by her (ex) best friend and (ex) boyfriend, Heidi has absolutely nothing to do and no one to talk to. No one, that is, except Patrick, the wisecracking younger brother of Felix’s widow, who convinces her that they need to investigate her brother’s mysterious demise.

Can Heidi and Patrick get to the bottom of Felix’s death – and do they really want to?

Kate Emery is the queen of cosy crime and the bestselling author of My Family and Other Suspects, which won the John Marsden Book of the Year for Older Children at the 2025 ABIAs and the 2025 Indie Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.

‘Will keep young sleuths hooked and make this modern-day Agatha Christie, with amusingly snarky teenage characters, a hit with cosy crime readers.’ Books+Publishing

Perfect for YA readers looking for:
– A twisty, unpredictable plot and a satisfying, edge-of-your-seat ending
– A light, cosy narrative voice with plenty of humour
– The perfect engrossing summer read

~*~

Kate Emery is back with another young adult mystery following her last release, My Family and Other Suspects which was a longlisted and shortlisted book in the 2025 Davitt Awards. Now, she’s back with a new book, A Murder Is Going Down, and this time, we’re in Switzerland at the start of the novel. But murder brings Heidi back to Australia. Heidi’s story is told in Then and Now chapters. Then is what happened following her brother’s death. Now is where she tells the story to the women she is stuck in a lift with. But what is really going on? Is the lift getting stuck an accident, or is there more to the story? And why corral Marianne, the lift woman, to tell this story to?

Kate Emery’s latest young adult crime novel is an intriguing examination of family dynamics, death, what it takes to solve a mystery, and finding ways to get what you want all injected with a clever dose of drama. It evolves across the novel, as there are things that seem obvious or straightforward, but that need to be chipped away at as you read. So, it’s one to stick with and read the whole way through to get to the bottom of things and for the awesome reward that this book delivers.

Like Kate’s 2024 book, My Family and Other Suspects, it is set in Western Australia, and centres on a family that has seen its fair share of tragedies. The most recent one is the death of fifteen-year-old Heidi’s brother, Felix during a dinner party with his wife, Elena and their friends. Everything points to an accident, and it all happens whilst Heidi is on a school exchange. She rushes home – not that anyone is that disappointed she has to help her sister-in-law and aunt. Yet things start to get complicated. Everything Heidi thinks she knows is about to be turned on its head, and when she’s reunited with her sister-in-law’s brother, Patrick, things start to heat up.

Patrick is the one who tells her she needs to investigate the death, and as the story goes back and forth between Now and Then, it’s clear that there’s much more going on than the lift coincidentally breaking down for as long as it does. Cleverly though, Kate shrouds the motives for these sections in short chapters that in this instance, were very effective to build tension and drive the novel. Where the facts may not have been that clearcut, and where there were lots of misdirects or red herrings to make the reader think there was more going on in the Then sections than there was. I certainly did, and started to wonder what the links were, what they could be and why this lift at this time.

The story built incrementally, and did so well, introducing everyone to the characters and showing how innocuous things were, or how innocuous we were meant to think they could have been until things started to fall into place. There’s always something fun and interesting about teen-led crime novels. In this instance, everyone seems to think it’s just part of the grieving or reconnection process Heidi, Patrick, Ben and Lillia are going through. As a reader, at times, I did try and guess what was going on because it all seemed too neat, too tidy. Too easy. And too coincidental. As any crime reader or watcher knows, there’s no such thing as a coincidence, right?

I think that’s what made this work for me. I didn’t think it was predictable, I felt like the teen characters were fantastic, because they brought their experiences and emotions to life so well. I could feel the anguish and anger, and everything else they were feeling. And, it’s filled with humour. Something I have been loving about the crime for middle grade and young adult readers is the ability of these books to balance tough emotions with humour when necessary, because the levity can help readers connect with characters. Or get through some of the tough moments. It’s engrossing as well, and breathes fresh life into the crime genre. I have seen all sorts of things as a crime reader, and some I have really enjoyed, like this one. It has an interesting way of telling the story that evolves well across the story, and brings everything together, well, hopefully.

It will be great for Kate’s fans, and sits well alongside her last novel, My Family and Other Suspects.