What do you think?
Rate this book
Like Mother Like Murder
Not yet published
Expected 23 Mar 27From the author of Ours is a Tale of Murder comes a thrilling new story about murder that runs in the family. Told through dual timelines and haunting letters from prison, Like Mother Like Murder is a propulsive psychological thriller perfect for fans of Tarryn Fisher and Iliana Xander.
At thirty-four, Julia has perfected the art of appearing normal. She's a successful corporate lawyer, newly married, and soon to become a mother. No one sees who Julia really is.
Except for her little sister, Grace.
Fourteen years ago, Julia and Grace's stepfather was murdered. Grace found his body, their mother confessed, and the case was closed. Now, letters are arriving from prison. Their mother claims her confession was a lie meant to protect Julia, and she's finally ready to tell the truth about what happened that night.
But Grace already knows what Julia is capable of. She's helped clean the blood from her sister's hands before. She's spent years protecting, believing, and choosing Julia. Forced to confront the past, Grace must face the truth she's tried to bury: Julia doesn't kill when she loses control. She kills to maintain it.
And Grace may be the only person who can stop her.
At thirty-four, Julia has perfected the art of appearing normal. She's a successful corporate lawyer, newly married, and soon to become a mother. No one sees who Julia really is.
Except for her little sister, Grace.
Fourteen years ago, Julia and Grace's stepfather was murdered. Grace found his body, their mother confessed, and the case was closed. Now, letters are arriving from prison. Their mother claims her confession was a lie meant to protect Julia, and she's finally ready to tell the truth about what happened that night.
But Grace already knows what Julia is capable of. She's helped clean the blood from her sister's hands before. She's spent years protecting, believing, and choosing Julia. Forced to confront the past, Grace must face the truth she's tried to bury: Julia doesn't kill when she loses control. She kills to maintain it.
And Grace may be the only person who can stop her.
432 pages, Paperback
Expected publication March 23, 2027
About the author
Nora Murphy
9 books722 followersNora Murphy is the author of Ours is a Tale of Murder, The Favor, The New Mother. A practicing attorney, Nora resides in Maryland with her husband, three sons, and four rescue pets.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
GENRE: Psychological / Domestic Thriller
PUBLICATION DATE: March 23, 2027
OVERALL IMPRESSION: A tense, chilling, slow-burn domestic thriller that delves into the complexities of a dysfunctional and toxic family dynamic where everyone is suspect. Nora Murphy has come through again with a compelling read.
🥳 What I loved
Premise: What do you do when you’ve been protecting your sister’s killer secrets for half your life, even though you know she cannot be trusted to not continue killing when things don’t go her way? And how do you deal with a mother who suddenly recants the confession of killing her husband fourteen years ago, saying she only did so to protect her dangerous daughter? Murphy excels at creating an impossibly complex situation that had me riveted.
Characters: I was all over the map with these three women who kept me second guessing where this was going right until the end. I was fully invested in their messy, toxic relationships. My heart broke for all three of them, each for very different reasons, but at the same time I couldn’t pin down who I could trust. Star points for this!
Narrative style/timeline: Multiple points of view are always tricky, but Murphy masterfully succeeded here. The shifting timeline kept the tension high, and I especially enjoyed the letters from Marilyn to Julia, which provided insight into Julia’s sociopathy.
🤔 Things to consider
Pacing: This is a definite slow-burn thriller, that really takes its time revealing the dynamics of this dysfunctional family. I don't usually do well with this pacing but this may not be an issue for other readers.
Ending: I was hoping for a clever, jaw-dropping twist that I’m accustomed to from Murphy, but I felt the ending fell a flat and a bit anti-climactic for me.
Final Verdict & Recommendation
A taut, well-written, slow-burn domestic thriller, with compelling characters and premise, albeit with a bit of a lackluster ending. Recommended for fans of B.A Paris and Robyn Harding. 4⭐
Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Nora Murphy for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
GENRE: Psychological / Domestic Thriller
PUBLICATION DATE: March 23, 2027
OVERALL IMPRESSION: A tense, chilling, slow-burn domestic thriller that delves into the complexities of a dysfunctional and toxic family dynamic where everyone is suspect. Nora Murphy has come through again with a compelling read.
