Just So Stories

Penguin Australia

June 2026

• ISBN: 9781761357305
• Imprint: Penguin
• RRP: $19.99

Amy Doak’s thrillers, especially the Eleanor Jones series, have been smash hits from the start and you could bet that when this one arrived on Thursday 18th, it wasn’t going to languish on the shelf for long unread. In fact, I took it away with us up the coast for the weekend and read it with huge satisfaction over the couple of nights.

Once again Eleanor Jones finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation in the sleepy little backwater town of Cooinda, which she and her mum, Min, have made their home.

Eleanor and most of the other teens are fully invested in the upcoming debutante ball, an old Cooinda tradition that has been recently revived. But at the same time, the endless rain and despite flood prevention strategies from former disasters, the deluge is potentially threatening the festivities, not to mention cause huge destruction to the town.

When a young street artist turns up dead, presumed drowned in an accident due to the surging river, his girlfriend is not convinced it was an accident and begs Eleanor to look into it, given her success with uncovering the truth in several other mysterious deaths.

Once again, the reader will be fully engaged with Eleanor and her friends: boyfriend Troy, and besties Namita, Alfie and Ethan along with police officer, Holly, on hand, as they all play their part in helping to uncover a very nasty situation with blackmail, extramarital affairs, fraud and misappropriation of funds all rolled into one murder.

Paired with the drama is the saga of the deb ball, with some frissons of anxiety, doubts and insecurities among the young people with regard to the objects of their individual attention. Ahhhh young love…along with moments of levity that provide some light relief from the lurking danger and disaster.

These are just so readable!! You fairly gallop along with the action which is snappy and focused. And I love that everything dovetails perfectly. Amy has a real knack for this genre and pulling all the disparate parts of the puzzle together to get that satisfying final click. Love them!!

And given this is the last but one post before the blog break and holidays -it’s a perfect time to get your hands on a copy and make it one of your vacation reads. No doubt about it, Eleanor Jones is a Must Read with a 5 🕵🏼‍♀️🕵🏼‍♀️🕵🏼‍♀️🕵🏼‍♀️🕵🏼‍♀️rating from me.