How to Kill a Crime Writer

by Sarah Lotz

After the untimely death of her bestselling crime novelist mother, a young woman teams up with the fictional “ghost” of the heroine from her mother’s series in order to solve her mother’s murder.

After the tragic death of bestselling crime writer Annie Morrisey, her daughter, Niamh, moves into her mother's country cottage to take care of her mother’s estate. Shut away from the world, Niamh doesn't actually have to deal with the grief of her mother's untimely passing. Until the day that two things the advance copy of her mother's final book lands on the doorstep and Leah Rebecca Overton appears in the kitchen.

Having a stranger appear in your house would be concerning at the best of times, but Leah isn't a stranger—she's the ultra-competent sleuth heroine from Annie’s novels. The antithesis of Niamh in every way, she's lived in the fictitious character's shadow for years. But why (and how) has Leah turned up now? And why can only Niamh see her? Leah is the last thing Niamh wants in her house or in her head, but she can't ignore the sleuth...especially when Leah suspects there may have been more to Annie's death than first suspected.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, British Literature, Grief

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2026

About the author

Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and fiction novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names.

Reviews

[Elodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super unique book, with a lot of ideas that I haven't seen before in previous books I've read!

Despite the book's originality, I found myself disappointed at how secondary the mystery was. I went into this story expecting that it was mostly a cozy mystery with an armature sleuth. This didn't end up being the case at all. While Nimah does investigate her mother's death, I found that it took a back seat and wasn't anywhere near the main focus of the overall story.

In terms of the mystery itself, I struggled with it a little bit as well. Since it was more background, there wasn't a lot of clues. While there was some red herrings, I felt like most of it was just Nimah speaking to several people and often ruling them out quite quickly. I also found the ending was a little underwhelming, as Nimah solved the mystery by finding something that automatically have her the answer. She didn't solve the mystery by putting clues together and coming to a conclusion like I had hoped it would be.

One thing I did really appreciate about Nimah as a sleuth though is that she felt very real and balanced. Her skills weren't perfect and she'd strutter and sometimes get it wrong, but she had some really good moments at well, especially as the story went on. Her theories were a little wild, but I didnt find that really an issue. To me, it just added more believability that this was an armature trying to do something they've never done before. Plus, she's the child of an author, so I expect her imagination to be a little out there 😜

This book felt more like a character focused story that centered around Nomahs grief of losing her mom and learning how to live life again. Even though this wasn't what I was expecting, I will say that the author did a really good job at exploring grief, especially for the folks out there that tend to avoid uncomfortable or upsetting feelings.

I did also really enjoy Nimah's relationship with Leah. We are never told how Leah appears, which feels like a little sprinkle of magical fun! As someone who really enjoys magical realism, this gave me some joy!

Overall, I'm happy I read this book and I'd recommend others check it out if you like character driven stories that explore grief, life after a major loss and learning how to move past a major loss. However, if you are wanting a plot driven mystery, this may not be your best option.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny, emotional and clever take on a murder mystery. How to Kill A Crime Writer had me at the title to be honest, how could I not want to read this.

A small sleepy village where nothing g much happens. Niamh moves into her mother’s cottage after her death, a death ruled an accident. But Niamh’s mother was a crime fiction author and she has too many questions, things don’t add up and in crime fiction there is no such thing as a coincidence. With the help of her mother’s main character, Niamh sets out to find out what really did happen to her mother, whilst dealing with her grief and suffering from guilt of not being there for her.

Unique, comical and mysterious, this is a fun read that I really did enjoy.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK for my early copy to read on NetGalley. Published on February 26th.

[Kristina Pauls (ARC Reviewer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

PUBLISH DATE: July 21, 2026

This was a really creative premise and I loved the idea of a fictional detective stepping into the real world. The humor and witty moments were definitely highlights that kept me interested.

Unfortunately, I struggled to stay immersed because there was so much dialogue with very few reminders of who was speaking. There were log stretches of back-and-forth conversation that often wasn't clearly labeled, and I found myself having to stop and figure out who was talking. Instead of it drawing me in, I spent energy trying to keep up with what I was reading and it just didn't feel fun anymore, and made it difficult for me to concentrate.

Even with that, I still appreciated the originality of the story and enjoyed the humor throughout. It just wasn't easy for me to follow as I'd hoped, and so it landed at only 3 stars.

PUBLISH DATE: July 21, 2026
BOOK TITLE: How to Kill a Crime Writer
AUTHOR: Sarah Lotz
PUBLISHER: Berkley Publishing Group
FORMAT: ebook
PAGES: 352
I received a complimentary digital ARC [Advanced Readers Copy] of this book via NetGalley. Thank you to the Publisher and the Author for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. As always, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[Karen Chong · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 / 5.0

A solid read from start to finish, probably not my cup of tea but if you’re looking for something light hearted, funny, dry-humoured this book would be for you. It’s a comfort read, where if the weather is terrible you can read in almost one sitting. The book is written very well, the dialogue, the plot, the pacing and flow is consistent and there’s never really a dull bit. It’s not the type of book for me, maybe it was on a light hearted side and more comedy sketch vibes.

When best selling author Anna Morrissey is found dead, her daughter Niamh knows in her gut it’s no accident. The village her mum lives in is strangely peaceful, the suspects seem relatively normal. The leads quickly turn into dead ends, but when Annie’s final mystery lands on the doormat- the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. And it can’t be a coincidence. If there’s one thing Niamh has learnt from her mum, is that there’s no such thing as coincidences and the village secrets never stay buried for long…

But overall if you’re looking for a light hearted simple read to pass the time this book is a good book to go with.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niamh Morrissey has moved into her mother’s cottage after her death, and is coping with her grief and anxiety by living like a hermit and immersing herself in computer games. The village is small, and despite her anti-social tendencies, Niamh knows some of her neighbours, partly from visits to the cottage while her mother was still alive, and partly because some of them have offered her neighbourly support since she moved in. The more Niamh thinks about how her mother died, though, the more unsettled she feels. She finds it impossible to imagine her mother climbing a ladder at dusk to fix loose guttering, and yet the police are convinced that her death was the result of an accidental fall from the ladder. Now the inquest is looming and Niamh’s anxiety is growing, and then Leah turns up…

