Will I love The Proof of My Innocence?

A gripping murder mystery about the murder of an investigative journalist at True Con a right-wing conference in a run-down stately mansion. The novel is so timely with its US political connections, With several subplots the novel is part nostalgic memoir, and part twists and turns of a cosy murder mystery, There are several possible murderers with the villain hiding in plain sight all along.

You don’t expect a novel’s contents page to make you laugh out loud, but then you don’t expect a novel to be structured around British Transport Police’s public safety slogan “See it. Say it. Sorted”. After 30 years of reading his fiction, though, I never know what to expect next from Jonathan Coe.

The wit and warmth of Coe’s writing, coupled with his acute but affectionate eye for the quiet absurdities of British life, has long camouflaged a formal daring and subtle anger – both of which are very much in evidence here. Telling one story using three genres… show more.

Jonathan Coe is genius at satirising modern society in a clever, witty manner without resorting to unpleasantness. He is a master of social observation and has a perfect ear for speech patterns and attitudes of all generations.