Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe run the most in-demand private investigation agency in New York City.

The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes which expose the dark underbelly of the city – from a priceless art theft, high-stakes kidnapping and a decades-old unsolved murder, to a gruesome subterranean prison and corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power.

But it’s not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods – and untraceable pasts – attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI.

After all, it’s no surprise that there’s a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Margaret and Poe?

Holmes, Margaret and Poe is an engaging and immersive book that pulls you into the life of three New York eccentric Private Investigators who have set up shop together. After working on a high-profile case their names are suddenly in the limelight and everyone wants a piece of them, including the police.

The three PIs Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe, are vastly different and yet are so alike. Their cases likewise, from valuable items stolen, to missing people, and a possible serial killer going back years.

I adored this book. The chapters are short and snappy, a little like our main characters who are also wise, cunning, determined, and not afraid to ruffle some feathers. The cases intrigued me and it was nice to have more than one thread running throughout.

With an array of characters and cases, I was wondering whether things may muddle but they never did. Each stood out on its and their own merit. The setting was perfect, who doesn’t love a book set in New York, and the characters are a book lover’s dream.

Overall, Holmes, Margaret and Poe is a superb book that was exciting and captivating the whole way through. The plot doesn’t stand around for long so the pace is sharp and the pages are never dull, just how I like my reads.

James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 375 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades – the Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels – and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers.

James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, Dog Diaries and Max Einstein series. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past eleven years in a row. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.