The High Auction

How it reads

The High Auction is mystery (crime mystery, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the present day, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are secrets, justice and class and society. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 180 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.