The Pie & Mash Detective Agency

Brinkworth, a pseudonym for couple Jo Dinkin and Catherine Brinkworth, debuts with a lightweight cozy featuring a pair of budding gumshoes. After three months of unemployment, Jane Pye signs up for a private investigation class in the London borough of Croydon. She coerces her friend Simon Mash, a lackadaisical corporate consultant, to join her for weekly lectures given by grizzled PI Gavin Smith. To earn their certificates, Jane and Simon must submit coursework on a real crime. Gavin assigns them the case of “the recurring disappearance of Nellie Thorne,” an urban legend that has baffled Kent police for more than 50 years: every decade or so since 1971, a different young woman named Nellie Thorne has vanished, leaving behind a puzzled boyfriend. The most recent Nellie leaves behind schoolteacher Dev Hooper, whose desperation to find her prompts him to accept Jane and Simon’s help. As the duo’s bumbling efforts unfold in the present, Brinkworth weaves in flashbacks to 1997, when Gavin conducted a failed search for a Nellie of his own. Though the characters are painted with a broad brush, zany humor saves the day. There’s enough here to support a sequel. Agent: Daisy Chandley, Peters Fraser + Dunlop. (Mar.)