Don't let the twee looking cover and title fool you - this book is clever, dark and often pretty shocking. I put it down a couple of times, wondering what I had just read. Having said that - I'd definitely recommend it. Initially I wondered if it was actually short stories, but it then becomes clear that all the characters have more in common than the fact that they live in or near the same road in a leafy West London suburb. Setting the book in the 1960s added to the interest and I could absolutely envisage the houses, the shops, the church and the residents.
I don't want to give any spoilers, but rest assured you will be intrigued, shocked and amused by this quirky and different novel. I galloped through it and would happily read it again,. In fact, I think i will as we find out more about the different residents it would be good to go back and see how they were first introduced. Some of them initially seem to be stereotypical (like the vicar's wife) but my goodness, they are certainly not!
I have no hesitation in giving it five big fat stars. A very different but very worthwhile read.

Wow! What a fantastic book! I fell in love with it on page one and, having finished it, am still in love with it. It's London in 1968. To a casual observer, Atbara Avenue looks like and ordinary street. Most of the people who live there have lived there for all or most of their lives and they think they know each other quite well. But there's some strange and sinister stuff going on behind closed doors. People are fooled or they misunderstand. Actions taken without much thought or on the spur of the moment have unintended--or intended--consequences. With a cast of quirky characters and some truly awful relationships, it's no surprise that for some of the residents of Atbara Avenue, murder seems like a reasonable idea.

Nothing about this book is ordinary. The book is extremely well-plotted. The characters are varied--some are monstrous, some are clueless, some are sympathetic. The settings are really well observed and described--the author especially excels at this. The writing is exquisite. For example, here is a description of a garden shed:
"Most of the room is stacked to the ceiling with various gardening paraphernalia all lumped together in a single impenetrable heap. Shovels lie upon hoes that lie upon rakes , like a crazy game of pick-up sticks. Strata of damp seed catalogues fester under a thicker deposit of damp newspapers. Tall, curving towers of flowerpots lean this way and that, threatening to topple at any moment. Trowels, forks, sieves, hosepipes all entombed and forgotten. Only a lawnmower stands apart from the mound, as if, in embarrassment, it has deliberately stepped to one side. oiled, clean and as close as possible to the shed door, it's the one sane inmate in an asylum of confusion." (p 133)

There were so many times that I stopped reading and just admired the writing and the descriptions of the everyday places that are the settings for so much anger, frustration, sadness, and more. This is definitely not a typical murder mystery. I love certain kinds of mysteries, and that's what I was expecting. I got much more than that. This book is a series of character studies involving people in ordinary settings during a particular time and in a particular place. Yet it is universal as well. We never know what is going on behind the polite facades of any neighbourhood. We interpret events to fit in with our own worldview. We disregard a great deal, especially things that might make us uncomfortable. In this book, we get a peek inside the net curtains on Atbara Avenue and get glimpses of the messes--literal and figurative--that are usually hidden. And sometimes those messes are very ugly, indeed.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. I loved it from start to finish and beyond.

Gay Marris’s debut novel, “A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder,” lures readers into the deceptively quaint heart of 1960s suburban London. Nestled on the seemingly unremarkable Atbara Avenue lies a web of secrets seething beneath the surface of neighborly pleasantries. Marris crafts a world where polished facades mask sinister motives, and charming smiles disguise the darkness within.

Marris’s prose paints a vivid portrait of Atbara Avenue. There’s a peculiar charm to the gossip exchanged over manicured lawns and polite smiles that hint at a more unsettling reality. Each chapter unravels a new layer, delving into the lives of seemingly ordinary residents who prove to be anything but. From the nosy spinster yearning for excitement to the disgruntled housewife concealing a dangerous past, the tapestry of characters is woven with both humor and chilling undertones.

The novel isn’t a traditional whodunit but rather a masterful study of the darkness that can fester in the most ordinary of settings. The tension builds with a creeping unease, as the line between normalcy and depravity slowly dissolves. Each twist reveals the depths of human desperation and the lengths people are willing to go to protect their secrets.

“A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder” is a dark, humorous, and ultimately unsettling exploration of the shadowy side of suburbia. If you enjoy tales that leave you pleasantly disturbed and wondering about the secrets hidden behind your own neighbor’s curtains, this book is a must-read.

