The Strangest Criminals: A Funny and Heartwarming Cosy Fantasy Mystery About Crime, Magic, and Found Family

Welcome to Public Unrest: part cult, part crime syndicate, all chaos.

Sally Li didn’t mean to become a key player in the magical underworld. She just wanted to grow her weird, glowing plants in peace. But in Strange—a seaside town an hour from London, where the secrets outnumber the seagulls—peace is in short supply.

Sal cultivates Tinker, a rare, memory-meddling plant grown for Public a secretive, enchantment-fuelled crime syndicate hidden beneath the city. Its network is everywhere—through laundrette spin cycles, bakery ovens, and broom cupboards in takeaway shops—and it runs on a potent mix of magic, tech, and ruthless charm.

To the outside world, Sal is just another StrangeEats delivery rider. But underground, she’s the Orchard Manager, growing the most valuable (and volatile) product in the Family’s supply chain. She’s protected, surveilled, and suspiciously well-treated. Which means she’s either very important—or dangerously expendable.

When a turf war brews and Sal’s chosen family—her girlfriend Lucy and her flatmate Matti—get tangled in the fallout, she’s forced to confront how deep she’s in and who’s really calling the shots. Is she building something worthwhile or just tending the roots of a new kind of cult?

Set in a world where spells are bought online and secret doorways open through household appliances, The Strangest Criminals is a sharp, funny, and subversive crime fantasy about loyalty, found family, and the cost of choosing the wrong kind of magic. Perfect for fans of Neverwhere, Rivers of London, and The Thursday Murder Club—with a rebellious heart and a criminally good sense of humour.