"What stops Johnny is a promotional display for a novel called The Cracked Mirror by Alex Gillen. A poster is touting it as a number one bestseller, nominated for several awards, but what catches Johnny's eye is that it is published by RoadMiles Press: Lillian and Miles Deacon's company."

What starts as two separate murder mysteries - cosy crime with an elderly female protagonist (Marple-esque Penny Coyne) in a Scottish village and hard-boiled noir in LA with a male cop (Bosch-esque Johnny Hawke) - slowly draws together, until parallels can be seen. Initially written in two quite different styles, as becomes their genre variations, the writing style also melds as the connections between the characters and the plot emerge. Clearly written by an experienced author, this is a creative and complex take on crime fiction, poking fun at itself whilst hiding its many layers and dropping clues little by little.

As a crime fiction fan, I really enjoyed this but can't say more about the plot without risking spoilers, although I was pleased with myself for predicting the main concept twist before it was revealed (about 3/4 the way in, so not early!). My only criticism and why I haven't given it five stars, is because I found the repeated scenarios and number of characters difficult to keep track of and with less of both it could have been a more concise novel. But I am splitting hairs, because this is well worth reading. My first by this author but it won't be my last.