After writing several thrillers and dark, suspenseful novels, author Liza Tully decided she needed to pivot toward something more cheerful.

“Twenty years ago, I had written a comedy, and I thought, ‘Gee, that was fun.’ I remember doing that, and I loved it,” Tully said.

The result: a new novel and the start of a new series, starting with her latest release, “The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant.”

The main characters of the murder-mystery story are esteemed private investigator Aubrey Merritt and her recently hired assistant Olivia Blount. They’re working together to find out what really happened to Victoria Summersworth, whose daughter thinks her death on her 65th birthday was incorrectly ruled as a suicide.

Aside from the whodunnit, the heart of the story is also about the relationship between the prickly, brilliant Aubrey and newbie Olivia, who come from two different generations: Aubrey is a Baby Boomer, while Olivia is Gen Z. Tully said she wanted to illustrate just how tough it is to be a twenty-something through Olivia.

“You’re trying to establish yourself in a profession, and, sometimes, you don’t even know what you want to do with the rest of your life. And then even if you do know, you have to get a break. And if you get a break, you need a mentor. And so that’s where Olivia is – she really, really wants this job, she’s lucky to have it, but she also has to put up with a mentor who’s not exactly the nicest person in the world,” Tully said.

She then juxtaposed that early-career struggle with Aubrey’s own challenges nearing the end of her career.

“She’s in her 60s, she’s always been a loner,” Tully said. “She’s at a time of her life where she realizes that at some point this is going to wind down for her. And then what is her legacy going to be? For her to make her life meaningful, she needs to take all this wealth of knowledge and expertise that she’s gained over 30 years and give it to someone. Because if she doesn’t, it’s just going to die with her. So they both have a really big stake in their relationship.”

And although “The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant” is a murder mystery harkening back to the work of Agatha Christie, particularly with the iconic “great reveal” denouement scenes of the beloved detective Hercule Poirot, the novel is considered a “cozy” mystery, meaning it lacks any graphic details. Tully said she thinks this particular subgenre is having a moment right now because of how comforting it feels for readers.

“There’s something just so reassuring about having a mystery – one that gets solved at the end – because then you can close the book, and it’s done, and you’ve had the experience,” Tully said. “I also think that in cozies, oftentimes, there’s an amateur detective. In this case, Aubrey Merritt is a professional private investigator, but she’s also just a normal person. So the idea that anyone can observe carefully, reason clearly, understand human psychology, and somehow solve something, I find it very inspiring to think that problems can be solved and ordinary people can do this.”

Guest

  • Liza Tully, author of “The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant.”