High Rise Mystery

Story

Everything changes when sisters, Nik and Norva, discover their community art teacher murdered on their tower block estate. They are determined to find out who did this terrible crime and so take on the investigation of who killed their teacher. As the clues mount up, the mystery takes a turn they did not expect. Will this detecting role prove to be more than they bargained for?

Why we chose it

An exciting who-dunnit with two new ace detectives taking on an investigation full of red herrings and mixed motives. Full of humour, fast-paced dialogue and twists and turns as they work to find the answers, this is a real page turner.

Where it came from

High-Rise Mystery is Sharna Jackson’s debut novel. She is committed to diverse representation in children’s media and in her work as an Artistic Director aims particularly to increase diverse and disengaged participation in the arts.

Her mum’s love of Sherlock Holmes inspired her to write a detective novel. She grew up watching detective shows and so thought it would be interesting to set a Sherlock Holmes-style novel in the modern day. She knows from her own experience how hard it is for black children to find role models or see themselves in books. Young people need to see themselves doing exciting and interesting things – and find themselves in every kind of story.

Sharna Jackson set the novel in an urban estate to show the world that estates are filled with strong community and clever children in contrast to the negative press they so often get.

Where it went next

The book was well received by reviewers. Fellow author, Malorie Blackman said, “I hope the High-Rise Mystery series is a roaring success. More detective stories featuring children of colour are long overdue.”

Associated stories

Nik and Norva return in Mic Drop.