The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J Harris

An extraordinary and compelling debut which will make you see the world in a way you’ve never seen it before

Book blurb

How do you solve a mystery when you can’t understand the clues?

There are three things you need to know about Jasper.

1. He sees the world completely differently.

2. He can’t recognise faces – not even his own.

3. He is the only witness to the murder of his neighbour, Bee Larkham.

But uncovering the truth about that night will change his world forever…

My thoughts

This is a story of a boy, Jasper, who believes he has committed murder. He has Autism and Prosopagnosia more commonly known as face-blindness which means Jasper has to recognise people by their clothes, not always reliable, and their voices. People are colours, things are colours and it is through his painting and his notebooks that he tries to explain what happened.

This is a delightful book and a wonderful first book from Sarah J Harris. Jasper is a delight as he sorts out how life works for him and how to solve Bee Larkham’s murder. Well, actually he knows who did it, doesn’t he? It’s more about how to let the police know. They don’t seem too keen on hearing what he’s got to say. At least initially. It seems that they are more interested in finding out what went on between Bee and another lad from his school. Jasper knows about that too. He’s worried about what he should say. He liked Bee but she wasn’t always nice. They don’t seem to realise that Bee isn’t just missing she’s dead.

Jasper is quite vulnerable and his Dad does his best but they both find it hard since his Mum died. His Mum understood him and Jasper misses her.

This is a heart warming, touching book which gives a fascinating insight into autism and especially prosopagnosia whilst giving the reader a unique detective and an amazing story. As Jasper relates what is happening and what, to his knowledge, did happen through his paintings, his memory and his unique understanding he realises something. It shows him everything. Now all he has to do is let the police know.

Sarah J Harris has written a gloriously uplifting and poignant story which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and highly recommend.

Thanks

This book sounded intriguing and I requested it through NetGalley. As I didn’t hear for a while, my patience is usually quite good, I thought I wasn’t going to get a copy. I was keen to read it so I bought an eCopy for my kindle. Then I got my request accepted! I don’t mind buying an eCopy or a paperback of a book even if I have had it via NetGalley. I would still like to thank HarperCollins UK and The Borough Press via NetGalley for accepting my request.

#20BooksofSummer

This is my 14th read in this years challenge. I’m currently reading my 19th with just a few days remaining so even though I had only anticipated reading 10 books this summer I may just manage to do the full 20! I’ve a few posts to catch up on and then I’ll give a quick, full update on this summers reading.

Information

Publisher: The Borough Press (27 Dec. 2018)

Buy: Waterstones. AmazonSmileUK

Author: Sarah J. Harris is an author and freelance education journalist who regularly writes for national newspapers. She became fascinated by synaesthesia and face blindness during her work as a journalist. THE COLOUR OF BEE LARKHAM’S MURDER is Sarah’s debut adult novel. She lives in London with her husband and two young children.