Most of the time I go into a book cold. Even though I knew what I was adding to my TBR by the time I read it I forgot all that so I go into it not knowing what to expect. At first meeting with Lenny Marks I thought she was quirky, very into routine, shopping twice a week, buying the same foods and not able to read social cues but I didn't find her as endearing as Molly Gray or Eleanor Oliphant but by the end of the book I loved her. She had a brutal childhood and spent time in foster care with a lovely family. She was convinced that her mother and stepfather had left her to live with her grandmother, Zanny. She tried hard to make friends at the school where she was a teacher but she was picking the wrong people. When a letter arrives from a parole board reporting that her stepfather was being released from prison blocks in her mind start tumbling into place. There were some lovely characters in the story. Ned works in the grocery store where she shops and is always engaging. Her neigbor, Maureen, is a lovely older woman who befriends her and, of course, her foster mother, Fay.

This is the author's debut novel and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Lenny Marks has created the perfect life - she's a teacher, bikes home every day, stops at her local grocery store and has a same meals every week and owns and reads many copies of the Hobbit so much so that she makes decisions in life based on scenes in the book. But, her life is no life and it all falls apart when she receives a letter in the mail for Helena Winters with the words parole and victim which starts to make her perfect world crumble. We find she has no memory of what happened to her mother and stepfather. I found that the book had a slow start and it was a slog to get through. But the last third was much better and comes together in the end. Enjoyable enough.

Lenny Marks is a 37-year-old 5th grade teacher who lives a very rigid life full of self-imposed rules. How much of it is due to her traumatic childhood? As she starts reaching out, she finds herself opening up to those who care about her. The reader can't help but come to care about Lenny Marks as memories come back to her about really happened. Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's and the author for a copy to read and review.

What a sleeper of a book. I appreciated Lenny and her growth. A neurodivergent loner gets out of her comfort zone to take on the world. OK not really the world but works to change that comfort zone, accept her past and embrace the possibilities.

This comes across as a cross between a rom com and a cozy mystery, but it deeper than that. Lenny is hiding from a mysterious letter and you cannot imagine my guesses for what it held.

Lenny has something in her past that she needs to address and heal. In order to do this Lenny embarks on a journey that has her accept help from others to find her way forward.

She is a unique and dare I say quirky character. She’s finds comfort in the TV show friends and plays scrabble against her imaginary roommate Monica Geller. She had me rooting for her from the start.

It is a bit of a slow burn, but definitely worth the time.

Annie Maynard narrates this one and hit it out of the park bringing Lenny to life. She balances Lenny’s quirks and charm with her anxiety and stress and finds a way to make her lovable.

This is one of my favorite July reads.

This book wasn’t really for me. I might have gone in with the wrong impressions, but it didn’t deliver on any of what I wanted.

I thought this might be a cozy mystery, but there wasn’t any mystery component.

I found the story to be very slow, and it felt like nothing happened until 3/4 of the way through the book.

I couldn’t quite get into this story. The beginning and the ending were intriguing enough for me to keep going. It was interesting in parts and a bit twisty.

Attention fans of "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" – I have found your next favorite read!

Lenny is a neurodivergent woman in her late 30s who is attempting to live a very structured life, partly due to her traumatic childhood. She loves routine and rules and is perfectly fine being on her own. The novel follows Lenny's story as her past catches up to her present and she embarks on a journey to try to understand herself.

At times, the story moved very slowly. It felt like the book could have been shorter, but overall, it kept me engaged. There are several heavy themes throughout the book, so please review trigger warnings before reading – this is not a lighthearted mystery.

Equally heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time, you can't help but root for Lenny.

