This is the third instalment of the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner Series. I read the two previous books and enjoyed them. And I was not disappointed by this one as well.

Martha suspects her husband, who travels a lot for his business, to be a serial killer. The only person she knows who she can talk to about this surreal suspicion is her old schoolfriend Lily. She once helped her get away from an abusive boyfriend. Lily is a killer herself, but one with a moral compass. She only kills men who deserve it. So she follows Martha’s husband to his next business trip.

This book is short and on point without too many unnecessary filled pages. It’s an easy and quick read in the habit of the two previous books. I would only criticize that there is a lot of telling and not showing. But it is entertaining and I would always read another one of Swanson’s books.

There is no doubting Peter Swanson’s love of the crime fiction genre. His books bristle with references to old crime novels and movies, and he enjoys taking familiar mystery tropes and playing with them and updating them. Probably my favourite of Swanson’s novels is The Kind Worth Killing, which was a loose variation on Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers On A Train, but with lots of originality and cleverness. He followed it up with the equally good The Kind Worth Saving in 2022 and now we have a new novel in the sequence, A Talent For Murder.

A Talent For Murder plays with that popular domestic suspense device of “How well do you really know your husband?”, but with more twists and less romantic angst.

Martha was quick to marry Alan two years ago, without really knowing him. He was sweet to her and that was enough. But when Martha thinks she sees Alan’s mask slip, she starts to fear that the conferences he travels the country to attend might be a cover for something far more sinister. As her research unearths a string of dead women, she enlists the help of Lily Kintner, an old friend from grad school. What Martha doesn’t know is that Lily has a dark side of her own and some dead bodies in her past. Readers of the first two books also know that Lily is not adverse to administering her own form of justice when necessary.

As with all of Swanson’s books, the plot unfolds in unexpected ways and there are a couple of good shocks along the way to the tense and exciting ending. The characters and the small town milieu are well done, and Swanson is also good at skewering the teachers conferences where much of the action occurs. Adding to the pleasure are the literary references and the amusing crime fiction jokes, as well as Lily’s dark sense of humour.

In all, A Talent For Murder is another enjoying outing for Swanson. The pace is a little slow at times, but overall it works quite well and it is always a pleasure making Lily’s acquaintance again.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy of the book for review.

Rating 4.5 - rounded up

I could see this book as a dark noir type film. The beginning especially, I played in my mind as a black and white moving picture with a moody and deep voiced narrator.
Probably just how this book made me feel personally but that made it more enjoyable for me!

The narrative was descriptive without droning and this is a major plus for me as I struggle to enjoy books that want to delve deep into the psyche of the character and analyse every thought they have.

The plot itself was interesting but didn’t drop anything completely unexpected.

As the book progressed, I quickly realised that this is not a stand alone book. While you don’t need to have read the previous books, it’s very clear that some of these characters have backgrounds that it would be useful to have awareness of.

This one is a so-so for me. An enjoyable read overall but no wow factor.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

I’ve read a few of Peter Swanson’s books and usually enjoy them so I was looking forward to reading his latest novel. Thanks to Faber and Faber Ltd and NetGalley for my copy.

The story starts with a woman being pushed off a balcony and then introduces newlywed couple Martha and Alan. Alan travels a lot for work and Martha becomes suspicious of him. What’s he really doing on his trips away? Martha contacts an old university friend for help.

I got into the story straight away and it’s not a difficult read. The chapters alternate between Martha and Lily’s points of view and this works reasonably well.

The book was missing something for me and I’m not sure what that is. For me, there wasn’t much of a twist and I was a bit underwhelmed by it. The characters were OK, but I didn’t really connect with any of them.

Overall, the book was fine and I would recommend it, but I’ve read other books by this author that I prefer.

**A seemingly ordinary librarian's life takes a horrifying turn when she stumbles upon a chilling suspicion about her husband. With nowhere else to turn, she seeks help from an old friend with a unique skill set: assessing "the kind worth killing or the kind worth saving."

This fast-paced follow-up to the beloved "The Kind Worth Killing" throws Lily Kintner back into the dark underbelly of human nature. But this time, the danger hits uncomfortably close to home. Filled with classic Swanson twists and shocking revelations, the book keeps you guessing until the very last page.