Annie Morrisey had become a successful crime writer in the last few years of her life, writing a series about a loner private investigator called Leah Overton. Originally, Niamh had collaborated with her mother in creating the character and working out plots, but later, as Niamh’s anxiety and depression began to turn her life into one long mess, she’d come to see Leah as her mother’s wish fulfilment of what she’d hoped Niamh would become – a strong, confident woman with skills. Niamh’s self-esteem is rock bottom, and she doesn’t feel she has any skills, so she gradually began to resent this fictional superwoman. And now Leah has appeared in the cottage! Is she a sort of ghost? Though since she was never alive, how can she be dead? Or is she a projection created by Niamh’s anxious imagination? Niamh doesn’t know, but she soon discovers Leah is just as domineering in real life as in her books. And Leah is convinced Annie was murdered – she’s here to force Niamh to investigate and find the killer.

Despite the underlying theme of Niamh’s grief and mental health struggles, the overall tone is quite light and highly entertaining. Whether Leah is ‘real’ or not, she’s a lot of fun. Although she bullies poor Niamh dreadfully, the feeling is that this is exactly what Niamh needs to force her out of her safe little cocoon of avoidance. Lotz’s handling of her character is very cleverly done – Leah only knows about things that have happened to her in her various books. So there’s a lot of playfulness about the difference between real life and fictional life. For example, Leah is astonished that travelling anywhere can take hours – in the books she gets into her car and the next chapter opens with her miraculously at her destination.

Niamh is handled equally well, and with a good deal of sensitivity. The author’s afterword tells us that the book was a response to her own grief over the death of her husband, and Niamh’s feelings always feel true. She’d had an argument with her mother last time they met, so feels guilty too, but it’s not overdone – beneath her anxiety, Niamh is a level-headed, intelligent woman, and realises that the argument would have passed like so many before. But it means she doesn’t know what her mother was doing and thinking in the last few days of her life, so this is what she and Leah set out to discover. Along the way, they’ll find out more about the neighbours, get involved with a grief support group, and go to a book festival where they’ll meet lots of fans also touched by the death of Annie and the resultant loss of their favourite ‘tec, Leah.

The village with its small community of residents is entertaining – more in the quirky style of Midsomer Murders than a traditional Christie village. Everyone has secrets, and gradually the suspect list grows. As well as Leah, Niamh has inherited her mother’s cat, Brian, who is lovely and adds more humour to the story (and suffers no harm, animal lovers). When the fictional Leah first appeared in ‘real life’, I was momentarily put off – I’m not an enthusiast for mixing fantasy elements into crime. But the suggestion that she may simply be a projection of Niamh’s grief kept it grounded enough for me to buy into, and as the story went on, I was having too much fun to care if the boundaries were becoming ever more blurred.

Sarah Lotz is new to me, but apparently mixing thrills, mystery and humour is her trademark style, and in this one it works excellently. An unexpected success for me – should have been out of my comfort zone, but the warmth, humour and sense of kindness to her characters won me over completely. I look forward to reading some of her earlier books.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't like this. Right from the start the main character Annie comes across as one of the most unlikable, infuriating and annoying people. I hated reading this book from her POV.
The author clearly puts her own political views in this which was another thing that spoiled it for me.
Also the CONSTANT name calling of a character as The Wanker wore thin after the first few times of hearing it, let alone after a whole book of it.
This was a huge dud.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was even better than I thought it would be, although when I described it to a friend after reading it I thought it might sound hard to follow. Instead, she immediately put it on her TBR list. The novel starts out with one interesting premise and then the fun begins. Main character Niamh (an Irish name pronounced “Neeve”) has moved into her recently deceased mother’s country cottage in the UK. Millennial and slightly ne’er-do-well, Neeve is adjusting to the sudden accidental death of her mother, a bestselling crime writer.

Soon after she moves into the cottage, she is visited by seemingly perfect Leah Rebecca Overton, the fictional heroine from her mother’s series. While only Neeve can see and hear Leah, (which makes for some humorous instances), this ultra competent private investigator encourages Neeve not to accept that her mother’s death is accidental. The two of them begin an investigation as to what really happened to popular crime writer Annie Morrissey, while at the same time dealing with their loss.

There are lots of red herrings, coincidences, secretive neighbors, a cat named Brian, and missing garden gnomes. In addition to the murder investigation, the novel skillfully inserts the themes of grief, anxiety, mothers and daughters, and unexpected death. To lighten the mood, each chapter starts with the title of a horror film or series.

I highly recommend this clever, emotional, and witty cozy murder mystery. And don’t miss the “Author’s Note” at the end.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of ‘How To Kill A Crime Writer’ by Sarah Lotz, due to be published on 26 February 2026 by Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction.

Niamh is coming to terms with her mother Annie’s unexpected and untimely death. Niamh has moved into her mother’s cottage, in a quiet hamlet in the Countryside, unable to bring herself to read her mother’s final book, Overlooked, or listen to the final voice notes Annie sent.

Seemingly from nowhere, the main protagonist in Annie’s book series, PI Leah Overton, appears leaving Niamh confused and questioning why her subconscious has manifested Leah. The answer lies in Leah’s belief that as part of Niamh’s grief journey, she should embark upon a ‘grief quest’ to get to the bottom of how Annie died.

Add in a missing ladder, a missing phone, crippling social anxiety, a cat named Brian, twitchy neighbours and stolen gnomes and you have an extraordinary story full of sarcasm, humour and grief that has fiction colliding with reality.

