Martha and Alan didn’t know each other existed two years ago. Now they’re married and happy… well, one of them is. Alan attends multiple conferences across the United States and while she enjoys the solitude, she’s not convinced by his actions. In fact, she thinks there’s something deeply awry about her husband. Teaming up with an old school friend, Martha plots how she’ll find out what Alan is really up to. But things begin to fall apart and you’re left wondering if anyone is worth trusting…

This is the third book in this series and, for maximum enjoyment, you really should read the first two first. The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving. Especially as they are both cracking books in themselves!
We start with Martha, a mousy librarian who, after years of thinking she'd end up a spinster with cats, found love with travelling salesman Alan. They married and have been ticking along relatively nicely. Until that is she finds blood on one of his shirts after coming back from a conference in Denver. She is bemused by this and, with the other feelings she has about him, starts to look into where else he had been and if there were any matching incidents. What she finds is shocking and she start to wonder who exactly she has married. So she turns to an old friend for help, Lily Kintner, who once helped Martha out of a tricky relationship...
And that's all I'm saying as you need to go in as blind as you can for maximum shock. And I do mean shock as wowsers, I really never saw some of the punches delivered by this story coming in a million years, and I read north of 300 books a year, mostly of this genre. So... take a bow My Swanson for completely flummoxing me! Once again!
And if all this wasn't enough... the ending had me gasping and on the edge of my seat and wondering how in the heck the author would get the characters out of what he put them into. And, oh my day, he smashed it out of the ballpark once again. Leaving me exhausted but staisfied.
So... if you have already read the previous books, this is a no brainer. If you haven't then, check them out and then this will be a no brainer. You won't regret it.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A good page turner and holiday read. Some interesting twists and turns throughout. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for the arc of A talent for murder by Peter Swanson

5 stars 🌟!!- if you loved Peter Swanson's other book then your in for a ride with this one! Highly recommend so gripping and captivating had me on the edge of My seat wanting more and more devoured so quickly! I loved Peter's other books so knew this would be no exception and I was right! Loved all the twists and turns it had me from the first page and it is so addictive and compelling I LOVED IT HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Fabulously dark but written in a matter of fact style which is now giving me a twitch in case someone I know is also a serial killer. Ha. I love the fact that the killer is so nonchalant as though it could easily be a hobby such as stamp collecting and that the MO of the killings are designed to look as though they were accidents. Some lovely twisty bits where he cleverly sets someone on the periphery of his knowledge to look very much like they are the killer and in doing so draws his past acquaintance into the danger zone themselves.
Quirky, almost fun in style and beautifully original, I very much enjoyed this one.

I have loved all the books I have read by Peter Swanson and this book lived up to that! It was such an exhilarating read throughout,

An author new to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of the book as was described in the blurb. Lots of twists and turns aad kept me engaged. I shall definitely ce a fan of the author. Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Talent For Murder - Peter Swanson

I am a huge fan of Peter Swanson’s work - and was delighted to be able to read this ARC from NetGalley.

A couple of really big twists along the way that took me by surprise - this three part book has it all.

Murder, second guessing, tension and a deliciously evil and warped protagonist - an awesome recipe for success!

I’m sure fans will love this when it hits the shelves!

A Talent for Murder is the third book in the series by Peter Swanson featuring Lily Kitner & Henry Kimball. I adore this series and the way in which Peter Swanson can twist a story is unlike any other. Not often to you find an author who writes such rich characters, creates such suspense and can hit you out of nowhere with reveals and twists. I have read almost all of his books but this series and the character of Lily is my absolute favorite. While this one wasn’t as strong as the previous two books, it was nonetheless a captivating, and very fun ride. Highly recommend this author.

Keeps you in suspense.
Martha is a librarian and married just a year to Alan who works away, when he comes home with blood on his shirt she is suspicious and starts looking up where he had been over the last year and discovered unsolved murders at each place he'd been.
Is he a serial killer?
Martha gets an old friend to investigate.
A brilliant twist to the end.
Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

Another dark and twisty installment to the Henry Kimball series, A talent for murder is a great thriller with a plethora of evil characters. And I was so happy to find Lily and Henry again!

Swanson is really the master when it comes to very dark motives for killing and to create morally twisted characters. Once again in this book, we are faced with pure evil. Lily looks like an innocent lamb in comparison.

