Diagnosis or Death, the second book in the Janna Rose Mysteries series by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, has received the Literary Titan Book Award, recognizing the novel’s compelling blend of character-driven mystery, topical suspense, and thought-provoking social commentary.
The novel follows Janna Rose, an Oxford journalist-turned-therapist whose world is shaken by the sudden death of a colleague. Although police dismiss the tragedy as suicide, Janna is not convinced. Driven by a fierce sense of fairness and justice, she begins asking questions that lead her into a shadowy world of artificial intelligence, online deception, benefit fraud, and deepfake technology, where identity is fluid and nothing is quite as it seems.
As Janna investigates further, she uncovers a troubling scheme involving vulnerable people, social care systems, and the unsettling ease with which trust can be manipulated. With dark forces closing in and danger around every corner, Janna must rely on her insight into human motivation, her therapeutic training, and her courage to reveal the truth.
Literary Titan praised Diagnosis or Death as a thoughtful and witty contemporary mystery, highlighting Janna Rose as “sharp, funny, nosy, principled, and occasionally messy” in a way that makes her feel authentic and relatable. The review commended the novel for grounding its mystery in real-world pressures such as rent, family, work, ethics, professional pride, and the compromises people make in everyday life. Literary Titan also noted the book’s bold integration of murder mystery with disability benefits, EMDR therapy, AI fakery, local politics, and social care, describing it as especially suited for readers who enjoy amateur sleuth stories, British social mysteries, and crime fiction tangled up with institutions, ethics, and ordinary life.
The inspiration for Diagnosis or Death draws from Annabel McGoldrick’s professional experience as a consultant in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, a form of non-speaking therapy that can involve a kind of detective work to understand what drives a client’s behavior. The authors shaped Janna Rose as a heroine with a strong sense of justice, someone who is not a police officer but is nevertheless compelled to act when she senses that the official story does not add up.
Readers who enjoy character-led mystery fiction with a contemporary edge can find Diagnosis or Death on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
With its topical exploration of artificial intelligence, identity, vulnerability, and institutional trust, Diagnosis or Death offers readers a mystery that extends beyond the question of who committed the crime. It asks who is believed, who is dismissed, and who benefits when vulnerable people are exploited.
About the Author
Jake Lynch is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, where he teaches in the Master of Social Justice degree program. A former BBC World Television newsreader and award-winning international journalist, he was honored with the Luxembourg Peace Prize in 2017 for his work in Peace Journalism. Lynch divides his time between Australia and Oxford, the setting for his novels. His fiction includes the Janna Rose Mysteries, co-authored with his partner, Annabel McGoldrick, including Diagnosis or Death and Mind Over Murder, published by Next Chapter. His poetry has appeared in literary journals including Pulsebeat and Collaborature.
Email: jakemlynch@hotmail.com
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Literary Titan
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