This book was fascinating and engaging - a different thriller/mystery take, dealing with Anxiety Fear, and Anxious Behavior, That pause we sometimes don't recognize is our * deflect/reflect/isolate/response* is more pronounced in some people, those who are insecure in what is expected. Whether by nature or nurture (due to trauma) this aspect added a real twist. The word game was hard for me because I have my own ritual but it gives insight into this coping mechanism ( I just skipped that part and did my own when I recognized it) Loved his book and was cheering for Lenny the whole way. no matter the outcome

3.5-4 ⭐️

Lenny Marks is different. She longs for solitude. She has lived and survived trauma. She has learned to suppress her worst memories. Yet, she continues to have a heart of gold.

This story is told in a dual timeline - Lenny as a young girl, and Lenny as a 37 year old single primary school teacher. While these two lives seem completely disjointed in the beginning of the story, Lenny slowly remembers her past and the two plot lines come colliding together.

Lots of themes are woven into this story and the author did a wonderful job making big topics feel light for the reader.

What I didn’t love - the big reveals felt a little too big. Things happened that just didn’t seem plausible. The ending felt too neat and tidy for all that had happened. However, this is still a fun read for those looking for a book filled with a quirky character battling old demons.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the chance to read and review this novel!

Lenny is a bit odd. She likes order and quiet. Some might say isolation. She is an almost 40 year old introverted 5th grade teacher. She spends her days rewatching Friends and playing scrabble against her imaginary roommate Monica. As I’m reading this I’m thinking is this woman on the spectrum? Is she just a bit odd? She goes to visit her foster mom. Her foster mom says “Lenny you need to get a life”. Lenny makes real strides to get out of her comfort zone and make friends and reinvent herself. She is trying to come to terms with the abuse she endured in childhood. I found myself really rooting for Lenny. She was such a smart, sweet, endearing likable character.

While this book does discuss childhood abuse and traumatic experiences I wouldn’t consider it a thriller. More a story about reinvention and overcoming. I thought the characters were well drawn and incredibly relatable. I really enjoyed this book. I recommend it for anyone that has ever felt a little bit different.


Thank you to netgalley and to the published for an advanced copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely mine.

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Like it says, this was both heartwarming and heartwarming. It slaps you in the face with unfortunate realities and unexpected fates. Life moves on it’s on accord. Lenny was so cozy and relatable but also a human who makes mistakes. It’s best to get into it blind in my opinion.

I warmed to Lenny slowly, but by mid book, the story had picked up speed like a bike down a hill, and I didn’t want to stop reading. The cast of supporting characters felt real, and the romance was sweet without being too sappy. As an American reader, there were just enough Aussie terms that I had to look up to make the story feel grounded in its place, but dialect never got in the narrative. This book is easy to read, but has enough layers and moral complexity for a good bookclub discussion.

I received an ARC of this debut novel through NetGalley.

Lenny (Helena) Marks is a single woman in her late 30s. She is quite straight laced and quirky or nerdy. She had a difficult childhood and is haunted by an incident that turned her into an orphan before she was a teenager.

The book starts out slowly as the author took a lot of pages to develop the main characters. I almost gave up, but then the plot kicked in and I ultimately was drawn into the story.

Lenny is flawed in many ways, but she becomes someone you root for as she struggles through her adult life, teaching school while otherwise being a homebody. The book's cover suggests that this would be a funny character and a cozy mystery, but actually I found the tone of the book to be quite dark much of the time.

The title is a bit deceiving. The "murder" Lenny got away with is not the heinous crime the title suggests.

All in all, this held my interest after a slow start but left me a little bit disappointed in the end.

Lenny Marks is a teacher who likes things a certain way, from her routine to her meals to her personal space. But her life is about to be shaken up by her quest to make friends to appease her foster mother, and a letter that arrives at work from the parole board. We learn fairly early that Lenny's traumatic childhood changed abruptly when her stepfather and mother disappeared, which she believes to be her fault. The letter is in regards to his upcoming parole.

Shaken up by news of her stepfather and out of her comfort zone trying to befriend coworkers, Lenny steals a dog from an abusive owner. This starts a snowball effect where Lenny stumbles into opening up unexpectedly to a new coworker and a clerk at her regular grocery store. Interspersed with flashbacks to her childhood, Lenny starts to experience what seem to be hallucinations about her past.

I liked Lenny right away. She's a character who is clearly struggling with a lot, and just as clearly unwilling to admit this to herself. The comfort of her routine is tinged with loneliness. The reader is able to see much more clearly than Lenny that the mean girl teachers at school are being rude to her, but also that Ned and Kirra genuinely do like Lenny. Some of the reveals and twists felt a bit fantastical towards the end, but I thoroughly enjoyed the resolution. I also liked that the structure was about piecing together what exactly had happened in the past, which built suspense. The reality of what happened to Lenny's family is fairly dark, but having the telling happen through flashbacks and statements from other characters was a smart choice to keep it from overwhelming the rest of the book. The ending is a great contrast to Lenny's past, and shows her taking control of her life in a way she wasn't able to as a child. Her actions feel very deliberate and clear-headed, where before choices like controlling her environment carefully and stealing the dog felt much more impulsive and defensive. I enjoyed it very much.

This book was soo much better than I anticipated, and I anticipated a lot! We learn about our heroine in small bursts, and each one is better than the one before. She starts out with this calm, orderly life. Everything is fine. At least that's what she keeps saying.
Then one by one things begin to change. It's how she deals with the changes that make her such an amazing character. Go into this book prepared to read some disturbing stuff, but important for character development.
Awesome book!!!

