psychopathy or self-help?
Sam is not okay. London Detective Inspector Samantha Hansen had a breakdown in the office and has been home for months. She’s dealing with her PTSD through meds and therapy, but she just doesn’t feel ready to go back to the office. Her therapist gently encourages her to go back to police work, just part-time at first, a few days a week. She was an extraordinary detective, solving almost every case that passed her desk. But she just doesn’t feel ready.
And then Charlotte was murdered.
Charlotte was just a school girl who was killed in the woods as she was walking home. She had been posed in front of a tree that had a big heart with her initials in it, along with the initials DB. Among the books scattered around her was one called How to Get Away with Murder by Denver Brady.
In the book, author Denver Brady claimed to be a serial killer, and the chapters give tips to aspiring killers as well as tales of his own crimes. Sam is drawn to this case, and finds herself assigned to tracking down the author of the book along with officer trainee Adam. She has him try to track down the printer while she sets off to find out where the profits from the book sales were going. Meanwhile, everyone was reading the book, looking for anything they might be able to corroborate. Sam doesn’t believe the book is true, but then someone finds a connection to a cold case.
The book encourages prospective killers to find victims who are vulnerable, either physically or emotionally, and he talks about his meeting with Betty as he explains that elderly persons can make perfect targets. He used a fake cast to get into her home (he is a big fan of “Teddy” Bundy), and then he kills the sweet elderly woman after she made him some tea. Sam and Adam hear from a police officer in northern England that there are similarities to a cold case up there.
Elizabeth “Betty” Brown had been a pensioner killed in her home. But not all the details matched what Brady had written in his book. The actual murder had been more brutal than what had been described in the book, which kept Sam wondering if the book was fiction or not. While they are investigating Charlotte’s murder as a possible new victim of a long-time serial killer, Sam’s instincts tell her that they’re on the wrong path. She thinks that the book is fiction and serial killer Denver Brady is a fantasy. But if she’s right, then who murdered the girl to make it look like Brady did it?
How to Get Away with Murder is a clever mystery that blends the pop culture obsession with serial killers with a police investigation of a school girl’s murder. Debut author Rebecca Philipson wrote this in alternating chapters, so we get some information about Sam and the investigation and then a chapter from Denver Brady’s book, giving advice on killing for amateurs.
I listened to How to Get Away with Murder on audio, with Michael Geary reading the serial killer’s how-to book chapters and Tamsin Kennard reading the rest. Geary is pitch perfect reading as a potential serial killer, with his upper crust London accent and just the right amount of hair-raising creepiness. And Kennard narrated the rest beautifully, including characters coming from different parts of England and even an American, which she got spot on. Listening to this book was next level.
But the best part of this book is the writing. It’s hard to believe that this is a first book, as it is smart and complex and impossible to put aside. These characters jumped off the page, drawing me into their stories and rooting for the good ones to win. As each of the chapters of the book-within-the-book unfolded, and the details came together in surprising ways, I found myself on a journey I didn’t want to stop until the absolute final page. This book is a triumph, and I can’t wait to see where Philipson takes me next.
Egalleys for How to Get Away with Murder were provided by Minotaur Books, and a copy of the audio was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