🥳 What I loved
Premise: What do you do when you’ve been protecting your sister’s killer secrets for half your life, even though you know she cannot be trusted to not continue killing when things don’t go her way? And how do you deal with a mother who suddenly recants the confession of killing her husband fourteen years ago, saying she only did so to protect her dangerous daughter? Murphy excels at creating an impossibly complex situation that had me riveted.
Characters: I was all over the map with these three women who kept me second guessing where this was going right until the end. I was fully invested in their messy, toxic relationships. My heart broke for all three of them, each for very different reasons, but at the same time I couldn’t pin down who I could trust. Star points for this!
Narrative style/timeline: Multiple points of view are always tricky, but Murphy masterfully succeeded here. The shifting timeline kept the tension high, and I especially enjoyed the letters from Marilyn to Julia, which provided insight into Julia’s sociopathy.
🤔 Things to consider
Pacing: This is a definite slow-burn thriller, that really takes its time revealing the dynamics of this dysfunctional family. I don't usually do well with this pacing but this may not be an issue for other readers.
Ending: I was hoping for a clever, jaw-dropping twist that I’m accustomed to from Murphy, but I felt the ending fell a flat and a bit anti-climactic for me.
Final Verdict & Recommendation
A taut, well-written, slow-burn domestic thriller, with compelling characters and premise, albeit with a bit of a lackluster ending. Recommended for fans of B.A Paris and Robyn Harding. 4⭐
Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Nora Murphy for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Review of advance copy received from Author
𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚—𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.
Oh, you have GOT to be f*cking kidding me. Nora Murphy has done it again. This book pulled me into a deeply uncomfortable story about sisters, motherhood, murder, and the kind of family secrets that should stay buried. Julia is a successful lawyer, newly married, and about to become a mother, but her carefully constructed life is hiding something much darker. Her sister Grace has spent years protecting Julia, and now letters from their mother in prison threaten to drag the past back into the light.
Nora Murphy has a way of exploring the darkest heart of motherhood with such ease that I found myself deeply uncomfortable more than once. There is something particularly disturbing about the way motherhood, family loyalty, and the instinct to protect the people we love can become tangled up with something much more sinister. The dual timelines and prison letters kept feeding me just enough information to make me question what I thought I knew, and every time I felt like I had a handle on these women, something would shift underneath me. I was suspicious, uncomfortable, fascinated, and occasionally just sitting there thinking, HOW is all of this going to come together?And I loved every second of it.
And that ENDING. HOLY. F*CKING. SH*T. I cannot tell you a single thing about it, and I wouldn't even if you begged. You need to experience this one for yourself. The final pages left me staring at the wall, and that is exactly the kind of ending I want from a psychological thriller. LIKE MOTHER LIKE MURDER is dark, deeply unsettling, beautifully twisted, and completely addictive. Nora Murphy somehow crawled into the darkest corners of motherhood and made herself right at home. So many thanks to the author for this early copy that will publish March 23, 2027.
Oh, you have GOT to be f*cking kidding me. Nora Murphy has done it again. This book pulled me into a deeply uncomfortable story about sisters, motherhood, murder, and the kind of family secrets that should stay buried. Julia is a successful lawyer, newly married, and about to become a mother, but her carefully constructed life is hiding something much darker. Her sister Grace has spent years protecting Julia, and now letters from their mother in prison threaten to drag the past back into the light.
Nora Murphy has a way of exploring the darkest heart of motherhood with such ease that I found myself deeply uncomfortable more than once. There is something particularly disturbing about the way motherhood, family loyalty, and the instinct to protect the people we love can become tangled up with something much more sinister. The dual timelines and prison letters kept feeding me just enough information to make me question what I thought I knew, and every time I felt like I had a handle on these women, something would shift underneath me. I was suspicious, uncomfortable, fascinated, and occasionally just sitting there thinking, HOW is all of this going to come together?And I loved every second of it.
And that ENDING. HOLY. F*CKING. SH*T. I cannot tell you a single thing about it, and I wouldn't even if you begged. You need to experience this one for yourself. The final pages left me staring at the wall, and that is exactly the kind of ending I want from a psychological thriller. LIKE MOTHER LIKE MURDER is dark, deeply unsettling, beautifully twisted, and completely addictive. Nora Murphy somehow crawled into the darkest corners of motherhood and made herself right at home. So many thanks to the author for this early copy that will publish March 23, 2027.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Like Mother Like Murder by Nora Murphy. Thanks to sourcebookslandmark for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Julia may seem perfect, with her high powered career and perfect husband, but there’s a coldness inside her that no one knows about.. except her sister, Grace. Fourteen years ago, their mother was arrested for murdering their step-father, but her mother is now ready to tell the full story- putting Grace in the middle.