A nicely executed mix between amateur sleuths and a whodunnit, if you love this kind of book this is definitely for you. I recommend reading the whole series as a lot of things make a lot more sense knowing the history of the characters.

4.5⭐️

Lily Kimbal book 3

It’s best to read The kind worth killing, and The Kind Worth saving first for Lily’s back story.

Martha is beginning to think that her husband could be a seri@l ki11er, she doesn’t want to do irreparable damage to her marriage by involving the police, so she calls on her old friend Lily to help her investigate as Lily helped her out with a previous relationship problem.

I wish that I could have read this book in a tighter time frame for better appreciation. It’s a belter of a plot, expertly blended between a whodunnit crime with amateur sleuths (Martha and Lily) and a whydunnit with the pov of the antagonist giving great psychological content. This is my favourite genre combination.

It’s tightly plotted for a good pace with maximum impact. The characters are well constructed with Lily being my favourite.

I highly recommend this book.

Fabulous read, completely compelling. This is part of a series, but works well as a standalone. Honestly unputdownable, don’t start reading it when you have somewhere else to be.

I loved this shorter novel - you don't need to have read the prior 2. It's a bit left field, but I guess anything can happen.

A popcorn serial killer thriller, following Martha who is suspicious of her husband who travels for conferences.

There are multi POVS in this one and I think very easily identifiable who's who in the writing.

I thought the "cannot put it down" vibes died off in the latter part when the POV changes to a new character (no spoilers) but still a good read.

Would recommend this one. Please check TWs online.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A fast paced, dark twisted thriller featuring characters from the authors previous novels. I advise readers to visit the two novels in the Henry Kimball series to gain insight into Lilys character, though this novel can be read as a standalone. I enjoyed every page.

I’d like to thank Faber & Faber Ltd and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘A Talent For Murder’ written by Peter Swanson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Martha meets Alan online and they soon marry but while on their honeymoon Martha looks at him and realises that although he’s a nice man she doesn’t really know him at all. Alan is a travelling salesman and it occurs to Martha that everywhere he travels a woman dies in the vicinity. She decides to contact her old friend Lily and ask for her opinion.

On reading the blurb of ‘A Talent For Murder’ I was convinced I was going to enjoy this thriller but unfortunately I found the characters unlikeable and the plot so farfetched it was totally unrealistic. I have no doubt I’ll be in the minority as a lot of readers enjoy it but I’m afraid I’m not one of them. After getting part of the way through I struggled to keep involved and was so disinterested in what was happening that I couldn’t finish the book which is a rare occurrence for me. I apologise for my negative comments this is solely my opinion.

Peter Swanson has done it again! He’s written another twisty thriller full of amoral and psychopathic characters which sucked me in and didn’t let me go until the very last page!
Martha is a librarian, recently married to Alan, a travelling salesman who sells novelty items at educational conferences.
She is perfectly contented with her life but one day she notices some strange things about her husband and suspects he may have an alternative life where he is up to no good. Could he be a serial killer?
Not sure what to do she contacts her old college friend, Lily Kintner, who she has not seen in a while. Lily is slightly unusual- she has appeared in other books by this author and she certainly has the requisite skills to investigate Alan. The two women start to look into his whereabouts when murders have occurred with some interesting results.
This was such a fun read, full of literary references too, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lily is amoral but incredibly likeable and I was hoping she’d be able to sort things out with the help of Henry, her private investigator friend.
The men in the novel were predatory and not pleasant characters- preying on unsuspecting females; I really hoped that Lily would be able to outwit them.
There were many twists in this cleverly plotted novel and even I, a seasoned mystery reader, did not guess the outcome of the story, all credit to Mr Swanson.
This book comes highly recommended as a delicious mystery full of unusual and engaging characters but don’t expect to like many of them!,
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

This book took me longer to read than normal, I think it's because it was quite slow to get going. However, it really picked up pace in the second half! It was a nice easy to read thriller and I'd definitely recommend it!

It was a good story but I'm not sure this needed to be a series. I enjoyed it but definitely enjoyed Other books from this author more.

Peter Swanson is a hit or miss author for me and unfortunately this was another miss. I couldn’t connect to the characters and because of that I couldn’t get gripped. Dnf at 20%