Histria Books is pleased to announce the paperback release of Whatever Doesn’t Kill You: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery and Time and Trouble: An Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery by Gillian Roberts. These novels are published by Histria Fiction, an imprint of Histria Books dedicated to outstanding original works of fiction.
Whatever Doesn’t Kill You (Volume 1 in the Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery series)
Private investigator Emma Howe and her junior partner Billie August are juggling two deeply messy cases. Emma is hunting down a client’s elusive birth mother, only to uncover a trail of deliberate lies. Meanwhile, Billie is trying to clear the name of Gavin Riddock, a wealthy, misunderstood young man accused of murdering his childhood friend. Roberts builds the story around the biases we project onto neurodivergent people and the exhausting realities of motherhood, wealth, and reputation. They navigate the fraught territory of human perception, peeling back the layers of a community eager to condemn anyone who falls outside its rigid norms. This book delivers, wrapping sharp social critique inside a smart procedural.
Time and Trouble (Volume 2 in the Emma Howe and Billie August Mystery series)
In Time and Trouble, cynical veteran Emma Howe and her ambitious young mentee, Billie August, take on the case of a missing teenage girl that quickly spirals into a dark tangle of family deceit and murder. What makes the novel feel so fresh is how fiercely it grounds the mystery in the messy realities of womanhood. Navigating the unglamorous grind of surveillance work, casual industry sexism, and the quiet terrors of single parenting, the generational friction between the two detectives brings a sharp energy to the page. Ultimately, the story treats their daily fight for personal survival and agency with the exact same intensity as the central whodunit.
Gillian Roberts is the pseudonym of Judith Greber, the Anthony Award-winning author best known for her beloved Amanda Pepper mystery series. Judith’s been happily married for almost the entire last millennium, and is the mother of two grown sons. Gillian, Judith’s mysterious alter-ego, was named at a party by Judith’s friends after a publisher insisted she take another name for her mysteries, so as not to confuse the readers. Judith’s been confused ever since.
