A Talent for Murder
William Morrow
Summer 2024
The mysterious and sometimes deadly Lily Kintner of Peter Swanson’s bestselling The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving is back in Peter Swanson’s spectacularly twisty and deviously clever new novel, A Talent for Murder.
Librarian Martha Ratliff is trying to lead a quiet life when she finds a mysterious bloodstain on her husband Allan’s shirt. When she begins to line up her husband’s business trips with a string of unsolved murders, she decides to enlist the help of her old friend Lily Kintner, who once helped her out of an abusive relationship.
Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is—but once she’s on the case, she realizes that this won’t be another simple project. Lily offers to follow Allan, hoping to find out the truth behind the trail of murdered women. Lily’s investigation uncovers dangerous secrets, and she soon finds herself in a cat-and-mouse game with a killer who shares her talent for murder.
Foreign Sales:
Faber / U.K.
Cappelen Damm / Norway
Prunsoop/Korea
Gallmeister / France
Praise for The Kind Worth Saving:
"The Kind Worth Saving is a joy to read and is catnip for fans of top-level
psychological thrillers. It will consistently keep readers off-balance as each wave of
truth hits you and sends you down another road towards the next twist."
—Bookreporter.com
“The inventive Mr. Swanson never lets the willing reader down. With
The Kind Worth Saving, he surpasses his own high standard.”
—The 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 Magazine (Starred Review)
“The suspense filled plot means The Kind Worth Saving will be another
sure-fire winner and I’ve no doubt this won’t be the last we’ll hear of Henry Kimball.”
—Irish Independent
“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.”
—New York Times Book Review
“A spine-tingling quest to expose evil before evil wins. Psychological thriller
fanatics will scramble to complete this satisfyingly twisty novel.”
—Library Journal
Praise for The Kind Worth Killing:
“A twisty tale of warring sociopaths [and] a good companion to similar stories
by Laura Lippman and Gillian Flynn.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
“Revenge has rarely been served colder than in Swanson’s exceptional
thriller. . . .With scalpel-sharp prose, Swanson probes the nature of
coldblooded evil. Few will be prepared for the crushing climax.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Praise for Peter Swanson:
“Swanson hits the mystery writer's daily double: a devilish premise
combined with jaw-dropping execution.”
—Booklist, Starred Review for Eight Perfect Murders
“The perfect gift for well-read mystery mavens who complain that
they don't write them like they used to.”
—Kirkus, Starred Review for Eight Perfect Murders
“Swanson will keep most readers guessing until the end.
Classic whodunit fans will be in heaven.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review for Eight Perfect Murders
"Deliciously ingenious… With twist upon twist, and false clue upon false clue,
this is superb, elegant crime writing with more than a nod to the genre’s past."
—Daily Mail for Nine Lives
“. . . ingenious plotting and a clear, precise writing style.”
—Associated Press for Nine Lives
“Diving into the plot of a Peter Swanson novel is rather like getting involved,
if not quite in a game of chess, then in a particularly sharp game of
checkers. Swanson’s earlier bestselling “Eight Perfect Murders” qualified
as a solid book of this type. “Nine Lives” is even better.”
—Toronto Star for Nine Lives
“Psychological thriller devotees should block time to read
Swanson’s novel in one sitting, preferably in the daylight.”
—Library Journal, Starred Review; Top Ten “LibraryReads” title for Her Every Fear
“Swanson…introduces a delicious monster-under-the-bed creepiness to
the expected top-notch characterization and steadily mounting anxiety.”
—Booklist, Starred Review for Her Every Fear