News
August 2026
CWA Whodunnit Winner!!!! A Murder for Miss Hortense has won the Crime Writer’s Association Whodunnit Award. The panel praised A Murder for Miss Hortense as: “A page-turning mystery that does something genuinely new with a classic whodunnit setup, and adds a flavour of the Windrush Generation experience. Miss Hortense is a smart, savvy, sassy addition to the pantheon of retired amateur detectives, and the community she lives and works in is brilliantly drawn.”
A Murder for Miss Hortense was also Highly Commended in the 2026 Val McDermid Debut Prize!
June 2026
CWA Shortlist! A Murder for Miss Hortense has been shortlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association Whodunnit Award.
May 2026
A Murder for Miss Hortense has been shortlisted for the McDermid Debut Award for new UK and Irish writers launched by Harrogate International Festivals in 2024 in recognition of crime author Val McDermid.
24th August 2025
New York Times Book Review
A Murder for Miss Hortense. by Mel Pennant. Pennant, a British playwright, moves into prose territory with the first in a new mystery series……..
16th August 2025
The I Paper - Dorothy Koomson
“As an amateur sleuth, Miss Hortense cannot help but investigate – and what she finds is truly jaw-dropping. I read this in two sittings. The mix of characters, some of whom are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, is fantastic. The plot and the cliff-hanger ending, meanwhile, made this one of my favourite reads of the year.”
10th June 2025
Kirkus Reviews
“Pennant’s debut mystery is written with a playwright’s deft pen; the scenes are neat, the action direct. What stands out most is the care with which characters are written, in how they move, dress, and—most notably—speak. As a bonus, traditional recipes are peppered throughout with great effect…..A memorable cozy with lots of depth…..”
23rd May 2025
Washington Post
“Pennant’s splendid debut mystery introduces readers to an unforgettable new sleuth, the indomitable Miss Hortense…..”
21st May 2025
Oprah Daily
“This cozy mystery introduces Miss Hortense, a retired nurse and Jamaican Immigrant living in the Afro-Caribbean suburb outside of Birmingham, England….”
11th April 2025
Mel Pennant's cosy-crime debut stages murder in a Birmingham suburb
“This is an opportunity for me to highlight the Windrush generation as a community”
Author Interviews by Lauren Brown
12 September 2024
“From the moment I met Miss Hortense I was obsessed with her. An icon in the making - I cannot wait for you to meet her next year when she is published. A truly incredible debut crime novel.”
12 September 2024
Cover Reveal for Miss Hortense!
23 July 2024
“You can get really, really personal in audio in a way that is, again, quite different from other mediums. It makes the big very small....We’ve got world wars, we’ve got Windrush – these huge, huge things – and audio enables you to just bring it down to the person.”
1 July 2024
Theatres join forces to tackle lack of women playwrights
“The Women in Theatre Lab supports 10 of the UK’s most talented emerging and mid-career female playwrights…..”
14 June 2023
Baskerville has won a five-way auction to secure Mel Pennant's debut mystery novel The Reckoning of Miss Hortense.
14 June 2023
Let’s go Miss Hortense!
Let’s go MISS HORTENSE! @MelPennant is brilliant and has written the mystery series we NEED! I can’t wait for y’all to have as much fun reading this as I did for @PantheonBooks.
25 October 2023
“These stories are far bigger than just what you see in front of you.”
9 November 2021
“It was this sense of alienation that became the focus for Mel’s powerful new play, and how it contributed to a renewed struggle for racial equality and justice.”
Mel’s instagram
