The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder: A Novel

A boy with synesthesia—a condition that causes him to see colors when he hears sounds—tries to uncover what happened to his beautiful new neighbor—and if he was ultimately responsible in this “compelling and emotionally charged mystery that warrants comparisons to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (Library Journal).

In this highly original “fantastic debut” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), thirteen-year-old Jasper Wishart lives in a world of dazzling color that no one else can see, least of all his dad. Words, numbers, days of the week, people’s voices—everything has its own unique shade. But recently Jasper has been haunted by a color he doesn’t like or understand: the color of murder.

Convinced he’s done something terrible to his neighbor, Bee Larkham, Jasper revisits the events of the last few months to paint the story of their relationship from the very beginning. As he struggles to untangle the knot of untrustworthy memories and colors that will lead him to the truth, it seems that there’s someone else out there determined to stop him—at any cost.

Full of page-turning suspense and heart-wrenching poignancy—as well as plenty of humor—The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder is “completely original and impossible to predict” (Benjamin Ludwig, author of Ginny Moon) with a unique hero who will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Sarah J. Harris is an author and freelance education journalist who regularly writes for national British newspapers. She is the author of the young adult series Jessica Cole: Model Spy, written under her pen name, Sarah Sky. She lives in London with her husband and two young children. The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder is her first adult novel. 

ISBN: 9781501187902
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: February 05, 2019

Funny and tragic and brave… a beautiful, original novel.I’ve never read anything like this. Completely original, and impossible to predict. I loved this book.
An original novel: poignant, engaging, at times suspenseful and even comic. It takes real skill to create a consistently credible child narrator, but I believed in 13-year-old Jasper and his confounding world. A triumph.Jasper—whose world is both more colorful and more frightening than ours—is a character who will stay with me for some time. Harris has written a literary page turner that utterly captivated me. A stunning debut.I found myself not just drawn but expertly daubed in to Jasper's world, with its splattered sense of morals and innocence.In this fantastic debut, Harris enters the technicolor mind of 13-year-old Jasper Wishart… Readers enamored of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Rosie Project will delight in Harris’s sparkling novel.A compelling and emotionally charged mystery that warrants comparisons to Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.“Sarah J. Harris has written an insightful character study with a terrific mystery alongside. Or maybe it’s a terrific mystery chaperoned by a compelling, heartbreaking, insightful narrator. Take your pick. Either way, it’s a great story, hard to put down and beautifully told.”