Sarah J. Harris’ The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder centres around Jasper Wishart, who faces more obstacles than your average amateur sleuth as he attempts to crack the mystery at the heart of this book. But then, Jasper’s no ordinary thirteen-year-old boy, thanks to the way in which he sees the world.

One of the beauties of a good book is how it can put you inside the head of someone who experiences the world differently to you and this is exactly what Sarah J. Harris achieves here. I’d heard of synaesthesia, a condition in which senses intermingle, but struggled to picture how it manifests itself. In Jasper’s case, he sees words, numbers and even voices in colour and experiencing this alongside him in the book was a revelation. (Although I also think there is a danger of becoming too fixated on trying to remember all the colours he sees. I had to remind myself there was no test at the end of the book before I stopped doing so.)

Together with his synaesthesia, Jasper also experiences prosopagnosia (or face blindness), which admittedly is a huge obstacle for anyone trying to piece together people’s movements in the days leading up to the disappearance of their neighbour, and immediately afterwards. I had to admire Jasper’s tenacity, the coping mechanisms he puts in place to navigate life as he sees it, and raged on his behalf when someone set out to trick Jasper by using his own system against him.

As Jasper investigates his neighbourhood, people’s foibles and flaws are under scrutiny, and the solution when it’s revealed comes from a surprisingly dark place. Jasper and the colours he sees provide a perfect foil to these more shadowy elements. They shine through in the way he refuses to accept Bee’s disappearance and insists that the parakeets in her garden continue to be fed. They’re ever present in the challenges he faces both at home and at school, from the comfort he takes in his notebook arrangement to how fraught it is for him to be the messenger. Jasper’s an extraordinary character and I loved having the opportunity to see the world through his eyes and begin to understand what life is like for him.

This was an original, touching and gripping read. A brilliant blend of genres and clearly incredibly well researched. It’s about Jasper, a child with learning difficulties, who lives with his widowed father. He keeps his distance from his peers and spends his spare time watching all the comings and goings on his street, so when enigmatic, young and attractive music teacher Bee moves in next door, his interest is piqued. And he’s not alone.

This book has received some hype, but I’ve also seen some pretty mixed reviews. It seems to me, the main character Jasper is getting a pretty hard time; his distinct voice seems to have rubbed some readers up the wrong way. But the kid has autism, synthesia, facial blindness and he’s lost his mother – the one person who understood his condition – far too young. Yes, he’s obsessive, repetitive and he doesn’t see things the way we do – that’s what makes him special, and this book so unique.

“My life is a thrilling kaleidoscope of colours only I can see.”

I loved his voice which narrates the story throughout, and I truly felt for both him and his dad, a widower struggling to cope alone with a child with severe learning disabilities. It was both heart warming and heart wrenching reading about their fragile relationship; the microwave meals and failed camping trips. Really, really well done.

But to the main part of the story – the murder of Bee Larkham. I wasn’t sure how a genuine murder mystery would work combines with themes of family, childhood and Jasper’s conditions, but it does work so well. There’s some serious dark and sinister topics, but Jasper’s view of the world lightens things and allows for some beautiful writing which really brings his colours to life. It also forces the reader to piece the mystery together for themselves; Jasper is at times very observant of his surroundings and neighbours but also an unreliable narrator due to his difficulty understanding social interactions and situations. It’s really cleverly done, without ever feeling like Jasper’s situation is used as a plot device. On the contrary, he makes this story – he’s one of my favourite characters I’ve read in a long time.

But Jasper isn’t the only excellent character in this book; I also felt for his Dad enormously and the titular character, their neighbour Bee Larkham. She was intriguing, difficult to interpret; at times I felt empathy towards her and at others horror at her actions. The way the story unfolds kept me gripped throughout, and I think this story stands as a murder mystery in its own right, as well as a family drama and exploration of childhood learning difficulties. A unique, multilayered story – one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

Soon after downloading 'The Colour of Bee Larkham's Murder' i was pleased to have come across a paperback version. An interesting story and one that i enjoyed very much. I had never heard of Synaesthesia prior to reading this book. Recommended.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy.

Awaiting Amazon to accept my review.

