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Winona Kent
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Bad Boy: A Jason Davey Mystery (Jason Davey Mysteries) Paperback – August 31, 2024

by Winona Kent (Author)

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Jason Davey, professional musician and amateur sleuth, never expected his fan meeting at The Shard to end in a devastating plunge. But when Marcus Merritt jumps to his death after handing Jason a program from his last tour, Jason finds himself on a week-long quest to retrieve a stolen collection of scores by England's most famous composer.

As he delves deeper into the puzzle, Jason discovers that the clues are linked to the 14 themes in Elgar's Enigma Variations, and his journey takes him from Derbyshire to London's hidden music venues in a dangerous chase.

With a treacherous Russian gangster and a vengeful sister hot on his trail, Jason must use his musical talents and puzzle-solving wits to track down the missing scores. But as he uncovers the truth, he realizes that the stakes are higher than he ever imagined, and the key to solving the mystery may lie with a notorious London crime lord's missing daughter.

Join Jason Davey in his fifth thrilling adventure, Bad Boy, as he races against time to unravel the enigma and bring justice to Elgar's stolen scores. Fans of jazz, puzzles, and suspense won't want to miss this page-turning mystery.

If you loved The Da Vinci Code, you'll be hooked on Bad Boy.

Bad Boy is the fifth book in Winona Kent's mystery series featuring jazz musican-turned-amateur sleuth Jason Davey.

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  1. Book 5 of 5
    Jason Davey Mysteries
  2. Print length
    227 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    August 31, 2024
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.57 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1739046110
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1739046118
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Loved It! - Donna Spencer, Reedsy Discovery

An exciting scavenger hunt around musical London, in search of a stolen collection of Elgar's scores

Fresh from a 34-day, 18-city tour of England, professional musician and amateur sleuth Jason Davey accepts an invitation from a fan, Marcus Merritt, to meet at Level 72 of The Shard to sign one of his band's programs. Marcus hands him the booklet, then leaps to his death from the open viewing platform. Thus begins a week-long quest, during which Jason is tasked with retrieving a stolen collection of scores by England's most famous composer, Sir Edward Elgar.

Marcus shared Elgar's love of eccentric puzzles and games, and the challenging clues he's assembled for Jason seem to mirror the 14 themes in Elgar's renowned Enigma Variations. Jason's journey takes him to Derbyshire and then back to London, and a four-hour walking tour of Soho's lost music venues where, in Denmark Street, he faces a life-threatening battle with two adversaries: a treacherous Russian gangster who is also hunting for the stolen collection, and Marcus's sister—who holds the key to a decades-old mystery involving a notorious London crime lord's missing daughter.

Jason Davey has just returned home from a long tour of England and reluctantly agrees to meet a fan (Marcus) on the viewing platform on top of the Shard, to sign one of the band's programs. With his head down to sign, he only just sees Marcus leap to his death!

Here starts a week long scavenger hunt through London, Derbyshire and back to London, following an increasingly complex set of clues, delivered 'just in time' by a wide range of characters. Gradually Jason realises he's been tasked with finding a missing set of musical scores by Elgar; and also gradually realises there is more to Marcus' past than just the missing scores.

The scavenger hunt is unique and the core of this story. The clues are diverse, interesting and often quite cryptic. Luckily, readers don't need to figure them out to understand the story (well, unless you want to). I do think my favourite was 36 words ending in -ium (which I didn't bother trying to do), but I also enjoyed the family logic puzzle and an easy train-leaves-a-station (that wasn't so easy for Jason and involved a quite complex description).

The history of Denmark Street was fascinating, though you don't need to know anything particular about the London music scene to follow along. I suspect that fans of Elgar will get much more than I did from meeting characters who represented the 14 themes, but I still followed along easily.

Winona Kent is great at describing the environment and characters. Her descriptions of locations are well-observed, clear and concise. While most of the characters in the book come and go fairly quickly, and there are a lot of them, they are distinct and easy to remember.

The story resolves in a very satisfying way - the scores delivered, Marcus' story resolved - with only a few injuries along the way.

After the incident at Level 72 - Valerie Green, The BC Review

Jason Davey is a talented musician with considerable knowledge of several musical genres, from jazz to classical. Between gigs at The Blue Devil in London, he takes on cases to investigate and, hopefully, solve. The last one almost cost him his life, so he is more than happy to get back to his first love again—music.

Soon after his return from a tour, Davey is pestered by a man who claims to be a fan and would like him to sign a concert program. Davey ignores the calls and texts, but eventually decides to answer, simply to get rid of this stranger. Much to his surprise, the "fan" (Marcus Merritt) wants to meet with him for something else: a possible job.