The story is well executed, both Niamh and Leah are well developed, and though there are dark moments of grief, the undercurrent of humour runs deep. The ending was a surprise twist, and unbeknownst to the reader is carefully threaded throughout the story. A recommended read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

All my reviews can be found at damppebbles.com

Niamh is both deeply saddened and shocked at the sudden death of her beloved mother, bestselling author Annie Morrisey. Annie had recently moved to a small hamlet where the neighbours know each other’s business, including what everyone had for dinner (an over-exaggeration on my part!). Returning to her mother’s house (because she doesn’t really have anywhere else to go) and to sort out her mother’s affairs, Niamh discovers the manuscript of her mother’s new book. But that’s not all that turns up. Having convinced herself that her mother was murdered (she was a crime writer, it would fit…sort of!) she embarks on an investigation of her own. But who would want her mother dead…?

How to Kill a Crime Writer is a wonderful, heartfelt, compelling novel from the outset. You can’t help but feel sorry for Niamh, who, despite having a fairly good relationship with her mother, had managed to fall out with her days before her death. The regret the character exudes is palpable, and my heart really went out to her. Niamh hasn’t really achieved much in life, but her mother saw her potential and made sure to involve her daughter in all of her major plot decisions. Particularly when it came down to her main character, the character she was famed for, Leah Rebecca Overton. A character Niamh pretty much despised. There is such a lovely, unexpected twist to the story that I don’t want to reveal in this review so I’m going to skirt right over it and pretend it never happened (IYKYK).

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I wasn’t sure what to expect with How to Kill a Crime Writer but having read books by this author before, I knew I was in safe hands. It’s really very different to everything else I’ve read by Lotz, but that only made it stand out all the more. There is an author’s note at the end which had me in floods of tears. It helped me understand where the author was when she wrote the book. And it made me love Niamh just a little bit more than I already did (she’s such a wonderful, hilarious, sarcastic, down-to-earth, relatable character). The blurb doesn’t mention the twist, and if I were you, I would do everything in my power to avoid discovering it before reading the book (you’re safe here, no spoilers). Great characters, something a little bit different, and a compulsive, intriguing plot (I just had to know what had happened to Annie!). There’s a real warmth to the story but there’s a sadness too. A really lovely, well-written, laugh-out-loud tale. Recommended.

[Jilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quirky, which I liked, but I found it very hard to get into.

Niamh is dealing (not very well) with the recent death of her mother, which happened under suspicious circumstances. Her mother's muse 'appears' and the two of them work through various scenarios trying to find out who killed her mother. Some of the characters are almost caricatures and the plots border on silly. But then Neevy starts to deal with her grief and discovers the truth of what happened.

If I had read the author note before reading, I think I would have enjoyed this more. The author's life has many parallels to Niamh's and I appreciated it more after reading it.

If you like quirky, you will probably enjoy this. I did really enjoy learning some new words - a sign of a good read for a word nerd like me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Justine Shenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and quirky
An enjoyable read

[David Dunlap · Rating 4 out of 5]

****1/2 (review to follow)

[Gino]

I received this ARC through the Goodreads giveaway. I tried to get into it but just found myself drifting and really not caring about what's happening. I may not be the right person for this quirky kind of book. I may try again sometime in the future.

[Judy Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

REAL-WORLD GRIEF VS. A FICTIONAL QUEST FOR VENGEANCE
“A bestselling crime author’s death is ruled an accident, but when her final manuscript lands on the doormat, the lines between reality and fiction completely blur.”

In How to Kill a Crime Writer, award-winning novelist and screenwriter Sarah Lotz delivers a brilliantly funny, dark, and mind-bending meta-mystery. Moving away from traditional dark thrillers, Lotz crafts a delightfully quirky, bookish cozy crime story that balances witty sarcasm, deep emotional grief, and a striking, reality-shifting premise. The narrative follows an anxious young woman who must navigate her crippling social anxiety to solve her famous mother's suspicious death—with the help of a very unexpected partner.

WHEN FICTION CROSSES THE DEADLINE: SARAH LOTZ DELIVERS META-MYSTERY BRILLIANCE
A bestselling author is dead, a final manuscript holds the truth, and a fictional detective is stepping off the page to solve the crime.

📌 The Hook
~A bestselling mystery author dead in a quiet hamlet.
~A final manuscript carrying clues to a real-life crime.
~A fictional PI who steps out of the pages into the real world.

🛗 Elevator Pitch
A sharp, meta-fictional cozy mystery following a reclusive, anxious daughter grieving the sudden death of her crime-novelist mother. When her mother's final manuscript arrives alongside the literal, ghost-like manifestation of the book's fictional heroine, the duo must embark on a "grief quest" to unearth the dark secrets hiding within a deceptively quiet country village.

🔍 Review Breakdown
Intro
Niamh Morrissey is utterly paralyzed by grief following the untimely death of her mother, Annie, a legendary crime writer who supposedly died in a freak home-maintenance accident. Retreating to her mother's quiet country cottage, Niamh avoids the world by binge-watching TV and gaming. But her isolation is shattered when two impossible things occur: her mother's final advance manuscript lands on the doorstep, and Leah Rebecca Overton—the fictional PI heroine from Annie's bestsellers—suddenly appears in her kitchen. Realizing that she is the only one who can see this imaginary sleuth, Niamh is dragged into an extraordinary investigation, using lessons from cozy crime fiction to discover who wanted her mother dead.

Setting
A deceptively uneventful, quirky English country village where eccentric neighbors, missing ladders, and stolen garden gnomes mask deep-seated animosities.

Vibe
Witty, meta-fictional, and emotionally resonant. It is "Midsomer Murders" meets "Stranger than Fiction," driven by dark humor and sarcastic banter.

Genre: Meta-Fictional Cozy Mystery / Bookish Thriller

Themes
~The messy, non-linear reality of surviving grief
~The blurring boundaries between an author, their creation, and reality
~Overcoming isolating mental health struggles and social anxiety
~Deceptive surfaces of idyllic small-town communities

👥 Standout Characters
~Niamh Morrissey: The anxious, sarcastic millennial protagonist whose overwhelming grief and passivity are challenged when she is forced to play real-life detective.
~Leah Rebecca Overton: The sharp-witted, fictional PI who manifests in Niamh's reality, serving as the driving, confident force that pushes the investigation forward.
~Brian the Cat: Annie’s inherited, highly opinionated feline companion who safely anchors Niamh's chaotic home life and adds brilliant comedic relief.