This is a very unusual book, and at first I found that it was difficult to tread. However, once I was used to the unusual style and the way that the main protagonist Jasper thinks, I was completely absorbed. Jasper is severely autistic and has synaesthesia, so that he hears in colours, He becomes very close to his neighbour, who is then murdered, and Jasper has information about the killer that he doesn't realise he knows. The resolution of the crime thread of the novel is very clever and definitely was very effective at building suspense. An unusual and thought provoking crime novel, excellent.

Whilst I appreciate that this is an original concept - centered around a young boy who witnesses a murder but who suffers from a medical condition where we can't recognise people's faces - I feel like the story didn't quite live up to the exciting proposal. I did enjoy it but found it quite slow and it spent a lot of time focusing on tiny descriptive detail, meaning that my engagement in the story lacked slightly.

A very unusual book but a little slow for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I really, really wanted to like this book, but I found it so hard to read, it just wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience.
The main narrator of the book is a boy called Jasper, who has synaesthesia - this is a condition which means he sees sounds as colour. I was aware of the condition before I started reading the book and it was one of the reasons I was so interested in the topic. Jasper also suffers with face blindness, which makes him pretty extraordinary. After a little while, we realise that Jasper is a rather unreliable narrator.
There is a lot of description in the book, which is obviously necessary bearing in mind Jasper's conditions, but it makes reading the book quite distracting. Aside from the description, it also takes a while to get used to Jasper's style of dialogue - it's quite complicated and there's a lot going on.
There's a lot of good things going on in this book - the actual plot is really interesting, and the use of the protagonist's conditions really added to the surreal nature of what was going on. However, the execution wasn't quite there for me, and I found it a difficult read.

An interesting take on a murder mystery seen from the eyes of a boy who doesn't see things as most people do. Jasper has synaesthesia, an autism spectrum disorder where he doesn't identify things by the way they look, but by the way they sound...each noise or voice is associated with a colour...clever prose here, along with the story itself, as we gain an insight into Jasper's World, and the frustrations it brings him and people he is in contact with.

Jasper is a teenage boy being brought up by his Dad after the death of his Mum some years ago. He’s autistic and also has face blindness (literally doesn’t recognise anyone’s face, only their clothing/jewellery etc.) and synaesthesia (sees colours and patterns when he hears sounds i.e. a barking dog looks like it’s surrounded by yellow french fries). When free spirited Bee Larkham moves into Jasper’s street and starts playing loud “alien” music, disrupting the peace and causing Jasper to see shiny silver shapes, he’s intrigued. When he meets her and finds out that her “colour” is a rare shade of blue (just like his Mum’s) he’s excited. And when he talks to her about his beloved wild parakeets that nest in her tree and she actively encourages them, Jasper thinks he’s made a new best friend. So why is Bee Larkham missing, and why does Jasper think that he’s killed her?

As you can probably already tell, this is a highly original book. Jasper is a great, multi-dimensional character – an unreliable narrator whose innocent view of the world puts a very different spin on the main narrative. On the other hand, Bee Larkham is a horrible, manipulative individual. She had a terrible childhood and I’d guess that she was mentally ill but she’s literally a paedophile. A lot of people seem to have glossed over this (perhaps because a woman having sex with an underage boy is somehow seen as not as bad as a man having sex with an underage girl?) but as far as I’m concerned abuse is abuse – and there’s a lot of it in the book. However, because of Jasper’s narration, it’s all wrapped up in a kind of cozy, childlike innocence that takes away from some of the horror – but works brilliantly to amplify it when something bad happens to him.

The main plot of the book is fairly straightforward, but with Jasper narrating the action you have to very carefully read between the lines to see what’s really going on. His inability to recognise faces (even those of his parent’s) adds another layer of complexity, although this makes the story somewhat hard to follow in places and the repetition of endless descriptions of colours did get a bit tedious. I also thought that the plot could have been a bit tighter – to me, the book felt overly long and there were some slack parts during the middle chapters where nothing really happened.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the light and shade within the novel – the overall tone was lighthearted and amusing despite the dark subject matter. Jasper was totally naive to the situation going on around him but there was just enough information for the reader to be able to guess at what was really happening. There were a few red herrings thrown in for good measure too, which kept me on my toes and meant that I didn’t even begin to guess at what the final conclusion might be.