Be warned: The initial charm of Martha's new marriage crumbles quickly, replaced by a gnawing sense of dread. However, the second half, while still suspenseful, relies more on exposition than the first half's masterfully woven clues. Despite this, the thrilling reunion of Lily and her unique brand of justice make "The Kind Worth Saving" a gripping read.**

EXCERPT: . . . and somehow he talked her into stepping outside on the balcony in order to face her fears. They were both naked out there, the sky swarming with stars, their bodies drying in the cool night air. It was actually good - exciting, really - maybe only because it was dark and she couldn't actually see how high up they were, or maybe it was because she was now having the kind of experience that she thought she might have on this trip. Something new, and a little dangerous. She felt alive, but she also felt excited that the next day she would be returning home. It was time. And now she had new ideas for her classroom, plus she couldn't wait to see Travis, tell him all about her weekend. They hadn't spoken that day at all. Suddenly she realised just how much she missed him.
And that was when she was thrown off the balcony.

ABOUT ' A TALENT FOR MURDER': Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.

MY THOUGHTS: Peter Swanson has a talent for writing deliciously twisty and deviously clever books, and A Talent for Murder definitely fits the bill. I read this book overnight, unable to put it aside.

The characters enthralled me. Lily Kinter we have encountered previously in The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving, but don't feel that you have to have read these previous books to enjoy this one. It can definitely be read as a stand-alone. A Talent for Murder is, initially, more about Martha, a librarian with a very active imagination and a curiosity that is off the scale.

We all know that saying Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you, well, in this case just because what Martha's imagining sounds like something out of a novel, doesn't mean it doesn't have some basis in fact. And no, this is NOT a spoiler! Give the woman some credit. Although, to be fair, Martha does believe she is affected by a curse placed on her by a rival in college . . .

Reading A Talent for Murder is kind of like watching a car wreck happen in front of you. You can see it happening, you don't want to watch, but there is no way in hell that you can look away. A couple of times I found myself thinking 'I don't want to read this!' as I greedily read on. I swear that at the end of Part One, my heart actually stopped!

A Talent for Murder is a book of unusual relationships - Josie and Travis, Martha and Alan, Lily and Henry. The relationships alone have enough material for a good novel, without the twists, intrigue and suspense that Swanson has injected. It is a story of manipulation, of spine-chilling evil, of characters who are chameleons. I loved it despite the fact that there is a bit more 'telling' than 'showing' in parts of the book. And please, can we have a little more Henry in the next?

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#ATalentforMurder #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: A graduate of Trinity College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Emerson College, Peter Swanson lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with his wife and cat.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Faber and Faber via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Martha's husband travels a lot for his job. As she watches him one time when he arrives home from a trip she sees a look on his face that unnerves her and then she sees the smile fall into place and wonders just how well she knows her husband.

This is the first Peter Swanson book I had read and I loved the twists and turns it took. Really like the character of Lily and I gather there maybe previous books with her in so I'm going to go read those know. Really enjoyable book and I really liked the end, it seemed fitting. 5 stars

Another twisty delight of a tale from Peter Swanson.

I love Lily as a character and I enjoy the about face that this author always embeds into the narrative at odd times.

Always addictive and delivers on reading entertainment. May Lily have many more murderous adventures.

Delicious..
Are Martha and Alan really the perfect couple? From the outside looking in, it certainly appears that way. Martha thought so too, but when something causes her to question her spouse and she begins to dig with friend Lily, a dark side may well be revealed. What Martha fails to appreciate is that Lily herself may hold even darker talents. An outstanding suspense with a well crafted and credible cast populating a propulsive and immersive plot littered with often wholly unexpected twists and turns. Delicious.

A Talent For Murder is the third book in the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner series by award-winning American author, Peter Swanson. When Martha Ratliff begins to suspect that Alan Peralta, her husband of barely a year, might be a serial killer, her options seem equally unsatisfactory: whether she confronts him or tells the police, her marriage will likely be over, even if he’s innocent.

That’s when she thinks of Lily Kintner. When they were in grad school at Birkbeck, Lily helped her out of a disturbing relationship with a charismatic adjunct professor. They lost touch, but Martha is a librarian, and knows how to research; she has soon tracked Lily down to her parents’ home in Shepaug.

As she’s explaining to Lily how her husband is often away at conferences, selling his wares to school teachers, and that she has found at least five unsolved murders at times when Alan was at those locations, she’s hoping that Lily will tell her she’s crazy, that it’s just her imagination: “Honestly, I think I’m here with you just hoping you’ll say I’m being silly and that I should just forget the whole thing.”

But Lily doesn’t. she considers carefully, tells Martha they need more information, and they each try to find out more. Martha uncovers something that definitely puts Alan in the frame for one of the murders, and Lily decides she’ll attend his next conference to observe. But there’s an unexpected development and, a bit later, she decides to ask her friend, PI Henry Kimball for his help.

