Crime novels that can’t be missed: A Sociopath’s Guide To A Successful Marriage by M. K.
A Sociopath’s Guide To A Successful Marriage by M. K. Oliver (Hemlock £16.99, 384pp)
A Sociopath’s Guide To a Successful Marriage is available now from the Mail Bookshop
On the surface, Lalla Rook is just another pushy middle-class mother from north London, determined to get her difficult daughter Nelly into the best private school nearby, help her husband get a partnership at his investment bank and buy a huge house in Hampstead.
But far darker depths emerge. She has a distinctly chequered past, and now she has stabbed an intruder to death in her sitting room in the first pages of this wickedly amusing debut from a former headmaster.
Lalla does not stop there. She then kills her friend’s abusive husband, while burying the corpse of her first victim in the concrete foundations of another friend’s new pool. Will she be caught? Slyly witty and beautifully observed, Lalla is not to be missed.
The Shadow Carver by Nadine Matheson (HQ £20, 432pp)
District nurse Sian Fox-Carnell, then 35, was convicted of murdering two patients in her care and attempting to murder two others by overdosing them with prescribed medication.
One victim described her as ‘more evil than the cancer that was once in my body’. That was seven years ago, but the forensic evidence was flawed and now a retrial has been ordered.
The nurse blames one of the investigating officers, DI Henley, for her imprisonment – and vows revenge. Then she is murdered herself, and Henley is left to try and trap a killer who seems to be targeting those who have escaped ‘justice’.
Criminal defence lawyer Matheson, who sprang on to the scene with her debut The Jigsaw Man, again demonstrates her flair for suspense and the grotesque.
I’m Not the Only Murderer in my Retirement Home by Fergus Craig (Sphere £18.99, 272pp)
I’m Not The Only Murderer in my Retirement Home is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Carol Quinn, a serial killer with seven victims, has served her 35 years in prison and has been released. No longer a young woman, she has decided to spend her remaining years in a luxurious retirement home, hoping that no one will recognise her.
But no sooner has she settled in than a former Met Police Commissioner tumbles past her window on the way to his death. Was it suicide or was he pushed?
Inevitably, Carol becomes a prime suspect in what could be a murder, and is investigated by the other residents, who include a retired DCI and a former Home Secretary. Carol needs to solve the case to prove her innocence, but can she?
Making murder funny is a delicate business, but actor and comedian Craig manages it with aplomb in a wry, witty style.