A Beginner’s Guide to Murder

Written by Rosalind Stopps

Narrated by Charlotte Strevens and Cornelia Colman

* 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*

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Jul 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008302641

Reviews for A Beginner’s Guide to Murder

[Rene Herring · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely touching and well written book. Lots of truths about aging, regrets, and of course trafficking. But really, the parts that got to me were elderly women finding meaning in their Golden years by saving a young girl.
Some disturbing subject matter no explicit descriptions. One F bomb I believe. Overall wholesome in my opinion.

[she_climber · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really thought that this book might be really interesting from the blurb on the back. A group of three old ladies who decide to kill someone (for a very good cause). But I had a really hard time getting into it. The ladies were interesting in their own right, had very interesting lives that had not been very happy and dealt in large degree with women's issues. In addition to the young woman, Nina, they were trying to protect from "Toad" the sex trafficker from whom she escaped. And thrown in was her backstory as well, but with so much backstory and secrets from each other it all moved at a glacial pace. I was not eager to pick up the book each time I had to put it down and while I did finish it. It really wasn't that interesting.I would, however, like to thank #NetGalley and Harpers 360 for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.