A Talent for Murder: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

From the author of The Kind Worth Killing (2016) and The Kind Worth Saving (2024) comes a new thriller that's not quite a sequel to those books, but which does feature a familiar character. Martha Ratliff, a librarian who never expected to fall in love, got married about a year ago. Her husband, Alan, is an unassuming man whose job frequently takes him on the road to conventions around the country. She loves him, but Martha has a problem: she has begun to suspect that he might be a serial killer. She enlists the aid of her old friend, Lily Kintner, who agrees to help Martha figure out what Alan has been up to. This seems like a fairly straightforward is-he-or-isn't-he story until, in a rather startling fashion, Swanson reveals what the book is really about (and it's probably safe to say that the reader will not see it coming). Swanson has written many excellent novels, but this one is certainly his most shocking.

Bestseller Swanson's brilliant latest (following The Kind Worth Saving) revolves around a newlywed's suspicions that her husband might be a murderer. Maine librarian Martha Ratliff is feeling uneasy about her recent marriage to traveling salesman Alan Peralta. Her fear that she doesn't truly know Alan is exacerbated when he returns from a trip to Connecticut in an unusually severe mood. When Martha searches online for details about his trip, she turns up a news story about the supposed suicide of a young woman named Josie Nixon at the same art conference Alan visited. Soon, Martha starts drawing connections between Alan's past trips and nearby homicides. For guidance, she turns to Lily Kintner, her old friend from graduate school (and a character from Swanson's previous novels). Together, the women stage a meeting between Lily and Alan, which only serves to illuminate that little is as it seems when it comes to Josie's death. Swanson's gift for well-earned yet seismic reveals is on full display, and he fortifies them with unexpected heart through the story of Lily and Martha's friendship. This is a masterpiece of misdirection. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (June)

Librarian Martha Ratliff begins to suspect her new husband Alan of murderous behavior. Desperate and afraid, she turns to her grad school friend Lily Kintner for help. Though 15 years have passed since they were in school together, Martha still trusts Lily, who once helped free her from a harmful relationship. Lily possesses a vigilante spirit and is no stranger to murder; she readily agrees to investigate Alan and in turn enlists help from Detective Henry Kimball, with whom she has a complicated relationship. They quickly discover a situation far more dangerous than anticipated. Has Lily finally met her match? As she becomes ensnared in a murderer's web, she must ultimately rely upon on her own shrewdness and Henry's detective prowess to survive. VERDICT Fans will devour this third book in the Lily Kintner/Henry Kimball series (after The Kind Worth Saving). Swanson delivers a tense psychological thriller teeming with deliciously complex characters, unsettling plot twists, and several harrowing scenes that will move readers to the edge of their seat. This bird's-eye view into the mind of a killer is definitely not for the faint of heart.--Mary Todd Chesnut

Swanson's take on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley adds a few unnerving twists of its own. Though they've been married for nearly a year, librarian Martha Ratliff doesn't feel that she knows her husband, traveling salesman Alan Peralta, all that well, and the careful smile she spots him rehearsing for her as he returns from his latest trip, where art teacher Josie Nixon reportedly threw herself from her sixth-floor hotel balcony, makes her wonder what he's doing on all those trips besides selling novelty merchandise to schoolteachers at conferences. Tracking his recent itinerary, she's alarmed to place him in five different cities where five different women have been killed, all while he just happened to be passing through. Overwhelmed by her unwelcome discoveries, Martha reaches out to Lily Kintner, an old friend from graduate school with a shadowy past. The two haven't seen each other for years, but their meeting at a bar halfway between Martha's home in New Hampshire and Lily's in Connecticut leads them quickly to a bold plan of action: Lily, whom Alan has never met, will insinuate herself into the next conference on his list, shadow him, and see what he gets up to. To her astonishment, Lily realizes that she isn't the only person following Alan--a discovery that forges distinctly new links to Highsmith's classic study of an upwardly mobile sociopath and hurtles this take into hyperdrive. Nothing here is remotely plausible, but readers who value genuine thrills over documentary realism won't care a bit. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

From the author of The Kind Worth Killing (2016) and The Kind Worth Saving (2024) comes a new thriller that's not quite a sequel to those books, but which does feature a familiar character. Martha Ratliff, a librarian who never expected to fall in love, got married about a year ago. Her husband, Alan, is an unassuming man whose job frequently takes him on the road to conventions around the country. She loves him, but Martha has a problem: she has begun to suspect that he might be a serial killer. She enlists the aid of her old friend, Lily Kintner, who agrees to help Martha figure out what Alan has been up to. This seems like a fairly straightforward is-he-or-isn't-he story until, in a rather startling fashion, Swanson reveals what the book is really about (and it's probably safe to say that the reader will not see it coming). Swanson has written many excellent novels, but this one is certainly his most shocking. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

Best seller and LibraryReads Hall of Famer Swanson, with a handful of film optioned books to his name, returns with a twisty suspense story starring a librarian who thinks her new husband might be a serial killer. With a 100K-copy first printing and a returning character from The Kind Worth Killing. Prepub Alert. Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Librarian Martha Ratliff begins to suspect her new husband Alan of murderous behavior. Desperate and afraid, she turns to her grad school friend Lily Kintner for help. Though 15 years have passed since they were in school together, Martha still trusts Lily, who once helped free her from a harmful relationship. Lily possesses a vigilante spirit and is no stranger to murder; she readily agrees to investigate Alan and in turn enlists help from Detective Henry Kimball, with whom she has a complicated relationship. They quickly discover a situation far more dangerous than anticipated. Has Lily finally met her match? As she becomes ensnared in a murderer's web, she must ultimately rely upon on her own shrewdness and Henry's detective prowess to survive. VERDICT Fans will devour this third book in the Lily Kintner/Henry Kimball series (after The Kind Worth Saving). Swanson delivers a tense psychological thriller teeming with deliciously complex characters, unsettling plot twists, and several harrowing scenes that will move readers to the edge of their seat. This bird's-eye view into the mind of a killer is definitely not for the faint of heart.—Mary Todd Chesnut

Bestseller Swanson's brilliant latest (following The Kind Worth Saving) revolves around a newlywed's suspicions that her husband might be a murderer. Maine librarian Martha Ratliff is feeling uneasy about her recent marriage to traveling salesman Alan Peralta. Her fear that she doesn't truly know Alan is exacerbated when he returns from a trip to Connecticut in an unusually severe mood. When Martha searches online for details about his trip, she turns up a news story about the supposed suicide of a young woman named Josie Nixon at the same art conference Alan visited. Soon, Martha starts drawing connections between Alan's past trips and nearby homicides. For guidance, she turns to Lily Kintner, her old friend from graduate school (and a character from Swanson's previous novels). Together, the women stage a meeting between Lily and Alan, which only serves to illuminate that little is as it seems when it comes to Josie's death. Swanson's gift for well-earned yet seismic reveals is on full display, and he fortifies them with unexpected heart through the story of Lily and Martha's friendship. This is a masterpiece of misdirection. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc. (June)