Scan barcode
A review by melaniesreads
A Beginner's Guide to Murder by Rosalind Stopps
4.0
What a dark underbelly this book has, the grooming of a child in the care system by a girl pretending to be her friend, domestic abuse, racial tension and trafficking. Every female character here has their own story and when they are all thrown together it leads to planning a murder.
The three older women Meg, Daphne and Grace are unusual as they are each have a unique gift. Meg, whose mother played the violin, hears something out of tune when something is wrong. Grace an ex teacher gets a smell and Daphne knows what trouble is and what it could do to a person.
This is very much a character driven book and much darker than I had assumed from the blurb. These women are not the cosy Miss Marple types I was expecting.
However this is a book that evokes powerful feelings towards the injustices in the world. The damaged, the lost, the forgotten, the uncared for. They are all there between the pages. It also brings into focus how women are underestimated, especially after a certain age, but for me this was mostly about making unexpected friendships under the strangest circumstances and how powerful those friendships are.
The three older women Meg, Daphne and Grace are unusual as they are each have a unique gift. Meg, whose mother played the violin, hears something out of tune when something is wrong. Grace an ex teacher gets a smell and Daphne knows what trouble is and what it could do to a person.
This is very much a character driven book and much darker than I had assumed from the blurb. These women are not the cosy Miss Marple types I was expecting.
However this is a book that evokes powerful feelings towards the injustices in the world. The damaged, the lost, the forgotten, the uncared for. They are all there between the pages. It also brings into focus how women are underestimated, especially after a certain age, but for me this was mostly about making unexpected friendships under the strangest circumstances and how powerful those friendships are.