The Nancys - R.W.R. McDonald with Bri Lee

We think so highly of The Nancys we made it our June Book of the Month! Join us for an evening with its author R.W.R. McDonald, appearing in-conversation with Bri Lee, to see what all the fuss is about! What happens when a schoolgirl and her uncle and his boyfriend have two weeks to solve a murder in a small town style forgot?

About the Book

Tippy Chan is eleven and lives in a small town in a very quiet part of the world - the place her Uncle Pike escaped from the first chance he got as a teenager. Now Pike is back with his new boyfriend Devon to look after Tippy while her mum's on a cruise.

Tippy is in love with her uncle's old Nancy Drew books, especially the early ones where Nancy was sixteen and did whatever she wanted. She wants to be Nancy and is desperate to solve a real mystery. When her teacher's body is found beside Riverstone's only traffic light, Tippy's moment has arrived. She and her minders form The Nancys, a secret amateur detective club.

But what starts as a bonding and sightseeing adventure quickly morphs into something far more dangerous. A wrongful arrest, a close call with the murderer, and an intervention from Tippy's mum all conspire against The Nancys. But regardless of their own safety, and despite the constant distraction of questionable fashion choices in the town that style forgot, The Nancys know only they can stop the killer from striking again.

The Nancys is gripping and glorious, a heart-warming novel for anyone who's ever felt they were on the outside looking in. At its heart it is about the family we make and how we must summon the courage to face the truth, no matter what the cost may be.

Praise

"A delight - moving and hilarious. I loved every minute I spent with these characters." - Paddy O'Reilly

"How does The Nancys manage to be both sharp and blackly funny, but also uplifting and sweet?" - Toni Jordan

"I really didn’t want this fun to end. There are no comparisons, this is an original, page-to-page ticklish, campy romp through contemporary New Zealand! Forget long-winded scenic descriptions, hello exciting characters, dirty puns and a fun-filled, Nancy Drew-style mystery. This is gold!" - Dean, Book Buyer, Better Read Than Dead.

About the Author

R.W.R. McDonald is a Kiwi living in Melbourne with his two daughters and an extended family of two baby mommas, an estranged cat, Flower, and Stevie Nicks the chicken. He attended Faber Academy's Writing a Novel Stage 1 and Stage 2 and an excerpt of The Nancys was published in the Faber Writing Academy 'Writing a Novel' Anthology, Allen & Unwin (2016). He realised while studying journalism that writing fiction, rather than reporting facts, was his true bent. The Nancys was Highly Commended for an Unpublished Manuscript in the 2017 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.

About Bri Lee

Bri Lee is the author of the award-wining Eggshell Skull. She is a freelance writer whose work appears in The Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She regularly appears on ABC TV's The Drum, and ABC Radio National. In 2016 Bri was the recipient of the inaugural Kat Muscat Fellowship, and in 2017 was one of Griffith Review's Queensland writing fellows. In 2018 Bri received a Commonwealth Government of Australia scholarship and stipend to work on her second book at the University of Queensland. She is qualified to practice law, but doesn't.