Overall, I liked The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder for it’s charm, complexity and uniqueness but there were times when the writing got a bit tedious and I disengaged from the storyline. I liked the neurodiverse representation and felt that this really added to the intrigue but the novel felt overly long and I sometimes found it hard to follow who was who. It’s a shame because this could have been an absolutely brilliant read – it’s certainly a great idea – but unfortunately the author didn’t quite pull it off.

I love this original book. So you wake up confused and know you were on a date last night. However when you look in the mirror you aren’t you.....read on to see why, what happens and how this can be. I gave this 4/5 on goodreads.

This was such a fulfilling and authentic read. I can't even imagine how much research, attention to detail and effort it must have taken Sarah J. Harris to write it. It is both a literary and plot masterpiece.

I am looking forward to her next story.

Thank you, Harper Collins, and, The Borough Press, for the chance to read this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review.

A witness who obsessively watches the victims house, paints all that goes on with detailed notes including times and was there when the murder happened. It should be a detective's dream especially as Jasper is really keen to help the police. But 13 year old Jasper has Autism and his synesthesia and face blindness mean no-one is listening. Told in the first person, this can be a little challenging as Jasper tells his story in the colours of the sounds he hears. It's a fascinating concept for a whodunnit and even if it isn't 100% true to the life experience I felt I was getting something of an insight.

Life in the neighbourhood is thoroughly disrupted when the bohemian Bee Larkham moves in. What happens next unfolds in the words of Jasper Wishart whose face blindness means he relies on voices and clothing to recognise people. Further complication is provided by his synesthesia which means he experiences sounds in vivid colour and paints, not what he sees, but what he hears.

Page turner!

I found the constant reference to colour too intrusive to finish the book but, while it’s not as good as Curious Incident to which it’s been likened, I’m sure it will be enjoyed by some of our readers.

I stayed up until 2.30 finishing this book as I had to find out the ending. Life is difficult to navigate when you can identify people by their faces but if you’re like Jasper and can only identify people from the colour their voices make life is a minefield. Then add the fact that you know a murder has happened yet no one will listen to you. The thought of how Sarah Harris plotted and researched this makes my head hurt just thinking about it. So cleverly thought out. This deserves all the plaudits it gets a great start to 2019

This is a most unusual murder mystery. The reader is initially even left unsure whether there has been a victim as everything is seen through the eyes of a young autistic teenager who has no ability to manage facial recognition but who hears everything in colour. He is unable to identify his own father except by the "colour " of his voice. The portrayal of the boy's "disability" is compelling and the writer kept the suspense to the end. Have recommended this to book groups as it provides plenty of talking points

Jasper has synaesthesia and therefore sees the world in a unique way. He can’t recognise faces but distinguishes people by the colour of their voices. This makes him a unique protagonist in this new take on a whodunnit.

I enjoyed this book from the outset and was convinced I had it sussed but was surprised more than once. The book kept me engaged all the way through and was refreshingly different to anything I have read before.

Alongside the murder mystery the book manages to explore the complexities of relationships for those with learning difficulties and the people around them.

I will look out for more of this authors work in the future.

Thanks @netgalley for the arc of this book!

This is an interesting mishmash of autistic boy/synaesthesia/murder mystery genres. I can see that some readers might find Jasper's character too frustrating (there's an awful lot about the parakeets!) but I though the portrayal was good, though he occasionally seemed a bit younger than he was supposed to be. The synaesthesia aspect was very interesting, and it was also interesting to think about what it must be like to have face blindness (or live with someone who does).
I liked the murder mystery side of things, and I was kept guessing on what happened so that's always a plus point for me.
On the downside, I found the conclusion ran too slowly for my liking. I understood why Jasper was only slowly piecing together the evidence, but it just dragged on too long. I also found the time shifts very confusing. I felt like I needed a little calendar in front of me to figure out which bit of time I was reading about now - this did add to the confusing feel of the murder, but I would have preferred a more linear approach, or at least a clearer delineation of what was happening when without the need to try and remember days.
Overall though I enjoyed reading this.