I received a free advance e-book copy of this book from Netgalley.

Other reviewers have written synopses and described the plot to a degree that, in my view, came perilously close to spoilers.

Lenny is an elementary school teacher who follows very strict self-imposed routines covering every part of her life. Lenny's well-ordered routine, including a number of interesting quirks, begins to fray, however, when she receives a piece of mail addressed to a name other than the one she currently uses, but there's never any doubt that the mail's addressee is indeed her.

Her background is slowly revealed in bits and pieces, and sometimes in flashbacks. There were times when the flashbacks threw me off, as it was sometimes difficult to tell just where in her earlier life she has gone to. This is the reason for my giving the book 4 stars instead of 5. And where those flashbacks led Lenny was no real surprise.

I don't want to take this review any further to avoid spoilers. I will only say that her daily routines are a coping mechanism, and leave it at that.

This had such a fantastic blurb that I was really looking forward to it, unfortunately I felt like the book I was reading bore very little resemblance to the tone, tenor, or substance of that blurb.. From the beginning I had a hard time connecting to the character and found the word list interjections distracting rather than endearing. I never found the humor or snark that I expected and struggled to connect to the characters and the plot from the opening pages. This one wasn't a good fit for me.

Lenny lives a predictable life - right down to her weekly Thai order - and she prefers it that way. She would much rather play Scrabble alone than put herself out there, as relationships are hard for her. However, when Lenny receives a letter from the parole board regarding someone from her past, she is forced to examine the circumstances that led to her closing herself off from the world. Will she be able to work through her traumatic past and enjoy her life?

This book is slow paced and a bit melancholy, but still manages to be compelling. The plot has a fair amount of twists and the reader is forced to examine their own notions of right and wrong.

Lenny as a main character is intriguing. She is socially awkward and unable to pick up on social cues; your heart can’t help but hurt for her with each interaction. She is also intelligent and well intentioned, so there is a feeling of hopefulness in the book as Lenny is forced to remember what happened in her childhood so she can heal.

Overall, this is a heartwarming story about both vengeance and forgiveness. It would make an excellent choice for a book group.

Ooo y'all this was a great read! It was definitely entertaining and I loved the main character! Great writing and Kerryn Mayne is excellent at keeping you intrigued the whole way through. Looking forward to reading more novels from Kerryn!

LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER by Kerryn Mayne follows Lenny Marks. Lenny Marks enjoys her routines and mostly keeps to herself. She has a few acquaintances, except her friend Monica. She has repressed her memories from her childhood. As the story unfolds, due to a letter from the parole board, she tries to fulfill her mother's request for a fuller life and to uncover her repressed memories.

Although this book was a bit of a slow burn, this book was intriguing, and I empathized with Lenny and her tragic story. The arc of unveiling Lenny's past was terrific. This book has some trigger warnings, so protect your peace and review those before diving in (abuse, trauma).

Thanks sincerely to St. Martin's Publishing Group and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed were my own.

Lenny Marks is an awkward, repressed but amazingly intelligent person, who is dealing, or not, with her repressed past. The story is sad, sometimes endearing and painfully tragic. Such a good read. Not hearts and flowers, but deeply touched by her stamina, determination and strong sense of right and wrong. Excellent read.

This was so good. I went into this book expecting a story similar to like Eleanor Oliphant. Umm… no. Lenny Marks may have some some similar personality characteristics, but that is where the similarities end. Serious content with a very touching story.

a bittersweet read that made me feel so much for what lenny went through, i was expecting something like a thriller just from the title but i was surprised to find that this book is much darker than that, i think it was well written and i enjoyed the ending

Lenny Marks is a unique individual. She has strict routines, likes being alone, is obsessed by The Hobbit, and is socially awkward. It’s implied that she’s on the spectrum, but as the story develops we also learn that childhood trauma and its dissociative after-effects play a role.

I was impressed by the writing in this debut novel. Although the plot bogged down a bit midway through, overall the story grabbed me. There was both humor and sadness, a bit of mystery, and good character development.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for offering this book to me.

Lenny teaches 5th grade. She is a loner. She was abused by her step-father who also murdered her mother and brother and was imprisoned. Now, he's up for parole, and it is throwing Lenny for a loop.

4.5 ⭐️ This book was a delight! I thought it was going to be a cute, funny story, like “Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine” meets “Findlay Donovan is Killing It”. But wow, I was shook by how it was a sneaky, little psychological thriller. You quickly realize all of Lenny’s quirks are from some mysterious trauma from her past, but slowly discovering what exactly happened was where it was so engrossing. The story unfolded layer by layer and got more and more interesting. I loved all the side characters, how they all related to one another, and all the little twists at the end I never fully saw coming because I didn’t even realize the author was dropping clues I should have been paying attention to. I am a romance junkie, so the small, sweet love story woven throughout was icing on the cake for me and tied it all together. While it started a little slow for me (and the anagrams got a little annoying), towards the end, I couldn’t put it down. Will definitely look for more books from this author!

Thank you @netgallye for a copy of this eARC in exchange for review.

I really enjoyed getting to know Lenny in this debut. She has a difficulty making friends, follows a strict routine, and has completely forgotten about her childhood. At 37 years old, she lives a life of solitude that works for her. Once she receives a letter from the parole board, her life takes a turn as she spends her time remembering things from her past and trying to have a life like her mother has requested. Its filled with emotion, strength, and a high spirit looking for change for the better without losing themselves. A misunderstood woman with a big heart and a thirst for finding their real selves. I am looking forward to reading more of Kerryn Mayne's work and hopefully seeing a continuation to Lenny's story.