A perfectly done thriller and suspense; the reader knows what is going on.. no big mysteries, but somehow it’s still full of suspense. The entire story the reader has a creeping sense of dread and it just gets worse at the end. I found Julia’s character so fascinating and ate up all the little details about her. The author must have done her research on sociopaths! The ending was a perfect shocker too.
Read if you like:
-Sister tropes
-Stories about sociopaths
-Dual point of views and timelines
“Their bloodied history, the secrets they’ve held together forming a tentacle-like bond, reaching pervasive, the way venom laces through flesh.”
Like Mother Like Murder comes out 3/23.
Julia may seem perfect, with her high powered career and perfect husband, but there’s a coldness inside her that no one knows about.. except her sister, Grace. Fourteen years ago, their mother was arrested for murdering their step-father, but her mother is now ready to tell the full story- putting Grace in the middle.
A perfectly done thriller and suspense; the reader knows what is going on.. no big mysteries, but somehow it’s still full of suspense. The entire story the reader has a creeping sense of dread and it just gets worse at the end. I found Julia’s character so fascinating and ate up all the little details about her. The author must have done her research on sociopaths! The ending was a perfect shocker too.
Read if you like:
-Sister tropes
-Stories about sociopaths
-Dual point of views and timelines
“Their bloodied history, the secrets they’ve held together forming a tentacle-like bond, reaching pervasive, the way venom laces through flesh.”
Like Mother Like Murder comes out 3/23.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
An absorbing complicated twisted and twisty novel about two sisters, one of whom is a sociopath and one who covers for her and their mother in jail for amurder she may or may not have committed. Loved it
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
In Like Mother, Like Murder, Nora Murphy has written the portrait of sisterhood I never knew I needed–one that is as spell-binding as it is unsettling. With sly writing and a plot like sand shifting beneath your feet, I was hooked from the mesmerizing first page to the chilling last one.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Like Mother Like Murder.
The book begins quite normally. Julia, an accomplished corporate attorney and partner at her firm, is getting married to Connor, who works in IT. However, it soon becomes apparent that Julia is estranged from most of her family. The only family member present at her wedding is her sister, Grace. So much for normality!
The story unfolds through alternating POVs, switching between Julia, Grace, and their mother Marilyn, with the timeline moving back and forth between their childhood and the present.
When Grace was about to finish high school and Julia was in college, their stepfather, Gary, was murdered. Marilyn, confessed to the crime after discovering that Gary had been cheating on her, and she has been in prison ever since.
Julia and Grace may not be particularly close, and they might appear to be very different from each other, but they are, in fact, remarkably alike. Without venturing into spoiler territory, the story explores what happens after Julia's marriage and the rather unusual bond between the two sisters. Julia clearly has plenty of secrets, and Grace has always been there to protect them. But what happens when things start getting out of hand? Will Grace continue to stand by her sister, or will her conscience finally begin to question her loyalty?
This is a really good thriller, particularly because we get to explore the thought processes of the main characters and understand how they justify their actions. Nora Murphy has written her protagonists with such depth that you find yourself switching between their perspectives, relating to them and understanding how their minds work, even when you may not agree with their choices.
I had a lot of fun reading this book! I would recommend it to anyone fascinated by thrillers involving dysfunctional families and dark family secrets.
The book begins quite normally. Julia, an accomplished corporate attorney and partner at her firm, is getting married to Connor, who works in IT. However, it soon becomes apparent that Julia is estranged from most of her family. The only family member present at her wedding is her sister, Grace. So much for normality!
The story unfolds through alternating POVs, switching between Julia, Grace, and their mother Marilyn, with the timeline moving back and forth between their childhood and the present.
When Grace was about to finish high school and Julia was in college, their stepfather, Gary, was murdered. Marilyn, confessed to the crime after discovering that Gary had been cheating on her, and she has been in prison ever since.
Julia and Grace may not be particularly close, and they might appear to be very different from each other, but they are, in fact, remarkably alike. Without venturing into spoiler territory, the story explores what happens after Julia's marriage and the rather unusual bond between the two sisters. Julia clearly has plenty of secrets, and Grace has always been there to protect them. But what happens when things start getting out of hand? Will Grace continue to stand by her sister, or will her conscience finally begin to question her loyalty?