Our protagonist, Jasper, is the ultimate in unreliable narrators. Jasper doesn’t engage with the world in the way that others do. For a start, he has face blindness – prosopagnosia, which means that he is unable to recognise faces, even those he sees every day, like his dad’s, so he has to rely on familiar clothing or pieces of jewellery to recognise people.

Jasper also has synesthesia, a condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses. Jasper’s form of synesthesia means that he perceives words, concepts and sounds with the sensory perception of colour. So, Jasper’s mum, now deceased, was for him a joyous cobalt blue. Thursday is apple green and Jasper’s dad has an ochre voice and always wears a blue shirt and blue jeans for him.

So Jasper lives in a world that is different to everyone else. He loves his colours and understands the world through them. They are what inspire him to tell his stories through his paintings. Like many people with autism, he is also quite literally minded and is a bit compulsive, obsessive with a tendency to repeat things and so it is sometimes difficult to tell the past from the present when he tells his story.

,It is undoubtedly the colours that make this story. Seeing the world through Jasper’s eyes is a visual delight. These are colours that light up the imagination and stimulate the senses as Jasper struggles to tell his story in a way that others will understand. His love of music is informed by the dancing, bright and sparkling colours that music produces for him and enhances his joy several fold.

Into Jasper’s world comes a newcomer to his street, Bee Larkham. Bee is a colourful character who loves birds, exotic clothes and loud music and is a breath of fresh air to Jasper’s suburban street.

When Bee moves in, she begins to feed the birds and that helps to attract the brightly flashing parakeets which captivate Jasper. He looks at them every day from his bedroom window, recording their movements alongside those of the people on his street. He does this in a series of notebooks which are a written accompaniment to the vivid paintings that he makes and which also document his daily life.

It is no wonder that Bee becomes a focus for Jasper; she is everything that Jasper loves – musical, loud, colourful. And she also loves his parakeets which is an immediate point of bonding. So when Bee Larkham disappears, it is no surprise that the police turn to Jasper to try and understand what happened.

But is Jasper’saccount reliable? And who really knew Bee Larkham? By all accounts she knewmore than one man in the street very well indeed.

Jasper’s obsessive compulsive tendency is mirrored by thestory and this can sometimes make progress in understanding quite slow, but thedelight in this book comes from understanding the way in which Jasper has beenmanipulated to understand a story that is different to the one that others willsee.

So if you are looking or thrills, chills and fast paced narration, this isn’t the book for you. But if you want to enter another world; to see life from a different perspective – even perhaps to feel a little jealous about the vivid colours that Jasper sees but we do not, than sit back and immerse yourself in Jasper’s kaleidoscopic, colourful and fractured world and understand a little better why people behave the way that they do.

Verdict: Impactful, fascinating and so well researched, this is a unique story with many facets.

The combination of synaesthesia and a murder is a terrific one and I found The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder engaging and very funny in parts. Sarah Harris’ boy hero Jasper has an obsession with parakeets and struggles to express himself except in colours and sounds which results in some hilarious descriptions - velvety dark chocolate lines to describe snoring (inspired!). For me the book was too long and I found it lost its impetus half way through. However I certainly found the ending tense and surprising. Thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.

This tale follows the story of 13-year-old Jasper, an autistic boy who has face blindness and synaesthesia. He is convinced that someone has murdered Bee Larkham, but no one believes him.

I’ll start off by saying that this is a truly unique book. A combination of his autism, face blindness and synaesthesia creates a character like no other and a really interesting narrative. The way that Jasper describes the colour of people’s voices is really enjoyable to read. As a reader, you truly love Jasper. I created a bond with him extremely quickly and really felt his intense emotions during upsetting scenes.

The story is also incredibly intriguing. All the while you are kept o your toes and you never truly know what is going on until the very end. You can guess, of course, but you are never completely certain if you are right or not. I have to admit, there were times when the story was a little slow and dragged on a little bit for my liking, but it wasn’t something that I couldn’t get through. The way the ending was handled also wasn’t particularly my favourite and I think the climax should’ve been different, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a really, really good book. Definitely worth a read.