Mindful of Murder

Canadian Bestseller

Debuted as the #1 New Release in Canada!

Shortlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour

March, 2022

Meet Helen Thorpe. She’s smart, preternaturally calm, insightful and a freshly trained butler. On the day she is supposed to start her career as an unusually equanimous domestic professional serving one of the wealthiest families in the world, she is called back to a spiritual retreat where she used to work, the Yatra Institute, on one of British Columbia’s Discovery islands. The owner of the lodge, Helen’s former employer Edna, has died while on a three-month silent self-retreat, leaving Helen instructions to settle her affairs.

But Edna’s will is more detailed than most, and getting things in order means Helen must run a retreat for a select group to determine which of Edna’s relatives will take over the institute. Helen’s classmates, newly minted butlers themselves, decide they can’t let her go it alone and arrive to help. After all, is there anything three butlers can’t handle? As Helen carries out the will’s instructions, she begins to think that someone had reason to want Edna dead. Helen and her band of butlers find themselves tangled in a mystery that cannot be solved with even the best manners.

Praise for bestselling Mindful of Murder

No one but Susan Juby would come up with the concept of a Buddhist
butler detective, then execute it so beautifully. This novel has all
the whimsical characters and charm we’ve come to know and love from
Juby, but this time wrapped in a murder/mystery. I want to say it’s
reminiscent of #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency or The Thursday Murder
Club, yet it is so entirely unique; a perfect novel to curl up with in
front of a fire with a cozy blanket and a mug of tea. I hope this is
the first in a long series.

—Susin Nielsen
Bestselling author and creator of Family Law on Global TV

“Helen has a compelling presence that can only be described in one word: Helen. She’s able to maintain composure in the most alarming situations with the thought Never again this moment.”
—Carol Matthews in The BC Review

“Mindful of Murder has all of the classic elements of a cozy mystery making it ideal reading for a rainy day or cottage getaway. It’s sure to leave readers hoping this is the first in a series.”
—Christina McLaurine in Cloud Lake Literary