Bad Influence: Cosy up with this hilarious, heartwarming and heartfelt mystery for fans of Richard Osman

by C.J. Wray, Karen Cass (narrator), Orion (publisher)

'Funny, touching, Fabulous' The Mail

There are three things Jennifer 'Jinx' Sullivan promised herself she would never

1. Eat fast food.
2. Go on a coach trip.
3. Die without exacting revenge on the people who ruined her life.

She's about to let herself down on the first two, but she can still keep her word on the third. On a coach trip to Florence.

89-year-old Jinx is going to face her painful wartime history, unearth long-buried skeletons (quite literally) and plan long overdue vengeance on the worst best friend a woman ever had. That's the best friend who trained her in etiquette, cocktail-mixing and silent killing.

It's going to be a tough journey - not least because she's sharing it with twenty senior citizens and a recalcitrant teen. But Jinx knows that some promises are worth keeping, no matter how hard it may be...

Genres: Fiction

Audible Audio

Published May 8, 2025

About the author

CJ Wray is a pseudonym for author Chrissie Manby, a Sunday Times bestselling author with more than forty books to her name. Raised in the west of England, she studied psychology before embarking on an entertaining and wide-ranging career that has seen her selling kitchens, editing erotica, interviewing an armed robber, and impersonating a princess.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Deborah Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!
Great characters with some surprising twists.
Some history as well as a little culture. A good holiday read.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars! This book surprised me in the best way. Jinx is 89 years old and she can be quite closed off. When her community decides to arrange a trip to Italy, Jinx hesitantly goes with and forms an unlikely friendship with Thea, a young girl who helps her during their trip. Jinx has unfinished business there but also she's lead an extremely colourful life which becomes more apparent as you keep reading the book.

There's heartbreak, Jinx's childhood was traumatic but I loved her friendship with Thea and the satisfying ending to what was indeed a very interesting life. I thoroughly enjoyed Bad Influence.

[Bethany Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a follow up book from “The Excitements”, Jinx, the main character is mentioned in the first book, but in this one you really get to learn her story. You learn about her life at a POW camp during WWII, how Penny helped her family after the war and offered Jinx a seemingly legitimate job in London which turns into some not so legitimate trades. You see her vulnerable in her senior years. It is as funny as the first, but presents its characters differently. You see a relationship develop between Jinx and a local teen who ends up caring for her and helps her on a trip to Italy with some unique motives. The variety of character backgrounds in the book and the their attitudes in modern day life make you laugh with a sense of familiarity. It is an easy read you don’t want to put down. I can recommend this book both as a follow up to “The Excitements” but also as a stand alone story.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly entertaining read. Although it works as a standalone, it is a companion piece to The Excitements. The book covers lots of ground and isn't just a feel good read. We visit the horrors of internment in Japan in World War 2. There is also grief and guilt, and, as in The Excitements, jewel thefts. Well drawn diverse characters that draw the reader's sympathies. Above all the book is 'toujours gai', to quote our main protagonist, 'Mrs Sullivan' aka Jinx.

[Maggie Deutsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining read.
This book, about an older self contained person forced into interacting with others to achieve her own purpose whilst on a trip to Italy and reflecting back on an unlikely personal history, managed to achieve light weight feel good and comic entertainment along with moments of great sensitivity and insight into historically difficult times. Quite a difficult thing to pull off.

[Jean Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRILLIANT

[UKDana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elderly Jennifer 'Jinx' Sullivan keeps to herself in the sleepy little village in which she lives, if only the rest of the villagers would leave her alone. Jinx's plans to visit Florence are disrupted thanks to the meddling of some of her neighbours. Since time is of the essence she has no option but to join the village coach trip to Italy.

Early last year I read The Excitements by C. J. Wray and adored the tale of the Williamson sisters so I was very excited to read Bad Influence. While Penny, and Josephine to a lesser extent, do appear in Bad Influence this is really Jinx's story. If, like me, you loved the first book and wanted to know more about the adventures of the Williamson sisters don't let that put you off, Jinx is a fascinating character and her story is engrossing.

