I didn't realize this was part of the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner series. I just saw who the author was and immediately requested it! Thankfully, I've already read the previous two so i was beyond thrilled to read this one!

I hate to say it but this was my least favorite Lily + Kimball collaboration 🫣

The Kind Worth Killing is one of my all time favorite thrillers, so I’m always comparing the next one to the original. While the premise was interesting, it fell a bit flat for me.

I still love Peter Swanson and he’ll always be an auto buy author. I look forward to what comes next!

📜A Talent For Murder
✍️Peter Swanson
📠William Morrow
📚Mystery/Thriller, Fiction
🗓️Pub date: June 11, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @williammorrowbooks for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to @petermswanson for writing another 5-star read!!!

✨Martha and Alan are practically strangers, yet they’re newlyweds. Martha, a librarian, was forced to believe she’d be single forever and married to her books before she met Alan, a divorcee. They weren’t together long before he proposed.

✨Alan’s job takes him all over the country to different conferences and events. It’s after one of these trips, Martha finds blood on the back of his shirt.

✨Curiosity gets the best of her and she slowly starts piecing together incidents that happened around Alan’s trips—incidents that leave women dead. Soon she suspects he may be a serial killer.

✨As Martha teams up with old friend Lily Kintner—infamous killer in Swanson’s The Kind Worth Killing—she enters a dangerous web, trying to navigate her husband’s pastimes.

✨I absolutely loved this book! It was unique, twisty, thrilling, and kept me guessing. I love the ties to The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving and bringing Lily back. Peter Swanson’s writing is like a big bear hug and I just get lost in his stories. A must read!!

#netgalley #atalentformurder #peterswanson #williammorrow #summerreleases #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #ivegotbooks #killmewithwords #idratherbereading #thrillerfiction #readthisnow #lilykintnerisback

Martha Ratliff is a newly married librarian. She was happy with her single life surrounded by books. She then met Alan and her life changed. When she found a blood streak on one of his shirts after he returned from a conference, she begins to suspect something. She discovers that the cities he said he travelled to for a conference, all had unsolved murder cases. Could her husband be the killer? She contacts an old friend Lily, who owes her a favors. Lily agrees to meet Alan and try to find out what kind of man he is. No spoilers here. Read it to find out if Alan is the serial killer.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson.

A Talent for Murder was a lot of fun, especially in the hands of Peter Swanson's particular style of writing. He knows how to make things just ridiculous enough to be entertaining and suspenseful without making it obnoxious. I love a mystery involving a librarian!

How many jaw dropping momenta can one thriller have?! This has to be a record! I went in blind, and I am so happy I did. My mind was blown after the first chapter. A Talent for Murder captivated me from start to finish. This incredible story has solidified why Peter Swanson is one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend!

(Full review and link to social media will be within 2 months of pub date)

Does anyone remember the first book that sent chills up their spine ? Mine was The Girl With a Clock for a Heart, by Peter Swanson. If anyone has read it they know Swanson, set the bar for disturbing. Since, I have been chasing that feeling . I was in search of that up all night, can’t sleep, cant breathe, can’t think, kind of feeling and I found it …..

A Talent for Murder

I think i made a subconscious decision to try everything in my power to give myself nightmares for the rest of my life . I can also tell you, I have achieved such goal without evening knowing I set it .

I’m officially terrified .

If you want to know what can scare the crap out of this thrill chasing, suspense lover than roll the dice and preorder yourself a copy of A Talent for Murder, You won’t regret it ….. or will you? 😏

Teaser :

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 job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that 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.

Peter Swanson’s books are always a must-read for me. This is the third to star Lily Kintner (after The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving) and somehow Swanson continues find to new and fascinating layers to her personality. She might be my favorite character in all of crime fiction, and A TALENT FOR MURDER is a worthy addition to her story. 5/5 stars, highly recommended.

A twisted thriller for your TBRs, fans of Peter Swanson will not be disappointed with this latest release.

My sole complaint with this book is that there weren’t character names at the beginning to the chapters to tell me whose POV I was in, so it took some time to figure it out as I read. Perhaps this is a creative choice, or perhaps my ARC copy just didn’t have time, but either way I much prefer having the POV at the chapter start.

The story itself was intriguing and kept me entertained. I wasn’t exactly guessing at the end result, but it was definitely an enjoyable thriller.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted (free) ARC

I didn't realize going into this that it was the third book in the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner series. Luckily, I had read the first book, so I knew a bit of the back story. That being said, you could mostly read it as a standalone.

Overall, it was okay, but fell short in holding my attention. While the premise had potential, the execution felt lacking, and the pacing was slow, making it a bit boring at times. It's a decent read for those looking for a light mystery, but don't expect to be on the edge of your seat.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC!

Peter Swanson is an author that I love to recommend to people and then watch as they are mind blown by his plots and twists. A Talent for Murder won’t be any different. Lily Kitner is back and as always, she’s completely engaging. She’s the main focus this time and that made the book move so fast. She can be so unpredictable, I was constantly holding my breath. This is the third in the series and I feel like it helps so much with context to read the first two. Prepare for many, many surprises and an unforgettable read.