✍️ Author Writing Standout
Sarah Lotz shines in using her screenwriting background to craft sharp, snappy dialogue and incredibly quirky character dynamics. The interaction between a heavily anxious, modern protagonist and a trope-heavy, confident fictional detective is masterfully written. Lotz handles the heavy theme of grief with immense empathy while keeping humor running continuously through the plot.

Takeaway
In crime fiction, there are no coincidences; in real life, the truth is often hidden in the stories we leave behind.

Title Significance
"How to Kill a Crime Writer" functions as a brilliant double meaning, questioning both the physical murder of the author and the literal mechanics of how a novelist chooses to retire their beloved characters.

Metaphor
Annie’s final manuscript functions as a central metaphor—a physical bridge between the living and the dead, transforming from a simple book into a literal map to a killer.

💭 My Thoughts
“What begins as a reclusive retreat from grief fast becomes a witty, mind-bending race to prove that village secrets never stay buried for long.”

THE SCRIPT IS WRITTEN, BUT THE MURDER IS REAL
"In this delightfully dark meta-cozy, a grieving daughter teams up with her late mother's imaginary sleuth to proofread a real-life homicide."

Lotz excels at pulling back the curtain on the writing life, delivering a fresh, highly unique concept that cozy mystery lovers will absolutely devour. Watching Niamh and Leah build their bizarre, reality-defying partnership is thoroughly entertaining and deeply emotional. The pacing captures the slow-burn curiosity of a traditional village mystery, while dropping clever genre inside jokes that book bloggers and avid readers will love. Just when you think you understand the boundaries of this meta-puzzle, Lotz threads a surprise ending that turns the narrative completely on its head. A delightfully original, clever summer read!

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ (4.5/5).
"A delightfully quirky, sharp meta-cozy bookish crime mystery that masterfully utilizes dark humor and a unique concept to explore the depths of grief and the power of fiction."

Stop by my Blog on pub date for Blog Tour Stop!

📚 What to Read Next (Read-Alikes)
If the clever book-within-a-book meta-commentary of "How to Kill a Crime Writer" kept you thoroughly entertained, add these targeted thrillers to your TBR list:

~Beach Thriller by Jamie Day
~A Different Type of Poison by Liz Alterman
~The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
~All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan
~The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

Special thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for sharing an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 stars rounded to 5 Stars
Pub Date: July 21, 2026
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[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niamh was devastated when she lost her mother. Her mother, Annie Morrissey, a crime writer, had taken a fall in the garden working on her gutters. Niamh didn’t have anywhere else to live, so she moved into her mother’s country cottage and tried to deal with her grief. She had been trying to learn screenwriting, but the harsh feedback in her course had flattened her, and she walked away. Now she spends her days gaming and eating junk food.

Or she did. Until the day Leah Rebecca Overton showed up.

Leah was Annie’s main character, the women who solved the crimes in her books and took no prisoners. Niamh wasn’t sure if she was delusional when she first saw Leah in the kitchen, but she did know this. Leah didn’t go away. She smoked, she judged Niamh for her meal choices, and she followed her around. Niamh couldn’t understand why Leah was there. Her mother’s new book was about to hit shelves, but there was no reason for Niamh to be seeing her. And hearing her. Until Leah pointed out the obvious.

The ladder was missing.

The ladder that Annie had fallen from, the one she’d been using to clean out the gutters, something Niamh had never known her to do, especially at night, was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t leaning against the cottage. It wasn’t in the shed. It was missing. And just like that, Niamh was no longer convinced that her mother had died accidentally.

As Niamh and Leah start to look at who might have had a motive to kill Annie, their questions take them from the neighborhood to a crime convention and back home. Was it Annie’s agent, wanting a ghostwriter to take over the series so she could have more control? Was it the neighbor who only came out to his country house on weekends? Was it a crazy fan of her mother’s crime series? Was it the neighbor whose story Annie had borrowed for her new novel? Or could it have been Leah, afraid that Annie was going to end her series and, by extension, end her? Or was it truly just a terrible accident?

Niamh wanders through her grief as she collects clues and information, finally getting to the answers she needs. But will she only figure it out too late to save herself and her mother’s legacy?

How to Kill a Crime Writer is a smart but emotional mystery about a young woman trying to figure out who her mother was before her death while dealing with her shattering grief. It’s clever and sweet, written with a modern flair on timeless tropes. The addition of the character of Leah adds a level of mind-bending logic that gives Niamh more compassion, insight, and self-confidence. The two make a fascinating pair or crimefighters, and they make this book truly unique.

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from this book, but it is a crazy ride. There is a layer of sadness, as both Niamh and Leah are grieving Annie’s death in their own ways. But there is also some sweet humor, smart and layered plotting, and a lot of heart. Author Sarah Lotz was clearly working through some things as she wrote this book (I encourage you to read the acknowledgements at the end for her story), and some of that personal journey comes through on the pages. She has put a lot of herself in this book, and it shows. I can’t wait to see where she takes us next.

Egalleys for How to Kill a Crime Writer were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was of two minds on this novel. I enjoyed the main character, Niamh, who has just lost her mother and who has moved into her mother’s remote cottage in the English countryside. She has a cat, Brian, but mostly she is (not) dealing with her grief by sofa surfing and playing video games. She is startled out of her “grief journey” (as her stepmother refers to it) by the appearance of the main character in her author mother’s books. Her mother had written thrillers featuring someone I can only describe as a female Jack Reacher, differing in gender and in that she has a fixed place of abode.

The appearance of this character, Leah, is more than startling, obviously. Is she a ghost? Is she an apparition? Is she a figment of Niamh’s tortured psyche? Whatever Leah is, she manages to pull Niamh off the sofa. Her mother’s death had occurred when she took a fall from a ladder while fixing the gutter. While this seemed unlike her mother, Niamh has accepted her death as an accident, and it’s Leah who suggests it might in fact be a murder.

