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Bad Boy: A Jason Davey Mystery
Jason Davey, professional musician and amateur sleuth, never expected his fan meeting at The Shard to end in a devastating plunge. But when Marcus Merritt jumps to his death after handing Jason a program from his last tour, Jason finds himself on a week-long quest to retrieve a stolen collection of scores by England's most famous composer.
As he delves deeper into the puzzle, Jason discovers that the clues are linked to the 14 themes in Elgar's Enigma Variations, and his journey takes him from Derbyshire to London's hidden music venues in a dangerous chase.
With a treacherous Russian gangster and a vengeful sister hot on his trail, Jason must use his musical talents and puzzle-solving wits to track down the missing scores. But as he uncovers the truth, he realizes that the stakes are higher than he ever imagined, and the key to solving the mystery may lie with a notorious London crime lord's missing daughter.
Join Jason Davey in his fifth thrilling adventure, Bad Boy, as he races against time to unravel the enigma and bring justice to Elgar's stolen scores. Fans of jazz, puzzles, and suspense won't want to miss this page-turning mystery.
If you loved The Da Vinci Code, you'll be hooked on Bad Boy.Bad Boy is the fifth book in Winona Kent's mystery series featuring jazz musican-turned-amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
As he delves deeper into the puzzle, Jason discovers that the clues are linked to the 14 themes in Elgar's Enigma Variations, and his journey takes him from Derbyshire to London's hidden music venues in a dangerous chase.
With a treacherous Russian gangster and a vengeful sister hot on his trail, Jason must use his musical talents and puzzle-solving wits to track down the missing scores. But as he uncovers the truth, he realizes that the stakes are higher than he ever imagined, and the key to solving the mystery may lie with a notorious London crime lord's missing daughter.
Join Jason Davey in his fifth thrilling adventure, Bad Boy, as he races against time to unravel the enigma and bring justice to Elgar's stolen scores. Fans of jazz, puzzles, and suspense won't want to miss this page-turning mystery.
If you loved The Da Vinci Code, you'll be hooked on Bad Boy.Bad Boy is the fifth book in Winona Kent's mystery series featuring jazz musican-turned-amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2024
About the author
Winona Kent
24 books71 followersWinona Kent is an award-winning author who was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing, and a diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School.
Winona's writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, “Tower of Power”.
Her debut novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Award and was published by Bantam Books in 1989. This was followed by a sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, and her first mystery, Cold Play, set aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.
After three time-travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne's Memory), Winona returned to mysteries with Disturbing the Peace, a novella, in 2017 and the novel Notes on a Missing G-String in 2019, both featuring the character she first introduced in Cold Play, professional jazz musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
The third and fourth books in Winona's Jason Davey Mystery series, Lost Time and Ticket to Ride, were published in 2020 and 2022. Her fifth Jason Davey Mystery, Bad Boy, was published in 2024.
Winona also writes short fiction. Her story “Salty Dog Blues” appeared in Sisters in Crime-Canada West's anthology Crime Wave in October 2020 and was nominated as a finalist in Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella in April 2021. “Blue Devil Blues” was one of the four entries in the anthology Last Shot, published in June 2021, and “Terminal Lucidity” appeared in the Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Women of a Certain Age (October 2022). “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”, will appear in the upcoming Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Dangerous Games (October 2024).
A collection of Winona’s short stories, Ten Stories That Worried My Mother, was published in 2023.
Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine. Winona's currently the national Vice-Chair and the regional BC/YT rep for the Crime Writers of Canada, and is also an active member of Sisters in Crime – Canada West. After many decades working in jobs completely unrelated to writing, Winona is now happily embracing life as a full-time author. She lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building’s compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners.
Winona's writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, “Tower of Power”.
Her debut novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Award and was published by Bantam Books in 1989. This was followed by a sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, and her first mystery, Cold Play, set aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.
After three time-travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne's Memory), Winona returned to mysteries with Disturbing the Peace, a novella, in 2017 and the novel Notes on a Missing G-String in 2019, both featuring the character she first introduced in Cold Play, professional jazz musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey.
The third and fourth books in Winona's Jason Davey Mystery series, Lost Time and Ticket to Ride, were published in 2020 and 2022. Her fifth Jason Davey Mystery, Bad Boy, was published in 2024.
Winona also writes short fiction. Her story “Salty Dog Blues” appeared in Sisters in Crime-Canada West's anthology Crime Wave in October 2020 and was nominated as a finalist in Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella in April 2021. “Blue Devil Blues” was one of the four entries in the anthology Last Shot, published in June 2021, and “Terminal Lucidity” appeared in the Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Women of a Certain Age (October 2022). “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”, will appear in the upcoming Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Dangerous Games (October 2024).
