Joseph Knox now offers an ingenious metafictional work about a cold case involving the disappearance of Zoe Nolan... This is one of the most engaging cold-case novels I have read." — Literary Review Best known for his role in the TV series New Girl, debut author Max Greenfield joins forces with illustrator Mike Lowery (Everything Awesome series) in this hilarious picture book tribute to reluctant readers. Knox has structured this story so well. From the beginning, with the 'publisher's note' printed at the start of the book, the reader finds themselves asking questions. I defy any reader not to Google the characters and the case, because it feels so real, so authentic and it is utterly brilliant. In True Crime Story, Knox will weave together a series of interviews that will blend fact and fiction to create a "dark and pacey thriller with a twist". The title will be published in hardcover, e-book and audio on 17th June 2021.

I needed to know what was going to happen to Evelyn and Zoe. I read a lot of this book two or three times. I adored it. it felt so real to me. Relationships and dreams remain achingly familiar, even in the wildest futures, in the stories collected in Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders ( Never Say You Can't Survive). True Crime Story is phenomenal. One of the most original thrillers I’ve read in years, perhaps ever. A gritty, twisted murder mystery told in the unique style of a true crime account. I’ve rarely raced through a book so fast. I’m just gutted that it’s probably ruined me for thrillers for a good long while! Absolutely remarkable." — Erin Young, author of The Fields Girard begins at the end, on November 7, 2016, when Cohen fell out of bed in his Los Angeles home: "Nobody heard me," he utters. "I am going to die here, all alone, like a dog." Rewind to Montreal, Cohen's birthplace, where he's a teen in 1947, desperately looking for his missing pooch, whose frozen corpse he finds under the neighbor's porch. "This is a rotten way to say goodbye," Cohen mourns. Farewells become a repetitive theme throughout his many decades, during which his achievements are often marred by drugs, alcohol and dysfunctional relationships--romantic, familial, professional.

Another factor I'm interested in is the concept of "true" crime itself. Is anything ever really empirically true once it's been remembered by one person, recorded by another, written down by yet another, edited by a fourth, read and interpreted by a fifth, etc., etc. Seven years after her disappearance, struggling writer Evelyn Mitchell finds herself drawn into the mystery. Through interviews with Zoe's closest friends and family, she begins piecing together what really happened in 2011. But where some versions of events overlap, aligning perfectly with one another, others stand in stark contrast, giving rise to troubling inconsistencies.

In 2011, Zoe Nolan walked out of her dormitory in Manchester, England and was never seen or heard from again. Her case went cold. Her story was sad, certainly, but hardly sensational, crime writer Joseph Knox thought. He wouldn't have given her any more thought were it not for his friend, Evelyn Mitchell. Another writer struggling to come up with a new idea, Evelyn was wondering just what happens to all the girls who go missing. What happens to the Zoe Nolans of the world?True Crime Story is Joseph Knox’s fourth novel. It’s his first standalone after three instalments of his urban noir series featuring Detective Constable Aidan Watts of Greater Manchester Police. The ‘true’ in the title and the ‘novel’ in the subtitle immediately establish a tension between fact and fiction and the relationship between the two is essential to the experience Knox wants to craft for his readers. The book is about the disappearance of a University of Manchester student named Zoe Nolan and it is not initially clear whether she is a real person, an imagined character, or a combination of the two. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Women, notes journalist Kaya Oakes, often find themselves caught between opposing expectations: what their families and societies want for them, their own dreams and ambitions, and the limits (and surprises) of their experiences. In The Defiant Middle, her thought-provoking fifth book, Oakes examines the lives of women throughout history, with a focus on the medieval era, who "defied expectations and reinvented themselves, along with their world."

On the surface, it's a detailed investigation into a cold case with some great twists. But the author takes a darkly satirical approach, poking fun not only at the genre but himself. The opening letter from his "former" publisher sets the tone & lets you know you're in for suspense delivered with a wink & a nudge. It also has something to say about social media & its dodgy relationship with the truth.

What I always loved about Ross MacDonald mysteries--and what I've always tried to emulate in my own writing--is that they become an excuse to look at family tragedies with all interpersonal frailties and weaknesses exposed. I think if people are honest with themselves, that's what they love about so many of the true crime podcasts. It's a kind of gossip and hearsay, and even better, it's life or death! So I'm trying to tap into that while also raising a bit of an eyebrow at it as well. What the novel does really well is explore how authors investigating a crime — getting caught up in it — can color not only what they write, but also what happens. In this case Evelyn actually causes the ending. She is an active part of the story. On the other hand, the Joseph Knox character uses his position to conceal his own involvement in a death. All in all it becomes metafiction at its weirdest and best.

Doubleday will publish Joseph Knox's True Crime Story, which the author calls his "most ambitious work", in summer 2021. Park's leading man will captivate readers with his blend of snarky humor, self-effacement and moments of touching vulnerability as he navigates life and love in a society still unaccepting of queer identities. His misadventures in a world of unappealing jobs, dating app hookups and the existential dread of entering adulthood should resonate especially with anyone who has come of age in the current epoch. Intimate and sharply observant, this bold confessional novel showcases a fresh, striking voice in literary fiction. -- Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads Because of this, I did not connect to any of the characters surrounding our missing woman, Zoe. I just didn't care. Nothing surprised me, nothing felt tense or suspenseful.It took them WAY too long to investigate the passageway in the wardrobe. When all of the things kept disappearing and weird things happening, I knew it had to do with that area. It made me so irritated that they didn't look into it sooner. Also, why didn't Zoe attend any classes? Why was she lying and saying that she was--to cover up her affair? It made no sense to me. Plus I wanted payoff and wanted to know what happened to her. College student Zoe Nolan disappeared from her dorm building in Manchester, England in 2011 and has never been seen since. What began as a missing person investigation, erupted into a full-scale is she dead mystery, with suspects including her twin sister Kim as well as her boyfriend, father and even friends. I was crying reading this because I felt such ever-present danger for our investigator, Evelyn, and I wanted her to turn out okay. She fought so hard for her story and for the truth of Zoe. Her book and character had me INVESTED.