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The Weapon and the Fruit: Hipsters of Teddington Lock
Not yet published
Expected 7 Nov 26A man drowns in plain sight. His cries pierce the summer heat. Before help can arrive, he vanishes beneath the Thames.
Private detective Lance Pomegranate stands witness — barefoot, drunk, bearing a re-opened decade-old wound and plunged into a puzzle that defies easy answers. The onlookers? An eclectic crew of non-conformists aboard the houseboat Oh Dearie Me, each stranger than the last, disturbingly calm in the face of death.
None of the suspects left each other’s sight and the only clue found is an electronic device not meant to go underwater. As Lance unravels alibis, cryptic ledgers, and echoes from a long-buried past, the river yields more questions than solutions.
With the police alongside him and accidental ally Ciara Gallen causing chaos behind him, Lance must navigate a sunlit stretch of southwest London where eccentrics, secrets, and hidden agendas collide, as one tragedy follows another.
Though familiar friendships and L.E. Bendon’s signature wit remain ever present, The Weapon and the Fruit series takes a darker turn in this third installment. While Four and Twenty Blackboards saw Lance justify his own brand of professionalism, and in Any Body Can Murder he learnt to overcome shame, Hipsters of Teddington Lock both raises and answers the question: Who hurt you?
Private detective Lance Pomegranate stands witness — barefoot, drunk, bearing a re-opened decade-old wound and plunged into a puzzle that defies easy answers. The onlookers? An eclectic crew of non-conformists aboard the houseboat Oh Dearie Me, each stranger than the last, disturbingly calm in the face of death.
None of the suspects left each other’s sight and the only clue found is an electronic device not meant to go underwater. As Lance unravels alibis, cryptic ledgers, and echoes from a long-buried past, the river yields more questions than solutions.
With the police alongside him and accidental ally Ciara Gallen causing chaos behind him, Lance must navigate a sunlit stretch of southwest London where eccentrics, secrets, and hidden agendas collide, as one tragedy follows another.
Though familiar friendships and L.E. Bendon’s signature wit remain ever present, The Weapon and the Fruit series takes a darker turn in this third installment. While Four and Twenty Blackboards saw Lance justify his own brand of professionalism, and in Any Body Can Murder he learnt to overcome shame, Hipsters of Teddington Lock both raises and answers the question: Who hurt you?
350 pages, ebook
Expected publication November 7, 2026
About the author
L.E. Bendon
4 books11 followersL. E. Bendon was born in 1983 and wishes Terry Pratchett were still not dead.
He had built quite a satisfying musician’s life for himself up until 2020 when it was suddenly on hold, for reasons we can all remember, and so he put the compulsory free time to use. Thus began his fiction output with the detective series – The Weapon and the Fruit. This is his first foray outside of that series and of the whole crime/mystery genre, but he promises there is plenty more of Lance Pomegranate, and plenty more fantasy still to come.
L.E. Bendon is from London, living in South India, where most people know him as a saxophonist who spends an awful lot of his spare time writing novels on his laptop in cafés. Prior to his debut novel in 2025 all of his published work has been sheet music, one example of which is included on the 2026 ABRSM Grade 8 Saxophone syllabus. He speaks a few languages well enough not to be confused or misled while abroad, though not well enough to translate his own books just yet. He loves cats but really prefers tortoises.
He hasn't settled on what L.E. stands for. It is just a pen name after all. Perhaps he'll give a different response each time he is asked, always choosing names that are significant to him. For now, it can be Ludicrous Enterprise.
He had built quite a satisfying musician’s life for himself up until 2020 when it was suddenly on hold, for reasons we can all remember, and so he put the compulsory free time to use. Thus began his fiction output with the detective series – The Weapon and the Fruit. This is his first foray outside of that series and of the whole crime/mystery genre, but he promises there is plenty more of Lance Pomegranate, and plenty more fantasy still to come.
L.E. Bendon is from London, living in South India, where most people know him as a saxophonist who spends an awful lot of his spare time writing novels on his laptop in cafés. Prior to his debut novel in 2025 all of his published work has been sheet music, one example of which is included on the 2026 ABRSM Grade 8 Saxophone syllabus. He speaks a few languages well enough not to be confused or misled while abroad, though not well enough to translate his own books just yet. He loves cats but really prefers tortoises.
He hasn't settled on what L.E. stands for. It is just a pen name after all. Perhaps he'll give a different response each time he is asked, always choosing names that are significant to him. For now, it can be Ludicrous Enterprise.
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Review of advance copy received from Author
We all know Lance. But in this novel, we really dive deep into a past that almost broke him. He is just as clever and funny this round, but this new back story adds such emotional depth to an already complicated character. Bendon also manages to add mysteries within mysteries, and of course, we always have a murder... or maybe more than one... and a satisfying conclusion with true Lance flair and poetic justice. As with all of the series, this can be read as a standalone. As with all of the series, buckle up. Because the Hipsters of Teddington Lock are not as innocent as they might appear...
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review