Every Word by Ellie Marney

Title: Every Word

Author: Ellie Marney

Genre: Mystery/Crime

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 28^th May 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 352

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: Sparks fly when Watts follows Mycroft to London in this second sophisticated thriller about the teen crime-fighting pair.

Rachel is still getting used to the idea of Mycroft being her boyfriend when he disappears to London with Professor Walsh. They’re investigating the carjacking death of the rare books conservator, which appears to be linked to the theft of a Shakespeare First Folio from the Bodleian Library. Worried about similarities between the conservator’s accident and the death of Mycroft’s own parents, Rachel follows Mycroft to London. And straight into a whole storm of trouble.

Winner, Sisters in Crime 15th Davitt Awards – Young Adult Novel, 2015, AU

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Rachel Watts and James Mycroft are back, in a relationship and Rachel’s parents are determined for her not to see him. Ever. It’s all new, and Rachel is still getting used to it. But Mycroft is still trying to come to terms with losing his parents seven years ago, and there’s something nagging him. So, when he runs off to London on a whim to find out more about an accident that sounds way too similar to what happened to his parents, Rachel is at a loss.

But the victim is a conservator at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and is death could be linked to the theft of a Shakespeare First Folio. But who wants it, and what is really going on? Rachel hops a plane to find out and help Mycroft…but there’s a storm waiting for her that will put her in danger.

The second book in the Every series sees Rachel and Mycroft in London, investigating the death of Daniel Gardener. Everything suggests it could be connected to what happened to Mycroft’s parents seven years ago, or so he thinks. Other people aren’t too sure. Yet the similarities are just too much of a coincidence. Slowly, Rachel and Mycroft’s investigation throws up more questions than answers about what has happened, where the Folio is, and who wants it. There has to be something more going on, especially if the recent death and accident seven years ago are connected. It’s too close to home, and Mycroft doesn’t realise just how much help he needs until Rachel gets to London.

As Mycroft and Rachel get deeper into the case, they start to drift away from the guidelines they’ve been given by New Scotland Yard and Professor Walsh, who pulled Mycroft into things in the first place. With lots of threads that have unravelled, and are continuing to unravel form much of the novel, the narrative continues well from the first book, Every Breath, and look like they be concluded in the third book, Every Move, which I hope to read soon. Things are never going to be straightforward in crime fiction, because the first and obvious answers are never the right ones. There is always going to be more to the story, the case and the mystery, and Ellie Marney does this well, dangling little bits of information and character development as the novel goes on. It kept me engaged as a reader, just as I was with the None Shall Sleep trilogy.

The ongoing thread of the accident that killed Mycroft’s parents evolves in this one, bringing in things that make sense about why everything has been shrouded in mystery. About why Mycroft has felt so adrift, and about why he has always wanted answers but never been able to get them. And the eerie similarities in the latest death are what make alarm bells go off for everyone. Rachel’s dedication to Mycroft is what makes her such a wonderful character. As teenagers, they are a bit impulsive, but this is what allows them to follow leads that will hopefully give them answers about what happened, even if it means risking their lives.

The second book brings so much to the trilogy, adds much-needed information and moves things on so that resolutions can come about in the next book. I’m looking forward to seeing how Rachel and Mycroft resolve things in the next book.