Oh Peter Swanson you have done it again! I cannot get enough of his books, seriously, if you have not read this author what are you doing with your life. He has been an auto read for me for a very long time now, The Kind Worth Killing one of my all time favourite thriller books. He is just so clever at getting the reader hooked and thinking that they know what is going on and then bam! Plot twist that changes everything. I love it.

Not only is this a Peter Swanson book, it is a Lily Kitner and Henry Kimball book!! i thought getting a sequel to A Kind Worth a killing last year was exciting, but now we have a book 3!! And it is perfect. These 2 characters are just brilliant, together and on their own. I had so much fun reading this, with a smile on my face from start to finish. I did binge it in a few hours, not seeing the need to put it down.

This time, Lily is contacted by an old school friend, Martha. Martha has serious concerns about her travelling salesman husband, and is starting to think that he might be a serial killer. Lily is the only person she can think of that might take er seriously and help her. And so the fun begins.

Reading a Peter Swanson book is just a delight. You need this book and characters in your life… your can thank me later.

Thank you so so so much to William Morrow for my advance copy of A Talent For Murder. Published on June 11th, this is a must read.

Thank you William Morrow and Peter Swanson for the advanced copy of A Talent for Murder in exchange for my honest review!

This is probably my favorite book in the series, which definitely says something considering the first two were fantastic. Something about this one completely hooked me from page one, and in typical Swanson fashion nothing was as it seemed.

I don't want to spoil any details of this but loved that we got to see Lily back in action again. I certainly would not be mad if this series continued!

A Talent for Murder pub date is June 11!

I thoroughly enjoyed this twisted thriller and the return of Lily Kinter and Henry Kimball. The characters are smartly written and I liked the parts that shocked me just when I thought the plot was getting predictable. The story is constructed differently, flowing from one character to the next, and it works well for this gripping page-turner. Highly recommended.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review. Expected Pub Date: 11 June 2024
#NetGalley, #ATalentForMurder, #PeterSwanson

I am a HUGE Peter Swanson fan so I was delighted to get my hands on an arc of his upcoming thriller. Swanson always delivers and the premise of this set my heart a flutter with anticipation.

First of all there is a librarian. That alone enticed me. That the said librarian suspects her traveling salesman husband of being a serial killer… well I was hooked. This one was a home run for me. Swanson is the master of the surprise twist and in thisv novel that talent is on full display. There were a couple of times he left my head spinning with the wild unexpected directions the story took. If you are a fan of Swanson’s books you will find something familiar here and all I could think was he did it again. It takes a bold and confident writer to make the choices that Swanson does and once again they pay off enormously. Pre-order this one immediately! Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for this arc.

Peter Swanson is an auto-read for me now, and this latest Lily Kinter and Henry Kimball book was my favorite so far! Both characters have matured in this one and the story was well paced.

Martha's husband is a traveling salesman, attending conferences throughout the country, and possibly killing women he comes in contact with. With no one to confide in, Martha calls the one long lost friend she can count on, Lily Kinter. Little does she know the whirlwind of events that would follow.

Startling and Rapid, this Thriller will hold your attention from start to finish.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book to read and review. Pub date July 4, 2024!

Just as expected, this was so clever and twisted! We follow a librarian who believe her husband may be a murderer. Maybe you never truly know someone.

Peter Swanson can be very hit-or-miss, thankfully this was on the better side. I enjoyed the story, it flowed like a really fun movie. Fans of the genre will be happy.

The third book in the author's series but it could be read as a standalone. I enjoy every one of Mr. Swanson's books. His writing style grabs you and keeps you turning the pages. This was definitely another really good read.

A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
Pub date: July 4, 2024

I’ve been reading Peter Swanson for a long time but none of his characters has captivated me quite as much as Lily Kintner. She’s a mystery and a hard nut to crack - her sense of justice is the chef’s kiss in every story.

Lily’s college friend, Martha, is newly married after thinking she’ll most likely spend her life alone. But when she meets traveling salesman, Alan, she marries him even though she doesn’t really know all that much about him. He makes her laugh and has a sweet nature about him even if he’s a bit odd at times.

When Martha notices a smear of what appears to be blood on the back of Alan’s work shirt, she begins to question if maybe he’s getting up to a little more at these conventions he attends six-months out of the year then just selling merchandise. Her suspicion leads her to a little digging and what she finds has her calling her old friend, Lily, to confide in.

Swanson leads the reader down a merry path of guessing with this one and I loved watching Lily work the case of a brutal serial killer who’s managed to go undetected for years. Told in multiple POV and in different timelines, it gives a unique perspective and varying narratives to give the reader a chance to formulate their own opinions but in true Swanson style, nothing is ever what it seems.

I’ll never tire of Lily and Henry working a murder mystery together. Ever. They’re peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin, cheese and crackers …. You get where I’m going, they’re good together.

I thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful and thrilling story featuring two of my favorite literary characters. I hope to see them again!

Riveting, disturbing, and unforgettable!