This was so good! And so unique! Each chapter feels like a short story until characters start overlapping and the ending of each chapter had me in shock. I'll definitely re-read this at some point. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This book defiantly intrigued my reading mind.

A dark yet cozy book kind of comedy! Absolutely enjoyed this beauty. It’s a little series of like small short stories but they all connect into one great big one. If you enjoy murder stories, dark comedy and can take books for what they are you will throughly enjoy this! I’m off to see what else this author has written!

Thank you to NetGalley/Publishing company and the author for the opportunity to read this work! I think it’s one I won’t forget for a while!

I was intrigued by the title of this book and requested that I be permitted to read and review it. The book is in a series of short stories with murder as its theme, and is set in the London suburbs in a street named Atbara Avenue. I found the first two stories very weird and thought the subject was not convincing. The rest of the book was written with believable characters and outcomes, I struggled with this book as I read it I wanted closure in the endings by which I mean what happened in the end instead of leaving the reader thinking what comes next. However I think the author Gay Marris should be congratulated on her debut book in producing an original idea with her short stories, and I look forward to reading her next book.

London in the 1960s in a small leafy suburb. There is no social media, no mobile phones, and to presume what others are doing involves peeking through the net curtains and indulging in some harmless gossip at the shop, butchers or the church fête. This is no different for the residents of Atbara Avenue, who delight in peeking out the window to try to catch any sign of scandal. When a young girl is found dead, an apparent suicide, it is a tragedy, which sends the gossip mill into overdrive. As the body count slowly starts to increase, is there something more sinister at play? Is it all a series of innocent accidents, or is somebody getting away with murder?

This book was not what I expected. It takes us behind a series of closed doors, dealing with them as a set of almost short stories. There are a few characters which link the village together, linking threads and elements of the story together to make it a cohesive novel, but when I started reading it, I initially felt that I had begun a book of unsatisfying shorts. As it progresses and more characters are introduced, the story broadens and makes it more enjoyable. This is particularly important, as when the story begins, there are some very unlikable main characters, and if we had been stuck with them alone for the entire book I don’t know if I could have stuck it!

As we move through the story, some of the scenarios evolve with outcomes I found deeply unsatisfying, and left many questions unanswered. Other scenarios were funny in a dark humour way. Overall, however, there was not quite enough in it for me to feel fully gripped by the story.

*I received this book from NetGalley for review.

I really enjoyed this book mainly because it was very different to what I expected. The book focuses on the people who live on Atbara Avenue in the early 1960s. We discover what really goes on behind closed doors, how all is not what it seems and how the lives of those who live there are connected. I really enjoyed how quirky this book was; people die but not in the way you expect. There are many secrets to be hidden, uncovered and unravelled which do surprise you. I don't want to give too much away by saying much more. Not all the characters are likeable which is part of the enjoyment. I think this is the author's debut novel which I think should be applauded. It had me gripped to the end. Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Slightly unfortunately for this book, I think the worst bit of writing comes in the first two pages. It was sufficiently purple that I wasn't entirely sure about carrying on, but as it was a NetGalley read, and two pages didn't seem like a fair shot, I kept going. ButI've given this book five stars. That's not a mistake! I really did love this. Once the real action commences, Marris settles into her tone, which helps unify what are really a set of discrete stories. It's not a cosy mystery, because there's no detective, and there's no mystery being unravelled. And it's not exactly crime fiction either. Instead, this book is an intricate set of case studies about how we (mis)understand our neighbours and our loved ones, and the things that drive people to kill—or worse.

If Marris had wished, this could have easily been a short story collection on a theme, but the book is presented as a novel, and in the absence of a detective to unify the distinct tales, or episodes, we have the friendly local vicar, Desmond O'Reilly, and his wife, Deirdre, who bob in and out of the various stories, with more or less critical roles, as well as getting a short one all to themselves. Early on, it wasn't entirely clear whether the tales would cohere around a single driving narrative. I did half hope for the return of the stray-animal collecting, Elspeth, but to no avail, and the episode in which she features is perhaps the least well connected to the remainder of the stories that unfurl. This was a slight shame, especially as it was the episode that featured immigrant characters. In general, however, Marris is careful about weaving in some circularity across the stories, which helps tie the book together, with life stories drawing out over multiple episodes that lend depth and nuance. A particular favourite was young Colin's story, for its drama and humour.