And much more can’t be said without massive spoilers, but Swanson does manage to throw in a brilliant twist, a shock, a kidnap and a nail-biting climax. He also gives the reader a good dose of black humour. And then, just when you think the twists are all done, another, and it’s a doozy! More of this addictive series will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Faber & Faber.

This is the third in the series but the first I've read. I didn't feel I was missing on any back story and rather enjoyed this story. There are plenty of twists and turns and some shockers.

Peter Swanson has delivered an exceptional thriller in the form of A Talent For Murder which is the 3rd book to feature Lily Kintner and Henry Kimball (The Kind Worth Killing, The Kind Worth Saving).

The opening details the last hours and minutes of a primary school teacher who is currently attending a teachers conference. She’s enjoying the talks and the chance to interact with fellow teachers. But she also meets up with a man just before she’s thrown off the balcony of her hotel suite.

Martha is a quiet librarian married to Alan, a salesman who specialises in following educational conferences around the country selling novelty educational items. She becomes suspicious of her husband’s behaviour after he arrives home from the latest conference. The presence of a blood stain on his shirt and a secret look on his face as he gets out of his car prompts her to do a bit of digging. What she finds heightens her fears significantly.

She can only think of one person who might be able to help her with what to do next and that’s her former college friend, Lily Kintner.

Lily immediately jumps onto Alan’s trail to try to work out whether the man is a killer and how he’s going about it. Her investigation takes her to the town of Saratoga Springs and another teacher’s conference where Alan is indeed working his magic. The result is a showdown with one of the more evil serial killers you would ever find. Peter Swanson has dreamt up a despicable man and the perfect killing field in which to operate.

For the most part, this is a Lily Kintner story allowing us to get to know her far more intimately than in the earlier books. Her first person account of what’s happening enables us to get an insight into her feelings and motivations as she chases down her quarry, not to mention her opinion of her old friend Martha.

Kimball’s brought into the action around two-thirds of the way in and is largely kept at arm’s length while he’s very much acting as the epitome of a private detective. Be that as it may, their interactions are as easy going as they were in the earlier books.

I thought the mood of the book was handled very well with the tension being built steadily throughout the story as we raced towards an inevitable showdown. I was hoping for a little more ingenuity and planning on the part of Lily than was actually used but then, even the cleverest criminals and smug bastards alike overlook something along the journey and smart people like Lily are going to take advantage.

An enthralling serial killer thriller that races along at a strong pace, A Talent For Murder is a welcome addition to the Kimball and Kintner series that ensured I was totally entertained.

A Talent for Murder is the third in the Lily Kintner series, which started with The Kind Worth Killing in 2015, and continued with last year's The Kind Worth Saving, but would also work reasonably well as a standalone (although as so often with series, I do think you would get more from reading in order). When Lily is approached by an old college classmate who has developed suspicions about her new husband, she finds herself drawn into a complex web of violence and murder.

As with all Swanson novels, I enjoyed A Talent for Murder a great deal. My only complaint (and this is possible an odd one, given the genre) is that at times it felt somewhat too fast-paced - I would have appreciated more time spent with the characters and the mystery. Swanson's writing is so good, and the character of Lily so complex, that more of a slow-burn approach would have worked well. But this is, obviously, a minor complaint and I will be recommending A Talent for Murder this summer to all fans of intelligent thrillers.

Lily Kintner and Henry Kimball make for an unusual duo of investigators and it’s great to see them back in a third outing, this time investigating a string of crimes.

Lily has been called up by Martha Ratliff, an old college friend. Lily once helped Martha get out of a bad relationship and she’s the only one who Lily thinks she can trust to help her with her current problem. Lily is married to Alan Peralta, a seemingly kind, mild mannered man who works as a travelling salesman selling T-shirts and teaching memorabilia at education conferences. However, Martha begins to suspect that that is not all he is doing when he’s away and she really needs someone to help find out if her suspicions are true.

This is a very suspenseful read. Lily and Henry are great characters and work well together. They will unwittingly put themselves in the sights of a very clever and dangerous man, who has been working under the radar for years. Totally gripping and very entertaining!

Martha has begun to consider the risk that her husband of two years is a serial killer. As she tracks his business trips against reports of murders in the areas she decides to call in her college friend Lily to work out if there is any reality in this. But she doesn't know Lily comes with secrets of her own. Pacy and taut plotting, this is a part of the Kimball series but works just as well as a standalone. Excellent read.

The third book in the Henry Kimball and Lily Kintner series and this time Lily is called upon to help an old college friend. Martha, a librarian, is happy with her single life until she meets Alan, a salesman who travels to teacher conferences across America. It appears to be a comfortable marriage until one day Martha spots some blood on his shirt when he gets home. Written from multiple POV’s, those of Martha, Lily and the killer this is a tense and exciting read.