Jinx lives a quiet life in a small village, she'd be more than happy if the other residents left her alone but the local postman likes to keep an eye on the elderly residents and it's one of those villages with a strong community spirit so lots of events are organised, events that Jinx always manages to avoid. It's during the VE Day celebrations, at which Jinx makes a reluctant appearance, that disaster strikes. Ending up with a broken collarbone means that Jinx can't go on her solo trip to Florence, a trip she is desperate to make. Luckily, the village has a coach trip to Italy planned which includes a visit to Florence.

The trip itself, featuring a coach full of aging villagers, gives rise to lots of hilarity, particularly the Colonel's attempts to speak Italian (my Kindle was a godsend for translating), and could have been the whole novel. However, the big question is why is Jinx so keen to make the trip.

Throughout the story we learn of Jinx's background, discovering that as a child she was raised in Malaysia before WWII and when the Japanese invaded Singapore she was held in an internment camp for over three years. I'm old enough to remember the TV series Tenko which was about the women's internment camps, but didn't really grasp the horror and deprivation the women and children lived through. Reading Jinx's story gave me a better understanding of what happened.

Following liberation Jinx, along with her mother and brother, returned to England and it was then that she met Penny Williamson. After WWII ended Penny worked for a charity and Jinx's family was one of many that she worked with. Seeing something in Jinx, Penny took her under her wing and trained her in many of the skills she had developed during the war. Thanks to Penny, Jinx lived an exciting life of parties and travel, often funded by illicit means. It was when Jinx discovered what Penny had been doing that the pair parted ways.

The question still remains as to why Jinx so passionately wants to return to Florence. The answer is a surprising one, but you'll have to read the book to learn what it is.

If you enjoyed my review please check out my book blog, Reading For Leisure
https://readingforleisure.blogspot.com/

or follow me on Twitter; @Debbie_Hart_UK
or on Bluesky; @debbiehartuk.bsky.social

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful follow up novel to “The Excitements”, this time focusing on Penny and Josephine’s protege, Jinx who has also enjoyed an unusual life and occupation.
It is set in 3 time frames and looks at Jinx’s backstory- her time as a child in a Japanese prison camp in the far east during the war , her relationship to Penny in the post war years and her current situation as an 89 year old retiree in the Cotswolds.
Jinx lives a solitary life, keeping her neighbours at bay but when she has an accident after booking a trip to Florence to carry out a final task before she can no longer travel, she is forced to rely on a neighbourhood coach trip to Italy to get there, aided by Glenn, the local postman and organiser and Thea his teenage daughter.
Jinx is reluctant to accept help and even more dubious about a coach trip but it is the only way for her to get to Florence.
There are many questions in the story, what does Jinx want to do in Italy, is there treasure to be found? Why is she no longer in contact with Penny?
This is mainly a lighthearted and indeed heartwarming story but it also contains some serious themes such as grief, treatment of children in the prison camps during the war and the poverty of those released afterwards when they returned to England.
I really liked the character of Jinx and as you read her backstory, it becomes clear why she behaves as she does and the heartbreak she has had to endure as a child, something that has never left her as an adult.
For those that expect a continuation of Penny and Josephine’s story, you do learn a bit more about them as they appear in the book but it is really Jinx’s life that the author examines and considering the subject matter in places, it is done with a very light and amusing touch.
There are of course some sad and very moving parts of the novel but these only added to the overall enjoyment. I thoroughly recommend “Bad Influence “ as a five star read, either as a standalone or a follow on from The Excitements.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

[Patricia Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always absolutely delighted when I see a book written by CJ Wray or one of her nom de plumes. Every book she writes whatever the genre is an absolute delight to read and Bad Influence is no exception. Her characters are so real. She gets the little details just right and they come alive under her hands. She often deals with quite serious subjects - in this book, child internment during WW2 and parental loss. But she manages to do it with a pathos and rye humour that makes her books an unmitigated pleasure to read. I whizzed through this book over the course of a quiet weekend and thoroughly enjoyed every word. I happily give it 5 stars and my heart felt recommendation.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.