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Announcing THE CONTEST by Jeff Macfee (11th Feb 2025)

Acquisition Announcement and Cover Reveal – The Contest by Jeff Macfee

 

Cover designed by Sneha Alexander

We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of The Contest, a noir debut crime novel by Jeff Macfee. 

Publication date: 11th February 2025

In this thoughtful mystery with deeply personal stakes, a former puzzle prodigy returns to the competing world. For fans of The Queen’s Gambit, THE CONTEST explores the highs and lows of the puzzle world, life after fame and clinging to the past…

Macfee had the following to say about his debut: “I wrote The Contest to answer some questions. What if you put everything into winning a life-changing contest, but lost? What would you do for a second chance? Throughout the book Gillian is forced to confront these questions, and deal with the fallout from her answers. I’m excited for this book to be out in the world (soon) and huge thanks to Gemma Creffield and the awesome team at Datura for helping make that possible.”

In anticipation of the release, editor for The Contest Gemma Creffield also had the following to say: “The Contest is unlike anything I’ve read before, so I immediately knew it would be perfect for Datura! I adored both the puzzles and riddles – although I was never smart enough to guess the answers! – and following the journey of Gillian, who perfectly depicts what happens when you always feel second-best.”

Macfee’s agent Lisa Rodgers also had the following comment: “The Contest highlights where Jeff’s strengths as a writer are: writing authentic characters forced to make bad decisions for the right reasons, or perhaps the right decisions for bad reasons. Jeff does a phenomenal job sharing Gillian’s emotional journey as she wrestles with making a seemingly impossible choice.”

Read on for the full blurb of The Contest!

Once a child prodigy of puzzles and logic games, Gillian Charles now barely ekes out a living in Los Angeles. With her sick mother facing eviction from her care facility, Gillian can’t say no when her childhood nemesis, Tommy, shows up at her apartment with a $50k offer. All she has to do is return to the place where it all started, where she swore she’d never set foot again: Miscellany.
Miscellany is a place of wonder and enchantment—a Disney World for puzzle lovers, and one that quickly owns the lives of those who stay too long. Tommy is running the park’s latest big game, and he’s convinced someone is leaking the answers. With investment and expansion in the cards, Miscellany can’t afford a scandal. As a former puzzler who kept her distance from Miscellany for twenty years, Gillian should find it easy to investigate while avoiding Miscellany’s charms and entanglements.
But when Gillian arrives, she discovers things aren’t so straightforward. Her turncoat ex-friend Martin Ellsberg holds the security reins, Tommy’s estranged wife Evelina spins PR webs around the park’s machinations, and the manipulative park founder Sebastian offers her the financial security and intellectual future she always wanted. With her mother’s circumstances growing more dire, and under pressure to sweep the accusations under the rug, Gillian finds childhood games all the more treacherous for adults.
Miscellany is offering Gillian the life she always wanted. But at what price?

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