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A Beginner's Guide to Murder

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
* Longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award 2022 * 'Guaranteed to hook you . . . At times both touching and darkly funny' Anna Bailey, Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones 'A beguiling, beautifully crafted treat of a novel. It holds so much wisdom yet wears it so lightly. There are shades of Kate Atkinson in the way Rosalind balances dark themes with dry humour, a great plot, exquisitely realised characters, and more than a hint of feminist sensibility . . . truly everything I want in a novel' Jessica Moor, bestselling author of Keeper '[An] excellent character-driven tale . . . by turns amusing, sorrowful, and thrilling. Stopps is definitely a writer to watch' Publishers Weekly, STARRED review 'A quirky, witty thriller that reminds us not to underestimate the older generation' Best 'Darkly comic and gripping' Woman's Own * * * Grace, Meg and Daphne, all in their seventies, are minding their own business while enjoying a cup of tea in a café, when seventeen-year-old Nina stumbles in. She's clearly distraught and running from someone, so the three women think nothing of hiding her when a suspicious-looking man starts asking if they've seen her. Once alone, Nina tells the women a little of what she's running from. The need to protect her is immediate, and Grace, Meg and Daphne vow to do just this. But how? They soon realise there really is only one answer: murder. And so begins the tale of the three most unlikely murderers-in-the-making, and may hell protect anyone who underestimates them. * * * Readers LOVE Rosalind Stopps: 'I was hooked from the start and finished it in little more than two days, because it was truly unputdownable. Beautifully written and really quite scary in places . . . A brilliant book. More from this excellent writer please!' Amazon 5* 'This is how fiction should be done! A fabulous, thrilling tale and I loved it!' NetGalley 5*
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 23, 2022
      Early in this excellent character-driven tale of friendship and hardship from British author Stopps (The Stranger She Knew), Nina, a teenage girl “dressed in a skimpy little skirt, flip-flops and a T-shirt,” rushes into the London café where three acquaintances in their 70s, Meg, Grace, and Daphne, are sharing a table after a Pilates class. Nina asks them to help her before glancing nervously at the door and then heading for the restroom. The women recognize that the man following Nina, and claiming he’s her father, is dangerous. When he finally leaves, they take the girl out the back door to the safety of Meg’s nearby house, and they agree to become “co-conspirators, gearing up for trouble.” Alternating chapters from the points of view of Meg, Grace, Daphne, and Nina reveal their backstories and the reasons that each of the older women sees her commitment to helping Nina as a “second chance to save a life.” The story of their plot to murder the man in the café and the people they meet on their descent into crime are by turns amusing, sorrowful, and thrilling. Stopps is definitely a writer to watch.

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  • English

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