The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
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  • Published: 12 August 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593816776
  • Imprint: Berkley
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant

  • Liza Tully
Formats & editions
EBook
8 Jul 2025
Audiobook
8 Jul 2025
Hardback
12 Aug 2025
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A great detective’s young assistant yearns for glory, but first they must learn how to get along in this delightful feel-good mystery.

A brilliant Boomer detective and her ambitious Gen Z assistant try to get along in this delightful feel-good mystery.

Olivia Blunt is thrilled to be hired as assistant to the nationally renowned investigator Aubrey Merritt. She longs to become a valued contributor to the great detective’s work, but Merritt is a difficult, exacting boss, and the learning curve is steeper than she expected.

After weeks of boring computer work, Olivia is finally invited to join Merritt on an important case. On the night of her sixty-fifth birthday party, Victoria Summersworth somehow fell over her balcony railing to her death on the rocky shore of Vermont’s Lake Champlain. She was a happy woman—rich, beloved, in love, and matriarch of the preeminent Summersworth family. The police ruled her death a suicide, but Victoria’s daughter Haley thinks it was murder.

Merritt and Olivia soon discover that the Summersworth family is complicated web of lies, ambitions, and resentments. As the list of suspects grows, Olivia makes one apparent mistake after another. When she blunders into a truly dangerous situation, she realizes Merritt might be right: she might be in over her head with this whole detective thing…or she might be unravelling a mystery even bigger than the one they started with.
  • Published: 12 August 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593816776
  • Imprint: Berkley
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

Praise for The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant

"A sly, intelligent re-imagining of the classic detective novel, pairing a famously irascible sleuth with a self-deprecating millennial apprentice. 
As Olivia Blunt navigates the eccentricities of her formidable mentor, Aubrey Merritt, and a labyrinthine case involving a suspicious death among the elite, the novel explores themes of intergenerational tension, epistemic authority and the nature of truth. 

Tully’s prose is crisp and witty, her plotting precise, and the dynamic between her leads as psychologically astute as it is entertaining. A savvy, layered mystery with real narrative charm." --Seattle Times


“This novel succeeds through memorable characters at odds with each other (and sometimes themselves) across generational divides. A solidly entertaining read, especially for lovers of traditional mysteries."

—Kirkus Reviews

"A traditional mystery full of quirky characters and humorous situations... The ending may be totally surprising as Aubrey delivers quite the denouement in the tradition of Agatha Christie."

—FirstClue

"This is a classic wealthy-family whodunit centered on a funny and smart pair of women who are opposites in just about every way. Readers will love spending time with this investigatory duo."

—Library Journal


"Readers will be eager for a sequel" --Publishers Weekly

"A well-written drama that had me immediately immersed in all aspects of this wickedly solid storyline that kept me intrigued throughout." --Dru's Book Musing

"Wild applause for this clever and original take on Holmes and Watson--with lead characters who are iconic and relatable from page one." --Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author

"I can't stop recommending this book to my friends! Fun, funny, and with the best murder mystery I've read this year, Liza Tully's The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant will both charm you and keep your brain busy trying to guess whodunnit."   
-Jessica Payne, bestselling author of Never Trust the Husband and Make Me Disappear

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