Tony Solano, a technical writer in London, thinks he hears “Hayes” when the lawyer calls to tell him he’s inherited a detective agency. But instead of a London suburb, it’s “The Hague” and rather than shutting the mystery business down, he becomes embroiled in a large case in a tiny place.
Death on a Tiny Scale follows the bumbling Solano as he travels abroad to close down the office he’s inherited from an unknown party. He hires a temporary assistant to help with the administration, as the Brit doesn’t speak a word of Dutch and is now faced with a lease, case files and an inadvertently adopted a cat.
His new employee turns out to have a knack for the detective trade and, more importantly, has finally found a gig she actually likes. Despite Solano’s insistence that they are just going to close up shop, he gets invested in solving a murder that happened at the miniature wonderland Madurodam.
The book starts off with a great premise and is filled with wacky coincidences and standout characters, including a trouble-making cat. Solano, who has zero experience of detective work, spends most of the book haphazardly trying to find a murderer, all the while navigating a foreign country.
The book does a great job with the Dutch references. Solano’s The Hague feels like the real place. He stumbles over the Dutch language and is, frequently and mostly justifiably, annoyed about the poor quality of the tea on offer in the Netherlands.
Death on a Tiny Scale is the first in a series and it does end on a cliffhanger. And you are going to want to know what happens next.
Fortunately, author Julie Broussely, a Brit who relocated to the Netherlands, is underway with the third book in The Shamrock Detective Agency series. The second, A Party To Death, was published last November.
One grouse about the book: Death on a Tiny Scale suffers from the problem that many non-traditionally published have – it needed better editing. The book is too long and could have been trimmed by condensing some of the plotlines and cutting out some unneeded extras.
That being said, Death on a Tiny Scale is a quintessential cosy murder mystery with a Dutch twist. It’s a fun read and you can pick up your copy at the American Book Center.