Lenny Marks has always felt different and called weird. She works at an elementary school, plays Scrabble at night (by herself, though she calls her opponent Monica), has predetermined meals for each night of the week. Then there is a slight fissure for change. And she starts getting flashes of memory. The story builds and you become immersed in her life and want to know what happened with her mother and stepfather. Why is the prison trying to contact her about his parole? I could hardly put the book down in the last third and the payoff is well-earned and satisfying.
4.3⭐

Lenny Marks doesn’t have much of a life. She has no friends, she eats the same meals every day, she watches Friends non-stop and plays Scrabble with Monica from Friends. It’s the life she prefers after her mother and stepfather abandoned her when she was just a child.

Suddenly she finds herself making friends at work. Perhaps she’ll even find herself in a new relationship. When she receives a letter from the parole board, memories of her childhood slowly start to return. Everything changes for Lenny and her new life.

It’s an interesting storyline as the reader is given bits and pieces of information throughout the story. You don’t really know what happened until the end. A few things I figured out, but most of it I didn’t. It’s a captivating story that keeps you guessing. It’s a page-turner to say the least.

This is a poignant, dark storyline filled with mystery and a heroine you can care about. Lenny Marks is a unique, quirky character. My heart went out to her throughout the entire book.

I’ll be on the lookout for more books by this author.




FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I just could not get a grasp on this. I thought it'd be a cute 'n quirky cozy about a strong female sleuth (who may or may not be on the spectrum) a la The Maid. But this did not resonate with me at all. I keep seeing comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and now I don't really want to read that either. Sorry.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I can't say I've ever read a book that is written in this type of style and point of view, and I really enjoyed it. Lenny, while very rigid in her thinking and lifestyle, somehow seemed endlessly relatable to me. I enjoyed watching things unravel and how she dealt with all the threads. I was rooting for her throughout and felt really connected to her in the story. I do think, especially at the beginning, the story is slow to build and not as attention grabbing. But overall recommend if you're interested in a character focused, emotional and deep read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

This was a sloooooooow burn.
Lenny was such an interesting character to read about with how everything needed to be done a certain way, the same routine everyday and if something went different, it was a struggle for her.
She has forgotten parts of her past and one day it all comes back when she receives a letter that can’t be ignored. Lenny’s routines change, she’s being forced to be in close proximity to other people and talking to them. Towards the end of the book, Lenny has grown as a person with everything she had to face and accomplished.
Just her character in general made the book good to read. It honestly isn’t really a thriller though, the title is a bit misleading 🤷🏼‍♀️ overall it was an okay book!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a contemporary fiction novel about a young woman who is forced to face her traumatic childhood and find the community around her.

Lenny Marks is a thirty seven year old teacher in a small town with only her former foster mother and old episodes of Friends as companions. But she’s trying to put herself out there and befriend the “cool” teachers, the quirky friendly grocer, Ned and she even steals a dog from an abusive owner. But the letters from the parole board keep coming and it’s time for Lenny to face what happened to her family all those years ago.

This is a heartfelt novel about childhood trauma and how it’s never too late to grow up and make your world a little larger. This is a book full of cute moments with a main character that has a unique way of looking at the world but also about the more serious issues around domestic abuse and mental health. I highly recommend it for readers that want a character they can root for.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne
Contemporary mystery, fiction. Australia.
Lenny Marks lives a very structured and regimented live. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm everyday, buys the same groceries for the same meals each week, and plays scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns.
Lenny is good at not remembering what happened the day her mom and stepdad disappeared. A letter for the parole board triggers changes to Lenny’s life and routines. Hiding and ignoring are no longer easy options.

I prefer to avoid spoilers, but it’s kind of hard when the title is telling what’s going to happen. Back to the beginning, as I was reading, I wasn’t sure if Lenny had developmental issues, possibly on the spectrum or if it was all trauma related. It doesn’t matter because she navigates her life just fine, but it was an interesting correlation between her blocked memory and how she lives her daily life. I loved the dog story throughout. A beautiful and humane way she expanded and added love to her life.

Extraordinary life story resolution, even though it’s fiction. Ultimately hopeful and simply a good book. I’m going to remember details of Lenny’s story for a long time to come and will recommend it to my bookclub.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

I love a good story with a quirky or neurodivergent character especially if it’s done well. And in this novel it is extremely well executed.

Lenny Marks is a creature of habit. She does the same things every day and fills in the extra hours watching “Friends” and playing scrabble games with her imaginary roommate Monica.

We know that something traumatic happened to Lenny the day her mother and stepfather disappeared. The memories are triggered when she receives a letter from the parole board.

As we slowly find out what that event was, Lenny is also slowly being pulled into social activities.

This character-driven novel has it all. It’s heart-warming, charming, and thoughtful. I can’t believe this is a debut novel and I look forward to more books from this author!

I loved listening to the audiobook narrated by Annie Maynard! She didn't distinguish too much between the speakers, but her accent was delightful to listen to as she read with animation and enthusiasm.

I enjoyed reading this emotional rollercoaster of a read! Lenny was such a quirky character with her 36 copies of The Hobbit and reciting anagrams in her head as a coping mechanism. I was interested to know what terrible thing she did because she was such a quiet character. The suspense kept me reading until the end. I liked that she had Fay, Kirra, Ned, and Maureen to help her during her rough days. The ending was a bit traumatic, but it was wonderful to see Lenny moving away from the abuse and trauma in her past and moving forward to the future.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and Audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

Lenny Marks is an elementary school teacher who keeps to herself, her strict routines and rearranged words in her head like a game of scrabble to calm her anxieties.

She had a traumatic childhood that she mostly tries to not think about, but recently she received a letter in the mail that has disturbed her peace and memories are starting to trickle back in.

I was completely surprised by this book. It was funny and cozy but also the mystery element had me surprised time and time again.

I think I actually gasped out loud on at least 3 different occasions.

If you like mystery, add this to your tbr. I’ll be keeping my eyes out for anything from this author in the future!

Thanks to #netgalley, the author and publisher for this e-arc! This book is out now!

Covers and titles are our first impressions of a book. Does this cover and title say cozy mystery to you?

What I found inside was Lenny. She’s a quirky, witty, and endearing neurodiverse woman caught up in secrets, heartbreak, and what seems to be a dark mystery.

But Lenny is a wonderful, complex character. As a teacher at a primary school, she is obsessed with The Hobbit, loves reruns of Friends, and plays Scrabble with her imaginary friends. She keeps things, emotions, and even people neat and in their place; she craves consistency.

What gives the book a heavier edge is that Lenny has suffered past trauma, the trauma she has tried hard to forget over the years, trauma a voice tells her, “You did this.” When a notice from the patrol board arrives, Lenny begins to remember, and her tidy life gets messy.

Although there are plenty of funny and heartwarming moments, there are also heartbreaking ones, especially when Lenny starts to remember the events of her past.

This mixes Lenny’s personal journey with the past events when her mother and stepfather disappeared. The facts are revealed slowly, adding a bit of suspense. It was lovely to see Lenny realize many things about herself and that people were there for her. It's a remarkable debut!

If you enjoy audiobooks, grab this one. Annie Maynard’s narration captured Lenny’s personality so well.

Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted ebook via Netgalley.
Thank you @macmillan.audio for the gifted audiobook.

I loved Lenny Marks. What an interesting character. Kerryn Mayne has created an unforgettable character. Lenny is a woman that struggles in society. She is single and a respected school teacher. She loves routine and has difficulty making friends. She doesn't comprehend social cues. This novel is part mystery and part romance. This equation equals a definite must read!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is the debut novel from Kerryn Mayne. Set in Australia, Lenny is a 37 year old elementary teacher who is very set in her ways and relies on her routine to get through each day. It’s takes a bit, but once we learn more about Lenny’s childhood, the reader can start to understand what makes Lenny tick.

This novel will appeal to those who enjoy quirky character reads that also have a good story. I enjoyed the development of Lenny’s character as she starts to face her past. I found this to be a strong debut and look forward to the next novel by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.