Davey is reluctant, as all his investigative work seems to land him in trouble. And to end badly. This one seems a little different, though, because it involves the works of famous composer Edward Elgar. Encouraged by his band members Dave and Rudy, who believe the case could possibly be "a new musical adventure" for him, Davey decides to meet Merritt the following day at the designated meeting place—Level 72 at the pinnacle of the Shard building in London.

Although Davey is immediately intrigued, the meeting does not go quite as planned. Merritt delivers a strange message, along with the program to sign, some instructions, and an envelope tucked inside the program. The message is simply: "I want you to remember something for me, Jason. Newlydale. It's in Derbyshire." And he mentions the name Judy.

Then, while Davey is signing the program, Merritt runs towards the open-air glass window at the building's southeast corner and leaps.

The sight of Merritt plummeting to his death shakes Davey to the core. It is obvious that Merritt intended to die and for Davey to witness the suicide before he'd read the instructions. It appears he must now follow a series of clues to solve a mystery and right a wrong.

Thus begins an intriguing mystery, written in Kent's captivating, enigmatic style, that takes her protagonist on a paper chase of clues through England. Kent's knowledge of music and particularly of Denmark Street in London's Soho district in the 1960s and '70s is incredible.
The Merritt mystery is linked in a captivating way with Sir Edward Elgar's music and requires Davey to find and return the stolen parts of his works to their rightful place. Kent's research about Elgar's Variations is remarkable and corresponds fruitfully to each clue Merritt has left on the journey the sleuth must take.

Davey's travels begin with Merritt's ex-wife, Judy, in Newyldale, and takes him on a mystery tour that discovers people, places, and events in the notes he must follow. The journey includes a visit to a bakery, a Russian gangster who is also searching for the stolen collection, a fire, Merritt's sister, and a decades-old case centred on a crime lord's missing daughter. He must also take a four-hour walking tour in Soho and the old musical glory days of Denmark Street, where names like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John, and so many more began their careers.

This book is full of twists and turns, imagination, music and, above all, mystery. It requires a lot of concentration to follow the plot and is not an easy read. With that said, all the characters are strong and carry the story along with pizazz and style. Davey is a likeable character who narrates his journey with both humour and exasperation at the task Merritt set for him. The final dark scenes build to a thrilling end and a revelation at that point ties everything up nicely.

As Bad Boy depicts the image of a suicide, Kent is aware her readers might be troubled by it. At the onset of the book she offers help and support by listing various organizations, both in the UK and elsewhere around the world.

About the Author

Winona Kent was born in London, England and grew up in Saskatchewan. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and a screenwriting diploma from VFS. Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter, the Managing Editor of a literary magazine and a university Graduate Programs Assistant. She's the author of an anthology of short stories and eleven novels, including her five current Jason Davey soft-boiled musical mysteries. Winona lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building's compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners. Please visit her website at: http: //www.winonakent.com

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Winona Kent

Winona Kent

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Winona Kent is an award-winning author who was born in London, England and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she completed her BA in English at the University of Regina. After moving to Vancouver, she graduated from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing and received her diploma in Writing for Screen and TV from Vancouver Film School.

Winona's writing breakthrough came many years ago when she won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with her short story about an all-night radio newsman, “Tower of Power”.

Her debut novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Award and was published by Bantam Books in 1989. This was followed by a sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, and her first mystery, Cold Play, set aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.

After three time-travel romances (Persistence of Memory, In Loving Memory and Marianne's Memory), Winona returned to mysteries with Disturbing the Peace, a novella, in 2017 and the novel Notes on a Missing G-String in 2019, both featuring the character she first introduced in Cold Play, professional jazz musician / amateur sleuth Jason Davey.

The third and fourth books in Winona's Jason Davey Mystery series, Lost Time and Ticket to Ride, were published in 2020 and 2022. Her fifth Jason Davey Mystery, Bad Boy, was published in 2024.

Winona also writes short fiction. Her story “Salty Dog Blues” appeared in Sisters in Crime-Canada West's anthology Crime Wave in October 2020 and was nominated as a finalist in Crime Writers of Canada's Awards of Excellence for Best Crime Novella in April 2021. “Blue Devil Blues” was one of the four entries in the anthology Last Shot, published in June 2021, and “Terminal Lucidity” appeared in the Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Women of a Certain Age (October 2022). “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re a Dog”, appeared in the Sisters in Crime-Canada West anthology, Dangerous Games (October 2024).

A collection of Winona’s short stories, Ten Stories That Worried My Mother, was published in 2023.

Winona has been a temporary secretary, a travel agent, a screenwriter and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine.

Winona's the Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, and is also an active member of Sisters in Crime – Canada West. After many decades working in jobs completely unrelated to writing, Winona is now happily embracing life as a full-time author. She lives in New Westminster, BC with her husband, and a concerning number of disobedient houseplants, many of which were rescued from her apartment building’s compost bin after being abandoned by previous owners.