Sharna Jackson Books

Nik and Norva are sisters who live on a high-rise estate called ‘The Tri’, so named because of the 3 towers of flats in a triangle formation. With their dad being the estate caretaker, Nik and Norva know just about everyone who lives there, and they make it their business to know everything that’s going on.

In the summer’s height, a valued community member goes missing and there appears to be something very fishy going on. The sisters start looking and what they find confirms their worst fears – by the look of it, there’s been a murder.

Once they’ve dealt with the initial shock, Nik and Norva create a case file containing suspects, motives and alibis. With a limited police presence, they can make a nuisance of themselves by asking the right questions to the right people and, combined with some cunning eavesdropping, they begin to draw some conclusions. But as all the evidence points to one person, the pressure is on get to the real truth of the mystery before it is too late.

High Rise Mystery is an important book with cultural references and language that will resonate well with those who see themselves reflected in its pages. The chapters of this book are punctuated with case notes to keep track of the investigation, whilst the interaction of the characters gives a real sense of what it is like to live in this urban community. You can almost hear the sounds, taste the foods and feel your lungs burn when they have to endure 22 flights of stairs when the lift is broken in 30-degree heat. The result is a page-turner of a book, that you can’t put down because ultimately you want to know ‘whodunnit’!