She can’t find the ladder her mother fell off and she can’t find her mother’s phone and so with Leah’s push, she decides to investigate. She begins, naturally, with her neighbors – the next door former cop, devoted to his garden to an obsessive degree; the titled and reclusive elderly lady and her niece; and someone she refers to as “The Wanker,” a wealthy young guy who uses his restored farmhouse on the weekends, leaving his obscenely large vehicle in everyone’s way.

As she gets to know the neighbors to a degree, she also begins to look inside her mother’s bookish world – and ends up chasing leads to a book conference and to a son of another mysteriously dead thriller writer. What was good about this book was the character of Niamh and, in fact, her grief journey, though she refuses to refer to it in those terms. Her grief is real, raw, and believable.

The other strong point, though it was weird, was the character of Leah, who pushes Niamh and gets her through some tough spots with a click of her virtual zippo lighter. When Niamh is in danger of breaking down and letting loose the always threatening floods of tears, a click of Leah’s lighter rights her and she’s able to push on (mostly). This messy character study was appealing. Niamh was even annoyingly human in her ceaseless yet completely understandable grief for her mother.
What wasn’t as strong was the actual plot, which is meander-y and often gets off track. As someone closer to Niamh’s mother’s age I was somewhat fascinated, somewhat charmed, and somewhat exasperated by Niamh’s millennial behavior. She’s never heard of Columbo or V.I. Warshawski – but she has heard of Jack Reacher. Made me feel old, though also wishing I could reach through the pages and share a bit of experience with her.

I will say the ending twist was quite well done and quite unexpected, and I applauded Niamh’s refusal to be a lame damsel in distress. Say what you will about millennials, they are pretty fierce, as they must be to deal with the world of the moment. So a big hand for the characters, a hand for the mind bendy use of Leah as a character, and a bit of a miss for the wobbly plot.

[Lysandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK/HarperFiction for the opportunity of reading this ARC! All opinions are my own.

Incredibly witty, funny and sarcastic.

Part of the cosy mystery genre, ‘How to kill a crime writer’ is a book which encompasses a surprisingly deep psychological arc. It focuses on Niamh, whose mother, an author, has mysteriously died in the countryside, while living all alone. The police has labelled it an accident, but circumstances arise and Niamh is motivated to learn the truth about her mother’s end.

Niamh is incredibly well-written. As a millennial myself, I found her relatable and representative for my generation at the same time — however, she is anything but stereotypical. Spiralling from depression and grief, she finds motivation to seek the truth behind her mother’s death. She is quite realistically written, and her journey through grief, in the middle of a life crisis of her own, is both touching and motivating. Her character arc and development should be familiar to anyone who has experienced loss and grief, and the vulnerability with which it is handled is easily noticeable. Niamh is a main character one cannot but help themselves to root for. I can’t give away the reason which pushed her towards investigating on her own, however, I can say it was rather clever — for one has physical children, but also children of the mind, a part of themselves which is born from them in a metaphysical way and leaves its mark around without many consciously realising it. The psychological aspect of her character arc was intriguing.

The plot is realistic; it’s tense and has quite a lot of suspense, and the course of action is perfectly fluid and logical. I have enjoyed the several dead ends encountered, as it reflects the reality of an investigation. Because, sometimes, even if everything has a perfectly logical explanation, there are mandatory steps for an actual detective which can be missed by someone like Niamh, inexperienced in criminal investigations. Her detective journey and deduction skills evolution was an entertaining experience. That being said, the plot twist happens at a timing which couldn’t be best. Structurally, the plot is neatly done and wrapped up quite satisfyingly.

The prose is incredibly vivid; perhaps because the author is also a screenwriter, but everything feels incredibly visual and tactile, even if the style itself is direct and succinct. I could easily envision every character, location and atmosphere in the book, and I must praise Sarah Lotz for managing that so well. I genuinely don’t know if I’ve read a book or watched a show!

I loved all the casually dropped references — books, movies, politics — they added both context and humour.

Would recommend this to anyone who wants a witty and sardonic main character. Niamh was very fun.

I hope to actually see this adapted into a show, I think it would do incredibly well. (Also because I couldn’t help myself from imagining millennial icon Eve Hewson as Niamh from the very first pages.)

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished in two days and I kind of want to start from the beginning and read it again. I really, really liked this book.

Niamh (which is pronounced "Neeve" - I looked it up) moves into her mother's rural cottage after her mother's accidental death, and successfully avoids thinking about her grief by burying herself in playing games and binge-watching shows until her mystery-writer mother's main character, PI Leah Overton, shows up in the kitchen. Leah is everything Niamh isn't: confident, capable, courageous, determined, and energetic. And she doesn't believe her creator's death was an accident. She drags the reluctant Niamh out of her grief hole to solve the mystery.

It's funny and voicey (sp?) and well written. One of my favorite bits is on page 11. After I read this, I knew I was set, and I wouldn't be doing much of anything else for a while.

Far thornier to navigate was living in the shadow of my mother's death, but it helped that I put in place several grief-avoidance strategies, such as gaming and binge-watching whenever I was awake, and steering clear of the attic and the Death Zone outside. All the same, if it hadn't been for Brian, I'm not sure I would've coped. He was the main reason I'd decided to live there in the first place-it wasn't as if he could've moved in with me, seeing as at the time, I was technically homeless—and it was a welcome relief to discover that we were both undemanding creatures of habit. My days usually involved grief-distracting, snacking, and hiding from the neighbors; Brian's consisted of napping, snacking, and psychologically torturing Lady Sheila's Bedlington terrier. As long as I remembered to feed him, and he remembered not to sleep on my keyboard, we got along swimmingly (in all the ways that matter, my relationship with my mother's cat was the most successful one I'd ever had).

