Engaging and entertaining, it builds to a spectacular climax involving a pipe band, a troupe of dancing Zulus, a collapsing team of stilt walkers and a police chase.Deft, daft, and definitely delicious.
Val McDermid, Manchester Evening Post.

Joyce Holms's first novel, written with ease and humour, is an exceedingly pleasant read....one looks forward to the next engagement between the independent-minded Fizz and the more staid and conventional Buchanan.
T.J Binyon. London Evening Standard.

A first crime novel (featuring) a delightfully drawn young woman.A good story, light hearted, full of fascinating characters, and it makes me look forward to more of the exploits of Fizz and Tam Buchanan.
F E Pardoe. Birmingham Post.

A cleverly plotted story...The characters are well drawn and the story moves along at an enjoyably brisk pace.
Susanna Yager. Sunday Telegraph.

...maybe I've just been reading too much Rankin and Jardine...for a start (Payment Deffered) is much more entertaining...Fizz is a sparkling creation, bright, optimistic and funny....Despite the serious nature of the plot the book is very funny (I even laughed out loud at one point) This is a sparkling, sassy debut.
Anne Artymuik. Crime Time

The best recent crime fiction does not revel in violence for it's own sake, says Susanna Yager.
Payment Deferred is another first novel, a cleverly-plotted story by Joyce Holms.
The ebullient, quick-thinking Fizz, a young woman with almost enough intelligence to match her ambition, gets a job as assistant to a young lawyer and pushes him into investigating the evidence which convicted a friend of his for abusing his small daughter.The characters are well drawn and the story moves along at an enjoyably brisk pace.
Susanna Yagar. Sunday Telegraph

'Payment Deferred' - Joyce Holms
In keeping with a recent Scottish frenzy, this novel is set in modern Edinburgh, but rather a different Edinburgh from Rankin's bleak, surreal, cold world. What promises (by the cover blurb alone) to be the first in a series, Payment Deferred is a light-hearted mystery novel about an Edinburgh solicitor, Tam Buchanan (no relation to Maggody) and his unconventional new assistant, Fizz Fitzpatrick. The plot, which is rather neatly done and extremely engaging, concerns an old acquaintance of Tam's, who is seeking to clear his name over a charge of child abuse, and seeks Tam's rather reluctant and Fizz's enthusiastic help. By the far the most engaging aspect of this novel is its extremely light tone that also manages to avoid coyness or flippancy, and the engaging character of Fizz, though Tam is also equally intriguing. Holms has a terrific comic touch, and a talent for wickedly sharp observation, which I hope will continue in further books.
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