Marris' skill is in warmly and humorously tackling very serious and sometimes scary topics: family members trapped together in loathing, male violence against women and girls, the fear that every parent feels when their child is sick or hurt, the crushing consequences of purity culture for young women and their children. These are small, domestic horrors; that is exactly part of their horror. Her characters and their impulses, yearnings, misunderstandings, and (un)certainties ring delightfully true, and so the unpleasantness slips by, only to catch up with us later.

What a refreshing tonic of a book with stories that intertwine. Really enjoyed it.
Although I wasn’t born then it did definitively conjure up some memories.

Thank you NetGalley & Gay Marris for an advanced copy.

A dark comedy story not to be taken as seriously as some reviewers seem to have done. Enjoy this book which intertwines the lives (and some deaths!) of neighbours in just one road. Well constructed and possible unique. Recommended as a fun read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bedford Square for this ARC in exchange for and honest and unbiased review.

A curtain twitcher’s book of murder
Gay Marris

Synopsis
Set in London in 1968, this book follows the lives of the inhabitants of a suburban London street. But this is no ordinary road.

"Ask anyone on Atbara Avenue how well they know their neighbours, and they'll answer 'well'. After all, they see each other across the vast distance afforded by close proximity, and that is probably for the best...".

For the best, because Atbara Avenue is a street where, all too often, murder feels like the solution.

Review
I saw this book on Netgalley and requested it because I loved the title.
Overall I found it very enjoyable, in parts it was a cosy comfortable read and each chapter was its own story about one of the residents of Atbara Avenue.
Some chapters kept me engaged more than others, my favourite was about Colin.
Parts of the book made me laugh, although I am not sure if that was the intention, other parts were abit odd in places.
But overall it was an easy read and I liked it.

Rated 3.5/5

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

This is Roald-Dahl-esque: dark, with a hint of comedy and a good deal of murder, all in one leafy suburban neighbourhood, Atbara Avenue.

At first it feels like a collection of short stories, as each chapter focusses on one household, but the residents weave in and out of each other's lives (and houses) and make regular appearances. The ones that aren't victims, that is.

I've not read any books by this author, but I did love her style of writing. So very articulate, intelligent, expressive and her use of language made me devour and relish every single word. She masterfully paints a picture with her vocabulary and phraseology, and every character and scene comes to life, almost colourfully.

I did feel I needed some more answers with some of the outcomes of the unfortunate victims, but other than that, this is a delightfully entertaining read. This is Marris's first book, so she's crashed into the literary scene with quite a corker. (But I hope she tells her editor it's 'a historic', not 'an historic'.) I'll definitely be looking out for her second book.

An interesting approach to cosy crime.

This book took a little bit of time to get going but was worth sticking with.

I would like to thank Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is clever, perhaps too clever - 3.5*

It's probably better to view this book as a short story collection with characters which repeat throughout the story rather than a novel. There's so much murder in this; no wonder it is called the <b> Book of Murder. </b> This book sort of gives off that cosy vibe - all the murderers live on the same street with different stories. To their neighbours, they are just regular people but strange events happen which cause the murder. There are so many twists in this book that I kind of felt like I was on a merry-go-round.

Of all the murder victims, the first chapter had me hooked in. I believe this was the most clever and had the most engaging characters. For some of the other "short stories", I wasn't as interested in the characters.

This is Gay Marris' debut and this book has certainly left me intrigued about his next exploit as a crime writer.

What a delightful romp of a book! Didn't quite know what to expect from the blurb but so pleased to have been allowed to read this ARC. Loved every quirky, surprising minute of it - so well constructed and totally unique! Loved it!

I had high hopes for this book as it sounded different to the usual murder/mystery book but I found it rather dull and long winded. The characters didn't feel real and I couldn't feel sorry for any of them, as usual the vicar's wife is the usual 'life and soul' of the neighborhood but comes across as a busy body. I am afraid I gave up half way through as I got a bit tired of the way it was all coming together, rather slowly.

Loved this one! A rather twee, nostalgic book, reminiscent of Agatha Christie. All about various characters who live in Atbara Avenue and the happenings that lead to various murders!
Highly recommended.

A finely-plotted darkly humorous novel set in 60s England. It daisy chains through residents of the same suburban street, knitted together by the ever-present vicar’s wife. No good deed goes unpunished and many don’t make it to the end…

This book was definitely one way to.show you don't know what goes on behind closed doors, great read overall.