Niamh could be an annoying character in other hands, but she's so aware of her own flaws and so determined to hang onto them that I didn't feel the need to shake her. Leah's a mystery - is she real or a delusion? If she's real, what is she - a muse, Niamh's mother's ghost in disguise, or what? There are only a handful of other characters, mostly neighbors. There's a retired couple next door, Glenn and Janet, in their sterile modern house surrounded by a gravel "garden." There's a rich guy across the lane, known to everyone as The Wanker. Next door on the other side is Sheila, an older woman with a posh accent who llives in the only remaining country house (I was imagining something like a smaller version of Downton Abbey). They're all vividly drawn, as are the miscellaneous other characters like the shoppe-keepers in the hamlet, and the super-fan at the crime fiction convention (which takes place in the town in Wale where The Prisoner was filmed, fun for me - I loved that show).

Entirely satisfying. Don't skip reading the author's note at the end, either, but probably best not to read it before reading the book.

[Sibil · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This book was a way for the author to mourn and work her way through the grief of losing a loved one, she said this herself in the notes at the end of the book, and I think that you can feel that in the way in which the themes of grief and loss are treated here. Mind you, this is a mystery, and it stands pretty well on its own, but the way in which the author portrays the loss and talks about the mourning process has some personal nuances and she talks about painful themes, threading lightly between them all.
I really appreciated this side of the book.

I have also appreciated the general idea of the book, the point is that I don’t know how much I should be telling you, because the major selling point of the book (or one of those) is not written in the synopsis, so will be a spoiler if I tell you that? Honestly, I don’t consider it a spoiler, because it is the driving point of the whole plot, so… a major plot point shouldn’t be a spoiler, but since it has been kept from the synopsis… I think the author’s intentions are that you should discover that for yourself? I am a tad confused about this, and if you want to know, you can ask for it in the comments. I will answer you!
Anyway, to be completely honest, if this point had been highlighted in the synopsis, I wouldn’t have requested an ARC for this book. Because, indeed, it worked here, and it is also true that I called this part a selling point, because I am convinced this is a selling point, just not for me. I simply didn’t find the idea so appealing. I can understand the appeal, and I have a couple of books on my TBR that have the same sort of thing in them, but still… it’s not that I dislike it,I just don’t find it as appealing as other tropes.
But that’s enough of me being mysterious, I promise!

Let’s try to actually say something about this book. It is a mystery set in a quaint hamlet that I’d love to visit, dead mother of the MC aside, obviously. Because our MC is mourning her mother, a famous thriller writer, who suddenly and quite mysteriously died after moving to this small and scenic hamlet. Everyone is considering it an accident, but there are some particulars that don’t really work, and so, for peace of mind, our MC decides to try and make clarity to her mother’s death. The fact that she also has some mental health related issues doesn’t help here, while she tries to navigate the mystery and the mourning and find a direction for her own life. She has to shoulder quite a lot, and she tries her best to keep everything afloat, even if sometimes the results aren’t… optimal, or sometimes she finds some… original ways to deal with everything.
That said, the whole story is quite engaging, but the pace is quite slow. Some parts were really slow; they dragged more than a bit, and on the whole, I would have enjoyed everything more if things moved a bit more quickly.

That said, it did its job, we also have some adorable pets around and a really good twist.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book rating: 3⭐️
Genre: mystery thriller
Themes: grief, small towns, crime writers,
📖 Read if you like: Fair Play, Deadly Does It

Thank you to @BerkleyPub for this #gifted book. #BerkleyPartner #BerkleyBookstgram

Bestselling author Annie Morrissey is found dead under strange circumstances. A careful woman afraid of heights is after all unlikely to fall to her death during an evening gutter repair. When her wayward daughter Niamh moves into her mother’s cottage in rural Midlands, her grief will manifest itself into her mother’s crime solving heroine Leah. While the veil of normality blankets this small village, the figment of her imagination pushes Niamh to look further into a potential murder and the clues left behind.

Niamh is a recluse that suffers from crippling anxiety over her own failures at screen writing and the grief she tries to avoid. It was easy to imagine her mind going off the rails with much of the book a stream of consciousness between her and the sardonic Leah. There are parts that were humourous and parts that made me cringe, but it was a very millennial representation. I enjoy messy characters with a touch of insanity, so Niamh was an interesting protagonist. I do wish Leah was not such a cliche and her presence was more than judgemental looks and snippy remarks, but I get the direction this was going and her adaptations made sense in the context of Niamh’s journey. The Leah Niamh relationship really ended up being central and an enjoyable part of this story.

The mind bending concept was interesting and small towns can be ripe with secrets and shady figures, but this was a very small town so it was much slower paced than I was expecting. There were so few people and so little happening it really made the mystery feel a little stagnant. Much to Niamh’s disdain, this read more as a psychological grief journey than a murder mystery.

The narrative indicated that the obvious answer was dropped in an early chapter, but that readers would have to go through several misdirections before coming full circle. I found this annoying. This may be true of every crime novel, but then the red herrings need to be distracting enough to hold our attention. It was more an existential crisis where the humourous conversation carried the weight. It actually read like a sitcom, so points for entertainment. If you’re going for a traditional mystery this isn’t that, but it made me laugh and the concept was refreshing.

[Jan Mawdesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tile of the book How to Kill A Crime Writer begs to be read as how indeed do you kill a crime writer, a writer with a big following and a writer known for her complex and yet manageable plots with a fantastic feme fatale as the PI who never, ever gives in or up.
How to Kill A Crime Writer from Sarah Lotz is a deeply immersive look at how the human psyche can change the game so very easily without ever leaving the darkness of the gaming world, a world Niamh Morrissey inhabits as it is the place she can safely hide from the world: essentially disappear.
But she is about to be dragged ruthlessly from the small world she as created as the death of her beloved, if somewhat irritating mother Ann Morrissey, simply does not make any sense, and even in her misery she can understand that.
Leah Rebecca Overton is the PI star of the books written by her mother, believed by Niamh to be the cerebral creation daughter of her mother, as her real daughter is an abject failure at most things in life.
Wallowing in a pity of her own making she is jolted into the everyday world by the appearance of none other than Leah Rebecca Overton; a vision in her home, a reality that simply can’t be but seems to be, and Leah wants answers.
Through a series of tortuous twists and turn, Niamh and Leah learn to ‘co-habitat’ and trade insults with aplomb. No matter how hard they try to work out why Ann is dead from a fall from ladder, they can’t put all the pieces the puzzle together without venturing outside Niamh’s comfort zone.
Serious blunders, too much alcohol, a trip to a Writers Festival, getting to know the very unusual neighbours and learning to live with a ‘ghost’, see Niamh finally beginning to interact with life once again in almost but not quiet Leah Rebecca Overton style!
Quirky, funny, with a seriously devious and complex plot, Sarah Lotz has created a flawed heroine of the modern generation whom readers of all ages will be able to relate to with ease.
How to Kill A Crime Writer is highly recommended

[daylightjocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

AHHHHH, this was such an amazing read!

This story was a perfect blend of a murder mystery set in a quiet town and the exploration of grieving a loved one in a way that felt raw and real, but also hopeful and charming.

I enjoyed Niemah as our protagonist immensely. Not because she was a badass know-it-all that barreled her way through the story with clever punchlines and impressive fighting skills, but because she was the opposite of that. She felt so achingly human in every scene, sometimes crushed by the weirdest things that triggered her grief (because it has a way to show up when you least expect it) or on the brink of a panic attack caused by the possibility of an interaction with her neighbours in the local town shop. She was awkward, chaotic, struggled with her new reality, but never lost her humour and always managed to pull herself out of her despair (sometimes with a little help of a very special frenemy of hers) and I felt protective over her towards the end of the story.

Which brings me to the mystery of it all: This was a cat and mouse game if I've ever seen one. The protagonist was constantly bombarded with new clues, leads and possibilities to figure out her mothers "accident" and at no point in the story was I able to figure out, if it was leading up to a big reveal or just another dead end. It was so much fun to play detective alongside her and trying to piece together the puzzle. The pacing of the book was amazing and perfectly balanced, although I wished the ending would have been fleshed out a bit more. It seemed a tiny bit rushed for me, which could also just be my deep desire talking for this story to never end.

Big thanks to Harper Collins UK for this e-arc!

[Mystyc Metrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story! Crime writer Annie Morrissey's daughter, Niamh, is grieving her mother's death, mostly through avoidance. However, it becomes harder and harder to ignore as she's staying in her mother's cottage to deal with her affairs, not the least of which is a specter of her mother's protagonist, Leah Rebecca Overton. Niamh has long thought that Leah was everything that she, herself, was not - confident, competent, and fiercely independent. Niamh herself is more likely to play video games and avoid human contact, but Leah encourages her to solve her mother's "murder". Niamh thinks it was a purely accidental death, but at Leah's urging, begins to poke around. Despite not being sure if Leah is a delusion or actually there, Niamh, in an effort to get rid of her, is dragged into many real-world events like the grief cafe, a writers' retreat, numerous conversations with the neighbors, and, the hardest of all, listening to her mother's voice memos.

This is a great story about grief and dealing with it, with a bit of a fictional, crime writing overlay. As they try to solve the mystery, Niamh realizes she may have more in common with Leah than she at first thought. She learns that, in the right circumstances, she can be capable and competent as well, and she learns more about herself and her relationship with her mother than she first thought. Told by a millennial daughter grieving her mother, it's very relatable and I think readers will enjoy watching Niamh come to terms with her new reality. And, as everyone who has ever wished they could interact with a character in a book, you'll be jealous of her getting to chat with Leah. All around amazing story, I would definitely recommend!

[Hamad Naif · Rating 5 out of 5]

**How to Kill a Crime Writer by Sarah Lotz**

When Niamh Morrissey retreats to her late mother's country cottage after bestselling crime writer Annie Morrissey's suspicious death, she isn't hiding from the world so much as trying to stay close to the person she's lost. And then Leah Rebecca Overton walks into the kitchen, and everything shifts.

Leah is Annie's fictional sleuth. The heroine of a beloved crime series. Competent, driven, and absolutely not real — except that Niamh can see her, hear her, and be thoroughly bullied by her. Whether Leah is a ghost, a hallucination, or something stranger entirely is a question the novel holds with remarkable delicacy. That deliberate blurring of the line between the fictional and the real is where Sarah Lotz does her most dazzling work.

The village hums with secrets. The neighbours are suspicious in exactly the way crime fiction demands, except Lotz is too sharp a writer to let them stay as types. The mystery builds with genuine tension. She knows when to withhold, when to release, and when to let a scene breathe.

But the true pleasure is Niamh and Leah themselves. They are opposites in every sense, and their partnership is funny — genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny — but also quietly moving. Leah forces Niamh out of her grief not through warmth but through sheer refusal to let her stay still.

Wickedly entertaining, emotionally grounded, and shot through with wit that makes you slow down to savour the sentences. This is Sarah Lotz at the top of her game.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a chance to review this ARC

[Devi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edition
📱📖 Read on Kindle
📃 368 pages
⏱ Reading time: 5 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Berkley
📅 ARC provided by NetGalley – Publishing July 21, 2026

I requested this book from NetGalley for the meta brilliance. A crime writer's daughter solving her mother's murder using lessons from cozy mysteries. What is there to not get thoroughly invested? The book turned out to be even better than I hoped. Niamh, whose name I absolutely adored (because how often do you see Irish names done right in fiction?), her famous mother Annie Morrissey, and Annie's fictional protagonist Leah, who becomes startlingly real as the mystery unfolds.

Sarah Lotz crafted something genuinely fresh here. The premise doesn't just dangle as a gimmick; it's woven into every twist, every red herring, every moment where you're not sure if you're reading Niamh's investigation or Annie's manuscript. The pacing dips slightly in the middle, but the character work carries it through.

And then... the ending. I won't spoil it, but I will say this: it deflated. After all that buildup, all those brilliant breadcrumbs, it felt like the story shrugged and said, "Eh, nevermind." The resolution didn't land for me, and that's what knocked it from a solid four-star to a three-star read. Still, the journey was worth it, and the uniqueness of the concept alone makes this one to watch.

Would I recommend it?
This is cozy mystery meets literary mind-bender, and Lotz nails the tone. Just brace yourself for an ending that might not stick the landing. It's a fun, fresh read with gorgeous character work, even if the final chapter left me wanting more payoff.

[Polly Perks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of How to Kill a Crime Writer immediately caught my attention. A daughter investigating the suspicious death of her crime-writing mother, aided by the fictional detective from her mother’s unpublished manuscript, is an inventive idea and one that promised something a little different.

For me, though, the execution didn’t quite live up to that premise.

The novel felt overlong, with the investigation taking a long time to gather momentum. While the appearances of the fictional detective were initially an interesting twist, they became increasingly repetitive, and I never felt the blending of fiction and reality was explored as effectively as it could have been. Rather than adding tension, those scenes often slowed the story down.

I also found that several revelations and emotional beats felt a little manufactured, as though the plot was steering the characters towards certain moments instead of allowing them to develop naturally. As the mystery unfolded, I wasn’t entirely convinced by some of the connections being made, and the resolution didn’t provide the satisfying payoff I’d been hoping for. The final act tied everything together, but not in a way that felt fully earned after the build-up.

That said, I genuinely appreciated how original the central concept was. It’s refreshing to read a mystery willing to play with the conventions of the genre, and I suspect readers who enjoy metafiction and stories about writers will find more to enjoy than I did. Unfortunately, despite the clever premise, this one never quite stuck the landing for me.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Lotz’s How to Kill a Crime Writer is a witty, inventive mystery that plays with the boundaries between fiction and reality in the most entertaining way.

When bestselling author Annie Morrissey is found dead, her daughter Niamh refuses to accept the official story. The village may seem uneventful, the suspects suspiciously ordinary, but Lotz quickly reveals that beneath the quiet surface lies a tangle of secrets waiting to be unearthed. The arrival of Annie’s final manuscript—its pages humming with suspense—adds a deliciously meta twist, blurring the line between her crime fiction and the investigation unfolding in real life.

Lotz’s trademark humour and sharp storytelling shine throughout. The novel balances its playful tone with genuine intrigue, making every dead end, every “normal” suspect, feel like part of a larger puzzle. Niamh’s determination, guided by lessons learned from her mother’s novels, gives the story warmth and grit, while the village setting provides the perfect backdrop for secrets that refuse to stay buried. What makes this book so compelling is its blend of satire and suspense. It’s funny, clever, and mind-bending, yet still delivers the satisfying twists of a classic whodunnit. Lotz invites readers to question not just the crime at hand, but the very act of storytelling itself.

How to Kill a Crime Writer is a fresh, entertaining mystery that lingers long after the final page—perfect for readers who love their crime fiction with a wink, a twist, and a touch of mischief.

With thanks to Sarah Lotz, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

[Cassi Olazabal · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC Reader
Honestly, I loved this. I can see why it might not be for everyone. Though it is a fun book.
The main character Niamh must come back to the screen of the Death Zone of her mother. Her mother who is a crime writer who happened to have fallen off a ladder. Though was it an accidental death or a murder? The now manifestation of her mother's main character (Leah) seems to the think the latter is the truth. A grief quest is what ensues.
There are a lot of red herrings and the book is not some straight forward crime novel that reads like some crime show. With showing the murder, finding the motive, then finding the murderer. This is not some one hour long crime show made into a book.
I loved all the references that were sprinkled into the book especially the Hannibal ones bringing in Silence of the Lambs.
I can see how some might think that this is a more ADHD trip where the red herrings are too many and the turn out is not all that it was hyped up to be. The ending disappointing. Though to me this is not so much the case. I liked all the small touches and the loose ends and the potential dead ends throughout the book.
I like Niamh as a character she has layers and she has personal growth. In a sense Leah has a personal growth journey as well.
I love the concept of How to Kill a Crime Writer. The idea of the main character turned muse guiding a vision healing quest is honestly a wonderful idea. Add in murder, crime , and references to other pop culture-- you have my vote.

[S A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niamh's mother was a famous crime writer, who she has lost in a tragic accident. Or was it?

As Niamh deals with social anxiety and grief, she starts to question whether her mother's death was the tragic accident everyone assumed. Paired with the help of Leah Overton, her mother's no nonsense Yorkshire protagonist, Niamh delves into her late mother's life and the people that live in the hamlet.

Lotz's book shows that there is no one way to grieve and it can be debilitating. I can see many people being frustrated with Niamh's lack of motivation - but that's what I liked about it. Niamh is a reality that we don't often see portrayed in fiction, she's not continuously crying, seeking revenge or setting out to change the world, she's just existing.

The story itself throws out many red herrings, perfect for a potential murder of a crime writer. I wasn't able to guess the twists, which is another reason why it is a good read. The fact that Niamh sees and talks to Leah, her mother's character, is an interesting take and gives an antithesis in some ways to Niamh2, but the only frustrating thing is not knowing why Niamh all of a sudden sees Leah. There is a point at which they come across another literary character and no explanation is given. Why does the other one appear? I still don't know

Despite that frustration I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it for anyone that would like a murder mystery with a slightly different take.

[Andria Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book that I have read by this author.

How to Kill a Crime Writer story has a clever and creative premise that comes up in the book that I am not going to go fully into, but is a surprise element to the story if you haven't read the summary already....I went into this story blindly so I had a surprise.

The main character, Niamh, moves into her mother's house after she has passed away. She has taken a fall off a ladder which was considered an accident by the police, but Niamh just knows that something isn't adding up. Her mother, Annie Morrisey was a crime story writer and she wrote a series that has a private investigator named Leah Overton as a character. There is something that happens with Niamh and this character Leah Overton that is part of the story. The village where her mother lived has a lot of potential suspects/neighbors to be investigated, so she starts to try to get answers to her mother's death and I did think it had a good conclusion where it was all tied up and you get the answer to what happened to her mother.

This story has some themes of about grief, mental health but is also fun with added humor and sarcasm, more kind of a cozy crime mystery than a hardcore thriller. Overall its a very quirky story, which made it interesting, appealing, and an enjoyable read. A change of pace from the more hard core thrillers that I normally read.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary copy of the story.