This is a really good thriller, particularly because we get to explore the thought processes of the main characters and understand how they justify their actions. Nora Murphy has written her protagonists with such depth that you find yourself switching between their perspectives, relating to them and understanding how their minds work, even when you may not agree with their choices.
I had a lot of fun reading this book! I would recommend it to anyone fascinated by thrillers involving dysfunctional families and dark family secrets.
November 7, 2026
ARC Review!
I received an advanced copy of Like Mother Like Murder by Nora Murphy through @NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!
4 Stars
Julia Banks is a successful Lawyer and has managed to fool everyone into thinking she’s normal. No one knows who Julia really is except her little sister Grace. 14 years ago, their stepfather was murdered, and Grace found the body. Their mother confessed which closed the case. Now, Julia is receiving letters from her mother in prison telling the truth about what really happened that night.
This book was a great read, and I can’t wait for you all to check it out March 23, 2027! The chapters are short and I devoured it quickly. I was genuinely invested from the beginning, and the story ended leaving me thinking what is going to happen to Julia and Grace. Truly a page turner with great pacing! My one complaint is I don’t think the mother’s perspective outside of the letters was necessary, but overall, a fantastic psychological thriller!
Thank you again to @NetGalley for allowing me to read this title early. As always, these opinions are my own.
I received an advanced copy of Like Mother Like Murder by Nora Murphy through @NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!
4 Stars
Julia Banks is a successful Lawyer and has managed to fool everyone into thinking she’s normal. No one knows who Julia really is except her little sister Grace. 14 years ago, their stepfather was murdered, and Grace found the body. Their mother confessed which closed the case. Now, Julia is receiving letters from her mother in prison telling the truth about what really happened that night.
This book was a great read, and I can’t wait for you all to check it out March 23, 2027! The chapters are short and I devoured it quickly. I was genuinely invested from the beginning, and the story ended leaving me thinking what is going to happen to Julia and Grace. Truly a page turner with great pacing! My one complaint is I don’t think the mother’s perspective outside of the letters was necessary, but overall, a fantastic psychological thriller!
Thank you again to @NetGalley for allowing me to read this title early. As always, these opinions are my own.
November 8, 2026
Like Mother Like Murder is a dark physiological thriller. Grace and Julia’s mother, Marilyn, is in Jail for murdering their Stepfather and the story starts with Marilyn’s letters to Julia from prison. The story is told alternately from the mother’s and the two sisters’ perspectives. Julia is the ultimate perfectionist, smart, beautiful and driven and dark. Grace has a more caring and creative personality and is easily manipulated by Julia. The sisters aren’t close but share a complicated childhood which created a toxic bond between them. The character development and the dark suspense kept me interested in this story. If you like dark murder mysteries you will enjoy this latest thriller by Nora Murphy. Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the prepublication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will read more. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, which I got through in less than two days. It runs at a good pace though there were a couple of sections which felt a bit slower and samey, hence 4 stars. I liked the story being shown from three different perspectives, the mother and two sisters, and although one needs to suspend disbelief about some aspects of the plot it’s worth it for a good read. There’s a couple of good twists and one turn which I was very invested in NOT happening which didn’t. The suspense is well written, the plot feels a little bit open, the ending is quite good. I would recommend to others.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will read more. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, which I got through in less than two days. It runs at a good pace though there were a couple of sections which felt a bit slower and samey, hence 4 stars. I liked the story being shown from three different perspectives, the mother and two sisters, and although one needs to suspend disbelief about some aspects of the plot it’s worth it for a good read. There’s a couple of good twists and one turn which I was very invested in NOT happening which didn’t. The suspense is well written, the plot feels a little bit open, the ending is quite good. I would recommend to others.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Nora Murphy delivers a sharp, propulsive thriller centered on a dark, toxic bond between two sisters. Dual timelines and prison letters peel back the layers of a fourteen-year-old murder, with the chilling dynamic between Julia and Grace keeping the tension tightly wound throughout.
The climax feels a bit rushed and relies on a few convenient turns, but the slow-burn suspense and exploration of buried family trauma make it a solid, fast-paced read.
The climax feels a bit rushed and relies on a few convenient turns, but the slow-burn suspense and exploration of buried family trauma make it a solid, fast-paced read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews