As a fan of his Mervyn Stone books I couldn’t wait to read Nev Fountain’s latest plunge into the murky waters of fandom and the world of Vixens from the Void, albeit from a different perspective as the Mervyn Stobe books. Lies and Dolls, the second outing for neurodiverse sleuth and superfan Kit Pelham, picks up where The Fan Who Knew Too Much left off: in the feverish underbelly of cult sci-fi, where collectors hoard vintage action figures like nuclear secrets. In this book, Kit stumbles into a toy museum heist. It’s Agatha Christie by way of Comic-Con, and Fountain, with his background in fandom and Doctor Who writing is perfectly placed to write it!.
Kit Pelham is great fun, a professional fan whose encyclopedic recall of Void Vixens lore remind me slightly of the Doctor Who superfans who have founbd their place in the fandom like Toby #Hadoke and Crystal Dee. Fountain, drawing from his experience in Doctor Who audio dramas, Dead Ringers and Private Eye barbs, nails the absurdities of geek culture with affectionate venom.
The suspects? A mix of the usual over the top stereotypes: jealous archivists and fans, bitter ex-actors nursing grudges against their typecast pasts, and collectors whose devotion to a 1970s toy line borders on the unhinged. When a real body turns up, much like the figures minus a few limbs, the real mystery kicks in. Fountain’s pacing keeps it buoyant, zipping through red herrings and taking us through a brilliant story.
As a neurodiverse person I was pleased that Kit’s autism isn’t just a gimmick but an integral part of her and a strength, her literal minded way of working through things exposes the characters lies and the lies we tell ourselves about nostalgia.
If you’ve read the first book in the series The Fan Who Knew Too Much you’ll welcome the return of the characters you remember from the first book and the book is clever, chaotic, funny and of you’re a fan of anything, scarily familiar. I recommend this but you will get more from starting at the beginning, and I’m looking forward to the next Kit Pelham book.