Constable snaps up Cunningham’s witty debut murder mystery

Constable has acquired a “razor sharp”, funny murder mystery featuring a risk-averse insurance actuary by debut author Jo Cunningham.

Krystyna Green, publishing director, acquired world English rights to Death by Numbers from Marina de Pass at The Soho Agency. Constable will publish Death by Numbers as a trade hardback in August 2024 with a "substantial" marketing and publicity campaign planned. German rights have been pre-empted by Goldmann.

Death by Numbers is described by the publisher as “an uplifting, offbeat murder mystery set between London and the perilous seaside town of Eastbourne".

Its synopsis continues: “At the centre of this novel is life insurance actuary Una, who uncovers a series of mysterious deaths on the coast at odds with her predictive research, and although she has always been more comfortable working with numbers rather than people she now has to put her spreadsheets to one side to unmask a seaside town’s killer.”

Green said: “Jo’s debut is utterly delightful and pure escapism. Her observations on people – whether it’s neoliberal Tim in the office or the pensioners in Eastbourne’s lottery syndicate — are razor sharp and very, very funny.”

Cunningham, who writes comedy for BBC radio, commented: “I’m delighted to join the list of amazing crime writers at Constable. Krystyna has shown so much enthusiasm for the book and I can’t wait to work with her and the team at Little, Brown to get it out and about.”