I am not sure that I have actually read any of Peter Swanson’s books before but am always pleased to find new authors so when I was offered a copy of his latest I was pleased to accept.

A Talent For Murder begins with Martha. She’s married Alan after a whirlwind romance. Alan is a travelling sales rep, but when Martha spots a moment that seems to be him dropping his mask she starts to suspect that he may actually be a serial killer using his travels to hide his crimes. Her research uncovers a string of dead women linked to places he has visited so she contacts old friend Lily Kintner to help investigate. However Martha doesn’t realise that Lily has a dark side too.

A Talent For Murder was an intriguing story that I read over a wet weekend. It was a story of three parts and each one became more twisty than the previous one.

This was a standalone story although I believe Lily has appeared in other Peter Swanson novels. She was certainly an interesting character. Living with her parents she is a quirky bit offbeat person who seems to have a talent for finding out things others can’t. Her own dark side gives an unusual twist to the novel.

I enjoyed the fact that the book was told from different characters points of view each moving the story forward in their own way (it’s difficult to say more without giving spoilers away)

I enjoyed the serial killer element of this. It was written in quite a matter of fact rather than sensational way and that gave it a really creepy feel. I did find that bits were a little hard to keep track of, switching between characters being called father and mother and their first names within one chapter was confusing but then I’m easily confused.

Overall I did enjoy this although suspect that it would have been better to have read the previous Lily Kintner novels first, which I’ll definitely be adding to my list of future reads!

Find out what others thought on the blog tour: