A Talent for Murder
A newlywed librarian begins to suspect the man she married might be a murderer--in this spectacularly twisty and deviously clever novel by Peter Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing and Eight Perfect Murders.
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.
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Peter Swanson is the New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and Eight Perfect Murders, a New York Times bestseller, among others. His books have been translated into 30 languages, and his stories, poetry, and features have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. He lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts, where he is at work on his next novel.
"Smart, surprising, cool and fun, with a deeply satisfying ending. I loved it!" -- Gillian McAllister, New York Times bestselling author, on The Kind Worth Saving
"A complex tale of multiple killings over many years involving at least one, and possibly more, murderous psychopaths. The story is told in alternating timelines. . . How those two stories converge, and the shocking sleight-of-hand twist that is, trust me, impossible to predict, are just two of the many balls that Swanson juggles in this entertaining story." -- Sarah Lyall, New York Times Book Review, on The Kind Worth Saving
"The inventive Mr. Swanson never lets the willing reader down. With The Kind Worth Saving, he surpasses his own high standard." -- Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
"This isn't exactly a sequel to Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing, though several of the characters, including the gloriously warped Lily Kintner, reappear here, but it does reprise the same creepy theme: sociopathic spiders and the not-quite-innocent flies they attempt to entrap in their labyrinthine webs (when they aren't trapping one another). Only this time Swanson ups the ante dramatically. . . It isn't so much plot twists that keep the reader reeling here (though there are plenty of those) as it is the growing realization of the horrors lurking within the minds of seemingly ordinary people." -- Booklist (starred review) on The Kind Worth Saving
"The Kind Worth Saving is another superb slice of Neo-noir, a genre in which Peter Swanson is pretty much peerless." -- M. W. Craven, Sunday Times bestselling author