A collection of Winona’s short stories, Ten Stories That Worried My Mother, was published in 2023.
Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine. Winona's currently the national Vice-Chair and the regional BC/YT rep for the Crime Writers of Canada, and is also an active member of Sisters in Crime – Canada West. After many decades working in jobs completely unrelated to writing, Winona is now happily embracing life as a full-time author. She lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building’s compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 7, 2024
Jason Davey has just returned home from a long tour of England and reluctantly agrees to meet a fan (Marcus) on the viewing platform on top of the Shard, to sign one of the band's programs. With his head down to sign, he only just sees Marcus leap to his death!
Here starts a week long scavenger hunt through London, Derbyshire and back to London, following an increasingly complex set of clues, delivered 'just in time' by a wide range of characters. Gradually Jason realises he's been tasked with finding a missing set of musical scores by Elgar; and also gradually realises there is more to Marcus' past than just the missing scores.
The scavenger hunt is unique and the core of this story. The clues are diverse, interesting and often quite cryptic. Luckily, readers don't need to figure them out to understand the story (well, unless you want to). I do think my favourite was 36 words ending in -ium (which I didn't bother trying to do), but I also enjoyed the family logic puzzle and an easy train-leaves-a-station (that wasn't so easy for Jason and involved a quite complex description).
The history of Denmark Street was fascinating, though you don't need to know anything particular about the London music scene to follow along. I suspect that fans of Elgar will get much more than I did from meeting characters who represented the 14 themes, but I still followed along easily.
Winona Kent is great at describing the environment and characters. Her descriptions of locations are well-observed, clear and concise. While most of the characters in the book come and go fairly quickly, and there are a lot of them, they are distinct and easy to remember.
The story resolves in a very satisfying way - the scores delivered, Marcus' story resolved - with only a few injuries along the way.
Here starts a week long scavenger hunt through London, Derbyshire and back to London, following an increasingly complex set of clues, delivered 'just in time' by a wide range of characters. Gradually Jason realises he's been tasked with finding a missing set of musical scores by Elgar; and also gradually realises there is more to Marcus' past than just the missing scores.
The scavenger hunt is unique and the core of this story. The clues are diverse, interesting and often quite cryptic. Luckily, readers don't need to figure them out to understand the story (well, unless you want to). I do think my favourite was 36 words ending in -ium (which I didn't bother trying to do), but I also enjoyed the family logic puzzle and an easy train-leaves-a-station (that wasn't so easy for Jason and involved a quite complex description).
The history of Denmark Street was fascinating, though you don't need to know anything particular about the London music scene to follow along. I suspect that fans of Elgar will get much more than I did from meeting characters who represented the 14 themes, but I still followed along easily.
Winona Kent is great at describing the environment and characters. Her descriptions of locations are well-observed, clear and concise. While most of the characters in the book come and go fairly quickly, and there are a lot of them, they are distinct and easy to remember.
The story resolves in a very satisfying way - the scores delivered, Marcus' story resolved - with only a few injuries along the way.
December 27, 2024
Musician Jason Davey is back home after a two-month with his mother’s band. He’s returned to rehearsing with his own band when a mysterious fan persistently requests to meet him. Reluctantly, Jason agrees but things take a dire turn when the man leaps off London’s Shard building and dies. He’s left cryptic clues about what he wants Jason to do and why. Thus begins a strange and increasingly dangerous search for a folder containing invaluable sketches, original revisions, and notes of a famous composer.
This mystery is part scavenger hunt as Jason is forced to go from one place to another in search of the next clue. The stakes rise when a nasty crime boss from Jason’s past reappears, and one of his family members is in danger. The story is a beautifully paced, well-researched mystery filled with anecdotes about London’s music scene in the 60s and 70s. Fans of that era will love this one.
This mystery is part scavenger hunt as Jason is forced to go from one place to another in search of the next clue. The stakes rise when a nasty crime boss from Jason’s past reappears, and one of his family members is in danger. The story is a beautifully paced, well-researched mystery filled with anecdotes about London’s music scene in the 60s and 70s. Fans of that era will love this one.
Want to Read
October 1, 2024I was not aware of this now Canadian (New Westminster, BC) author of many published works, including this Jason Davey series, with #5 published in September. May go back and start with the first book. I see neither of my libraries have any of her books.
October 14, 2024
Musician Jason Davey agrees to meet fan Marcus Merritt at the top of London's Shard but their brief encounter ends on a shockingly tragic note. As a final request, Marcus sends Jason on a bizarre quest across England to find a set of composer Sir Edward Elgar's missing scores. As Jason solves the clues left by Marcus, he soon realizes that others are also searching for the Elgar scores, including his former nemesis, a treacherous Russian gangster.
This was a fun read with some unexpected twists.
This was a fun read with some unexpected twists.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews