Reading challenge category - 2023 Booklist Queen: Red cover

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC ebook.

"Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder" is a solid debut that shows Kerryn Mayne’s potential as a storyteller. It offers a compelling protagonist and tackles important themes such as mental health, trauma, and resilience. However, issues with pacing and predictability prevent it from being a standout in the mystery genre. Readers looking for a character-driven story with a focus on personal growth might appreciate this novel more than those seeking a tightly woven, unpredictable mystery. I personally appreciated all of the references to "Friends," Scrabble/words, and other pop culture (Buffy, literature, etc).

The title is misleading, so this book was something I wasn't expecting. I was pleasantly surprised by the story. The author seemed to handle the subject matter in a delicate way, but also conveying Lenny's upbringing. We slowly start to see the story unfold and piece everything together. The characters throughout the story were well written. Lenny comes to have several characters who love and protect her.

Check TW. Death of a child, abusive step parent/husband, and child abuse.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book more so than I expected. It was quirky, funny and interesting all in one. It was definitely good for a palate cleanser in between some more dense reads.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel. I honestly wasn't sure whether to request this one. The synopsis sounded like Eleanor Oliphant or Strange Sally Diamond. I loved both of those books but was afraid this would be derivative. However, like those two books, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder took the genre in a new direction. I love how Lenny gets to show her agency, and I love how she becomes so unapologetically herself. Her home and her friends and family are wonderfully described, and she gets many points from me for stealing a guard dog. Well-played Lenny. Well-played all around.

There is nothing remarkable about Lenny Marks, AKA Helena Winters. Her life is set by routines, what she eats, what time she leaves work and rides her bike home, watching Friends, playing Scrabble with her “roommate” Monica, and let’s not forget her 36 copies of The Hobbit arranged on her bookshelf by height. Lenny is quirky, not in a bad way, she doesn’t go out, doesn’t have friends, and when she’s feeling uncomfortable, she plays a game in her head picking a word and trying to make as many words as she can from that word as a calming mechanism, she is a neurodivergent character. But Lenny is also a survivor. Her childhood was awful, her mother and stepfather left her, at eleven she went to live with her grandmother, then she’s pulled from there and sent to live with a foster family, who really turn out to be the only stable people in her life. Also with her, her imaginary friend, Malcolm. The problem is, Lenny’s childhood wasn’t exactly how she remembers, honestly, she doesn’t remember any of it at all.

When Lenny receives a letter at work from the parole board asking her for a victim statement in advance of the release after 25 years of her stepfather, she does what she does best, forget about it. As far as Lenny is concerned, she’s not the victim, so out of sight, out of mind, but that’s not going to work now. When her past catches up with her, she is faced with the truth of what really happened two decades before, and it is not what she’s believed all this time.

The first half of this book is slow, it seems to drag out and could possibly be shortened. But the second half definitely picks up speed. We start to understand just how terrible of a childhood Lenny had. This novel has a hint of everything, it’s heartbreaking, romantic, a thriller, twisty, revengeful and heroic. Lenny is a really great character that I would love to give a big hug to.

I would like to thank Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, and Kerry’s Mayne for an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Lenny reminded me of Gail Honeywell's Eleanor Oliphant. This novel is equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. Lenny Marks is a teacher and she's quite good at not really living her life. She has a strict routine and doesn't deviate from it; until the day a letter arrives from the Parole Board. This throws Lenny off her game and forces her to comet o terms with things that happened to her as a child. It forces her to remember how she was left behind by her mother and stepfather. She even winds up "rescuing" (liberating) a rottweiler from his terrible home and naming him after her imaginary friend. It looks like Lenny is about to get a life if her past doesn't catch up with her first.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

Lenny Marks likes her routine and likes sticking to it. Her bike ride to and from work. Check. Stopping at McKnight’s for groceries. Check. Knowing exactly what’s she’s going to eat for dinner on a given night every week. Check. Watching Friends and playing Scrabble with Monica. Check. And then the letter from the parole board arrives destroying Lenny’s carefully plotted routine. Suddenly she has more people in her life. Then there are memories that keep wanting to surface, despite her. In Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder Kerryn Mayne has crafted an indelible novel of one woman’s effort to forget trauma in order to live, and survive.

Honestly I would never have guessed that Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is Kerryn Mayne’s debut novel. The plotting, the twists, the characterization are all just so very good. While the reader probably intuits the events that Lenny is trying so desperately to forget, the manner in which the story is told is so adept that the “knowing” never takes away from the intrigue.

Lenny Marks goes slightly beyond being a classic introvert, which I put down to multiple occurrences in her past. She believes that those she’s loved in the past have left her. Her parents. Her grandmother. So she doesn’t try very hard to make new friends and the ones she chooses, very young colleagues, Amy and Ashleigh, are not suitable friend material for Lenny. In Lenny’s characterization, Mayne creates some early scenes that are rife with cringy moments making the reader feel bad for Lenny but also tremendously embarrassed. Having experienced those moments makes the ones where Lenny triumphs even sweeter.

In some ways Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is as much of a character study as it is a mystery/thriller, and perhaps the best thrillers are. By the end, the reader, me, felt a great deal of satisfaction having gone on this trip with Lenny Marks through her past and present. A smart, enthralling debut.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for sending me a copy.

I really enjoyed Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder. I think it’s Lenny’s inner voice that entertains me. Her inner dialogue is a hoot. I love how her mind works because it totally makes sense to me.

Kerryn Mayne layers in trauma, mystery, humor, and real-life situations seamlessly. Lenny is plucky even though she doesn’t know it. Mayne gives us a heroine to root for as do the friends she doesn’t know she has. The secondary cast is good and bad as it should be.

There is a sweet clean romance that even Lenny doesn’t know she is in (chuckle). I just love how this mystery is laid out. It fluctuates back and forth from the past to the present.

I will say that there are some dark moments in the story. They are necessary to the plot and to explain Lenny’s outlook. Be prepared.

The title of the book got me to pick it to read. It made me interested enough to read the book. I’m not a huge fan of the cover. It is Lenny, but the cover would not have grabbed my interest.

Inside the pages though? The book has everything you want. I just love this book. Mystery. Murder. A sweet romance. Friends. Found family. A heroine to root for. Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is the beach read for the summer.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
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This was not what I was expecting at all and definitely in a good way. Don’t go into this one thinking that it’s going to be some kind of a cute cozy mystery because this book is filled with some deep issues. I really enjoyed this one!
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This is told in the first person, through the eyes of Lenny, who is neurodivergent. I love Lenny; she is so charming and so innocent. I love how much she as a character grew throughout the entire book. I love love love the deep dive into Lenny’s past and really uncovering all of the trauma of her past and her facing her deeply buried issues.
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I would say that this is more of a slow burn. There is still some little bit of a mystery element to this one as well and as everything begins to unravel the pacing does pick up a bit.
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I listened while reading along with my eARC and Annie Maynard was phenomenal. She really brought Lenny to life and the audiobook was absolutely superb!
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Overall, this book was cute and cozy while also having some suspenseful moments; it was intriguing and heartbreaking but also so encouraging and empowering. I was totally caught of guard with what I thought this book was going to be vs what it was, but I loved this.
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Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder releases on 7/9, be sure to check it out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, MacMillan Audio and Kerryn Mayne for the eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder introduces us to a compelling and unusual heroine. An elementary school teacher, Lenny Marks is a solitary creature who seeks comfort and security in structure and organization. She has many characteristics that people associate with neurodivergence. She turns her tea cup three times. She eats the same meal on the same day of the week. She misses social cues, not recognizing the condescension of some co-workers or the friendly overtures of another. She has her life structured just so, but when a letter from the parole board arrives, the walls she has constructed start to crumble.

It’s not all bad. She goes to trivia night with her co-workers and even helps them do relatively well. That was a huge step for her. She rescues a dog. She befriends her neighbor. She might be making another friend. But, she is also becoming unnerved. A woman from the parole board keeps calling and leaving messages. She starts seeing things, worrying that she is losing touch with reality when she sees a young girl who disappears when she tries to talk to her. She’s hearing voices.

As the story unfolds with short intervening chapters from her past, we begin to realize that what appears to be symptoms of neurodivergence are actually coping mechanisms to deal with the pain and trauma of her childhood, a childhood that was full of loss. We first get an inkling when we learn she was raised by foster parents. So who is being paroled and what can Lenny do about it?

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder has a fascinating main character, one I wouldn’t mind spending more time with though Kerryn Mayne didn’t set her up for a cozy series. So, I guess this is it with Lenny and that’s okay.

This is not a story that asks for detection. The mystery that needs unraveling is Lenny’s past and most readers will figure it out before Lenny does, but then we don’t have her reasons for avoiding the truth. Lenny’s story is tragic and some might find it too grim, but I appreciate how Lenny, once she allows herself to remember, recognizes her need to heal. She does a lot of growing in the story and it’s wonderful to see.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder will be released July 9th. I received an e-galley from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Kerryn Mayne author site

This was an interesting about an adult woman who is a neurodivergent school teacher that is slowly realizing that she has untreated issues from childhood trauma. The premise is new and different, but there are some plot holes that left me confused, and some characters that were just okay, and needed a bit more development. I was expecting a bit more mystery and a bit less chick lit. Still, 3 stars and not badly written if this genre interests you. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.

Lenny Marks is an odd duck. Socially awkward, somewhat introverted, odd. A good person, as far as we can see, a schoolteacher for grade 5. She’s set her sights on befriending the two new prep teachers who are not only besties, but also the epitome of mean girls.

Lenny used to be another person. A person she’d rather forget, and mostly has. Her foster father called her Lenny, so she kept it. She also took their last name. Lenny Marks is who she is now. That’s what’s important.

But Lenny’s world is being turned upside down when she receives a letter about her former stepfather. Buried memories, long since compartmentalized and stored away, are coming back. Her foster mother Fay is still insistent that Lenny try to get a life, a real life, with friends and maybe a bit of therapy. Always though, Lenny insists she’s fine.

Until she’s not. And that is when the story gets really good. Throw in a cute grocer, a stolen dog, long lost family members, and a bit of criminal mischief and you have yourself one heck of a good story. Lenny will warm your heart.

Loved it. If this really is a debut novel, bravo. Written with so much humor even in the midst of reality, it is such a great read. Highly recommend it.

Levity to Gravity
Lenny Marks used to be Helena Winters and the parole board needs to talk to her.
Well-crafted writing by Mayne starts with what could be a hard situation. Then, she truly introduced me to Lenny. Careful, routine, and intentional, she turns down all social functions and outside influence with humor and skill. Lenny has to protect herself- but it's all her fault.
Lenny's past crashes into her present and brings with it real need for facing facts.
I loved being one of Lenny's cheerleaders as she navigates unthinkable hurt with the help of her loving foster mom, mysterious neighbor, and people she can't quite love.

I would like to first thank Kerry Mayne, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel (out July 9th!).

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is classified under “cozy mystery”, but I would define it as something completely different. Yes, there is a mystery component to the storyline, but it is so much more. There is a depth to the character that will draw the reader in and make them root for Lenny. Her neurodivergence will make your heart hurt one chapter, then turn around and have you laughing and happy the next. I found myself rooting for Lenny, cheering her on as she made friends, found her family, rescued a dog…

Simply put, I loved it. It was heartbreaking to realize the amount of physical and emotional trauma that Lenny suffered as a young girl. However, she not only overcomes this, but also works through this trauma to become a better person and friend. She was delightful!

I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy a funny mystery book. Fans of Nita Prose’s The Maid would enjoy another take at a neurodivergent girl caught up in a murder she may or may not have committed.

This book looks a lot lighter than it is. There are moments of humor, but it’s a pretty full and emotional book about a woman struggling to navigate the world while suffering from repressed trauma. Lenny is a unique character, and definitely reads as being on the autism spectrum… she reminded me of a “heavier” version of the main character from The Maid. I really enjoyed it overall- Lenny definitely grew throughout the story and it was nice to see her become more empowered and in charge of her life. There were a lot of “coincidences” that were pretty impossible, but I was ok with living in the fantasy. It definitely wasn’t the book I was expecting going in, but I did end up enjoying it. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc.

Thanks for the review copy. This book has a very quirky protagonist. It is very well written. The book does have a lot of trigger warnings, though.

The title of this book might be a bit misleading—it's not exactly a murder mystery. Instead, it centers around Lenny Marks, a 37-year-old neurodivergent woman who teaches fifth grade and maintains a highly structured life. Everything changes when she receives a letter informing her that her stepfather is about to be released from prison. This news forces Lenny to confront the painful memories of her time living with him. Lenny is a character you'll inevitably grow to love.

The story centers around Lenny Marks, and she is the wonderful driving force behind this suspenseful and emotional tale. I'm sure introverts everywhere can identify with her love of a solitary and simple life with her copies of The Hobbit and the Scrabble she plays with her imaginary friend. I enjoyed her elaborate backstory that plays a large role in the mystery. Fans of mystery thrillers will enjoy this book.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne follows a woman whose personality has been formed by repressed childhood trauma. This character driven debut novel is very highly recommended.

Lenny Marks, 37 years-old and single, is a fifth grade teacher at Selby South Primary School who is excels at not having a life. She keeps to herself and her routines. She eats the same things every week. She plays scrabble "with" Monica while watching Friends reruns. Lenny owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit. Lenny may have difficulties reading people, but she is excellent with words. One of her coping mechanisms is rearranging the letters of words into as many anagrams as possible. Lenny Marks is also very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child - until she is forced to remember.

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder is a well-written debut novel that kept me totally immersed in Lenny's story throughout. This character driven novel truly is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It is written in the same vein of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. The narrative starts out at an even pace and then, once readers are introduced to Lenny and her idiosyncrasies, it begins to pick up the pace and reveal what really happened in Lenny's past and how she got the scar on her leg.

Lenny is a memorable, intelligent, complicated, neurodivergent character. She survived incredible trauma as a child and found a way to keep living while repressing many of those memories. Her inner thoughts and reactions are written in a believable manner. Readers will love to see her trying to connect with people and her rescue of an abuse dog.

Once her past is revealed, it is heartbreaking and all of Lenny's coping mechanisms make perfect sense. There are a few times you need to suspend some disbelief, but it is something you will gladly do in order to see Lenny through to the final denouement. Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder would be an excellent choice for book clubs! Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

This was quite the brilliant story! I am still amazed by the imagination and level of achievement the author reached in this book.

I, as other readers have mentioned, was sure this was a combination cozy read and rom-com. It certainly began that way, and I was quickly liking Lenny and her quirky personality. The further I read, the more I could see that this was not a run of the mill genre read. Clearly Lenny was dealing with a great deal of trauma and its effect on a young girl. She is the kind of character that you just find interesting and unpredictable in spite of her dependence on routine in her life. Things happened around her that kept the story building and magnetic.

I loved how Lenny changes throughout the book growing from a scared and self-conscious girl who kowtowed to others wishes into a strong and determined woman. She leaves the literal little girl behind in finding her way forward to happiness. Her relationship with Ned is also a lovely thing to behold as are all the relationships she ultimately accepts and allows to develop and bring her joy.

This is a triumphant book that I clearly enjoyed and would highly recommend to most any reader. Bravo on your premiere novel, Kerryn! I certainly hope there will be many more.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.