
A Talent for Murder
A Novel
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · May 27, 2025
"What a killer read!
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- Edgy crime fiction that keeps the pages moving and the nerves slightly frayed.
- Genres
- Psychological Thrillers, Domestic Thrillers, Suspense
- Published
- HarperCollins, May 27, 2025
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Suspense.
The Midnight FeastLucy Foley60% matchAlso shares Domestic Thrillers
The Missing HalfAshley Flowers, Alex Kiester60% matchAlso shares Domestic Thrillers
We Solve MurdersRichard Osman, Nicola Walker62% match
Everyone in My Family Has Killed SomeoneBenjamin Stevenson, Barton Welch66% match
His & HersAlice Feeney67% matchAlso shares Psychological Thrillers and Domestic Thrillers
It's Not HerMary Kubica63% matchAlso shares Psychological Thrillers and Domestic Thrillers
The Woman in the LibrarySulari Gentill64% matchAlso shares Psychological Thrillers
The HoldoutAbby Craden, Graham Moore62% match
For younger readers: The One That Got Away With Murder, The Cabin
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
"What a killer read! A Talent For Murder is the thrilling tale of a woman who suspects her husband is a serial killer. As the bodies stack up, so does the paranoid tension until I was feverishly turning pages in the dark, desperate to know what happens next.
Continue reading
A fast, exciting read with twist after twist." — Janice Hallett, Internationally bestselling author of The Appeal 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 work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job 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.
Dark Momentum
Edgy crime fiction that keeps the pages moving and the nerves slightly frayed.
Come here for
- dark, suspense-forward momentum
- a procedural edge with amateur-sleuth friction
Expect
- women-detective energy
- a sustained, immersion-first read
Where it sits
| Psychological Thrillers | 62% |
|---|---|
| Domestic Thrillers | 49% |
| Suspense | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Women Detectives
- Amateur Sleuths
- Psychological Fiction
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Suspense
- Crime Fiction
- Psychological Thrillers
- Women's Fiction
- Authors
- Peter Swanson, Sophie Amoss, Stephen Graybill
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- May 27, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Literary Fiction