Briefly, with her suspicions aroused Martha starts investigating the locations he has attended and discovers a series of unexplained deaths in the same areas. Now wondering if he is a killer, Martha contacts Lily for advice and between them they decide to look into Alan’s travels in more detail. Then an old fling of Martha’s, Ethan, reappears to further muddy the waters.

With a number of threads from the past and present all gradually revealed we are dripped fed the horrific and startling truth about some of our characters. Henry takes a bit of a backstage roll this time with Lily centre stage - she is such a complex character uber intelligent but very dark and dangerous - I really like her. Some good twists and turns and a humdinger at the end. Very entertaining.

This is the third book in the ‘Henry Kimball & Lily Kintner’ series by author Peter Swanson. These books can be read as standalones although there are some references to the other novels, but why miss out.

Martha Ratliff is happy with her life a librarian, surrounded by books. She is also enjoying an unexpected romance with a divorcee Alan who is showing her another side of life she has not previously seen. Doubts and suspicion are raised when Martha discovers a bloodstain on one of Alan’s shirts. Alan spends a lot of time travelling in his job and Martha begins to look deeper into his travel history and uncovers a disturbing pattern of unsolved murders.

Lily Kintner is one of Martha’s old friends from school and she helps her investigate Alan to find out the truth. They discover secrets and the tension is turned up to maximum as the answers to the questions start to appear building up to an unexpecting climax.

An exciting psychological thriller that is well crafted and gripping full of strong characters. A well thought out plot with the customary twists to keep you guessing.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Faber & Faber Ltd for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson.

Crime Thriller | 255 Pages
Publication Date: 11 June 2024.

Okay so I may have gone in to this one extremely blind and didn't realise this was part of a series. Don't hold that against me.

Book three in the series follows the story of Martha and her husband Alan. Martha Ratliff is a librarian by day and also a newlywed. She becomes very suspicious of Alan when he came home with blood on his shirt and starts to investigate. What she finds is shocking. Five unsolved cases of murdered women. Could Martha be married to a serial killer? Or is it just a huge coincidence. She gets her friend Lily involved and this is when things start to become interesting.

I must say I really enjoyed this one (even though I didn't read book one and two in the series). It had me gripped like a good thriller does and being only 255 pages long it was a rather quick read. I'm looking forward to reading more about both Lily and Henry in the future.

Thank you Faber and Faber Ltd and Netgalley for a gifted copy of this book for my honest book review.

A Talent for Murder is the third in the Lily Kimball series from esteemed crime writer Peter Swanson and another gripping read with a multitude of twists along the way!

We meet quiet librarian Martha, who believes that she was cursed as a teenager never to find true love. In her 30s, she meets equally introspected Alan, and the two marry and settle into a quiet content life. But Martha's never quite sure that she knows who Alan actually is or what makes him tick. He is a conference salesman, selling gimmicky souvenirs at teachers' conferences up and down America. Martha notices that there have been some unexplained deaths that coincide with the time and location of Alan's conferences, and cant help but think that he might be involved somehow.

She confides in an old college friend Lily; she trusts Lily's judgement after Lily helped her out of an abusive relationship at college years earlier. Lily's insights are hugely helpful and help Martha plan a way to investigate Alan without alerting him to her suspicions. However, Martha and Lily's investigations into Alan's whereabouts soon throw up something a lot more alarming...

I really enjoyed the breakneck speed of 'A Talent for Murder', the twists kept coming and the story kept its pace from start to finish. It is the third in a series with Lily Kimball - it works well as a standalone but there are spoilers for previous books so if you prefer to keep the suspense, definitely worth reading in order.

Peter Swanson is a go to author for me and so I couldn’t wait to read A Talent for Murder.
When librarian Martha marries Alan she feels that although he is a nice man he still feels like a stranger to her. She becomes suspicious when his visits to educational conferences as a stall holder begin to coincide with murders of women- is the man she married a serial killer ?
Martha contacts Lily Kitner, a university friend who she hasn’t seen for a decade to help her uncover the truth.
This is another excellent thriller from Peter Swanson. I loved how the first half builds up the tension and draws the reader into the story until the unexpected twist. I read this part of the novel holding my breath and raced through it over a few hours. The second half has more action as we follow Lily’s quest to solve the murders and we meet Henry Kimball who fans will remember from previous novels.
Peter Swanson is a hugely talented writer who is the master of twists, turns and evil characterisation. This is the third in the Lily Kitner series but easily read as a standalone. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC,